Art Chowder November | December, Issue 18 | Page 30

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BY KAREN MOBLEY
AGZIGIAN
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Photo Credit: Spokane Public Radio
What brought you to poetry?
My parents, the books that filled their house, combined with a love and presence of music, made me fall in love with poetry and
song. My father was an educator, and my mother loved Shakespeare, books and poetry. We were urged to read.
My father found a turn-of-the-century copy of Lord Byron’s poetry in an antique store as a birthday gift for my mother. It sat out
along with other smaller books of poetry on a coffee table. There is an inscription from my dad to my mother in it. The loving
dedication instantly opened my heart to poetry and allowed me to form an intimate connection with its power. But being so
young, I struggled with what Byron was all about, other than love. Last year, when I visited my family, I was able to bring that
book back with me, as a cherished keepsake. It has one of those raised covers with cherubs and Victorian floral arrangements
… I would always pick it up, fascinated by the cover, touching it, knowing it was from a very long time ago, somehow sacred,
and when I was old enough to start reading, I would read out loud from that book. I also loved acting out lines from Shakespeare
growing up.

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ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE