The Feather Room

Book excerpt: Science, birds, Billy the Kid, and lots of feathers surround The Feather Room, Anis Mojgani’s follow up to his Pushcart-nominated work, Over the Anvil We Stretch. In The Feather Room, Mojgani further explores storytelling in poetic form while traveling farther down the path of magic realism, endowing his tales with a greater sense of fantasy and brightness. The work recounts loss and heartbreak while discovering lightness and beauty on the other side. Throughout the book, Mojgani opens tree trunks to reveal chandeliers. He leads us through the rooms inside himself, using poems to part curtains and paint walls. He is lifting windows to let the fantasy indoors. Anis Mojgani, Andrea Gibson, you and other young poets of their talent are the future of American poetry and frankly, that fills me with joy! --Thomas Lux, Guggenheim Fellow & recipient of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for his book Split Horizons Mojgani is not your typical national poetry slam champion...The playfulness, startling originality, and lyric optimism are all gravy. He's simply the best there is right now. -Taylor Mali, “The Last Time As We Are" Anis shook the dust off me and everyone else in the audience with the beauty of his words. -Saul Williams, “Said the Shotgun to the Head”