photo by Carra Sykes from thepianofarm.com

The first visiting artist to stay in Serenbe’s new Rural Studio cottages was spoken word poet Anis Mojgani.  Also a visual artist and musician, Anis lives in Portland, Oregon, was born and raised in New Orleans and graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) here in Georgia.

He’s been on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and has toured for years doing poetry slams and performances all over the world. He’s published three collections of poetry — Songs From Under the River, The Feather Room and Over the Anvil We Stretch. The month he spent at Serenbe was focused on a children’s book.

“I have a batch of picturebook ideas and stories for young readers that I’ve been thinking on and developing for a few years now,” Anis said. “So I came with those, to see which of them bubbled most to the top to ask for time and attention while at Serenbe. Of those, there are three I mostly worked on, shaping and fine-tuning the actual story of them, and putting down on paper the visual storytelling of them.”

On one of his last nights here, Anis shared some of his poetry with us around a bonfire at the Art Farm. One of his newer pieces about beauty really struck me. Anis is the poetry: He’s one of those artists that fully embodies their work.

Steve and I soaked it all in, then looked at one another in disbelief that an artist of this talent and caliber had come to gain inspiration from what we’ve created. I’m not going to say it’s a give and take — it’s a give and give.