Author Profile: Local poet, author goes digital

By Rob Cline, correspondent

Recently, longtime Cedar Rapids resident Akwi Nji decided it was time to share a short story she had written years ago. Nji, in addition to her work over the years as an educator and a Realtor, has built an audience as a spoken word artist. So rather than shopping the story to magazines or publishing it on her blog, she decided to record it. 'Heat' can be heard in five parts on SoundCloud.

Recording the story was a natural extension of Nji's ongoing live and recorded work — much of which is performance poetry — while taking advantage of an audience already engaged with her voice. But it was also an opportunity to try something new while bringing an older work to light.

'It's time to just let it go,' she said of her decision to record 'Heat.' 'Put it out there into the world. Even if only two people pay attention, that's two more people than have read it in the last six years.'

The story is worthy of attention. 'Heat' is the tale of two young sisters living in Detroit in the early 1970s with their troubled mother. The opening seconds of the story are arresting, immediately establishing that 'Heat' is a dark story of desperation.

Nji convincingly crafts the relationship between the two girls, one of whom narrates the story, skillfully shaping her story of an innocuous sisterly conspiracy that leads to tragedy. Her performance of the story takes full advantage of her warm voice and ability to highlight key moments.

She recorded the story without retakes or edits, which means there is the occasional small error or pause in her narration, but they don't distract from the overall strength of the piece. Indeed, those moments might be said to represent progress in the way Nji thinks about her work.

'I have a tendency to wait until something is perfect,' she said. 'You need to let go of that if you're going to share your artwork with the world.'

She credits her work with SPT Theatre with helping her overcome her perfectionism. She has found value in 'getting on that stage and knowing no matter how well I've crafted that piece and no matter how many times I've practiced it in front of the mirror at home, something won't go exactly right... and the audience is okay with that.'

In 2016, Nji will be serving her growing audience in a new way as she launches The Hook, a non-profit organization that will create expanded opportunities in Cedar Rapids for writers, spoken word artists, and visual artists. The organization has three streams of programming in the works: ArtLOUD!, a themed and juried series of six events blending visual arts and spoken word performances; Drop the Mic, a monthly coffeehouse series open to a wide array of writers and styles; and Write to Art, a collaborative project asking visual artists and writers to respond artistically to each other's work.

When she first wrote 'Heat,' Nji felt such a connection to the characters and their story that she thought she might write a book about them. Writing a book is still one of her goals, but its importance in the way she thinks of herself as a writer, performer, and connecter of communities has changed.

'Publishing a book used to be how I defined a successful writer... I am at the point now where I can say I'm a more successful writer than I might have been if I'd only focused on publishing poetry in a traditional way,' she said.