"only poetry can save you now"

Feature Friday

Recently, I had the pleasure and honor of reading at Om Café with this guy and this gal.

Until our reading, we hadn’t met in person. We linked on Facebook at some point last year or two, and have slowly developed a friendship over pixels and a shared love of all things words. Over the progression of our friendship, I’ve come to learn that Az is not only a human with a fantastic name (I mean, c’mon, really, right?!) but he has an amazing perspective on life, how humans should interact and the ways in which the world can be made a better place.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Az’s poetry. It’s hard to gauge how a person reads his or her own work; the inflection and presence that is commanded at the mic. Az runs Writers Knight Press, which aims to promote the notion that words belong to everyone.

I had the privilege (or terror) of reading first at Om, so by the time Az took the mic I was in full-on poetry mode. And whoa! This dude did not disappoint. A slam style poet, his work was resonant, poignant and socially minded – essentially, many things that my own work is not. Where my words are largely introspective and personal, the work that Az shared with us at Om offered social views on important social concepts including homelessness, religion and politics. I remember sitting back in my café chair, thinking how fortunate I am to have connected with Az, Writing Knights Press and the mission that he tirelessly pursues.

I’m now so pleased and thankful to count Az as one of my friends – not just as a fellow writer, or wordsmith, or one who attempts to change the world through voice, but because he’s really a kick ass human. Check out his blog and be sure to like Writing Knights Press on Facebook.