Aurora Poet Laureate describes poems as 'snapshots of life'

Lindsey Ford

• Published on November 12, 2022 • Last modified on November 11, 2022

AURORA, Colo. — Honorary Aurora Poet Laureate, Ahja Fox, 25, is proud of being born and raised in the diverse City of Aurora.

Fox received her education from the University of Colorado Denver, where she received a degree in creative writing, and Arapahoe Community College.

And while Fox is quick to credit her caring teachers and mentors for instilling a love of poetry, what originally "started her pen” was seeing a collection of poetry next to artwork at the Denver Art Museum. Fox was inspired by this collision of two of her interests, and thus began her style: " research poetry," where she combines emotion and history in her work.

The importance of creative outlets

Fox believes that creative writing, music, and other arts are some of the most important things children can learn in school.

 “We need to feel inspired to make it through life. And for me, even though poetry is what I write, a lot of music, a lot of movies, a lot of books, is what actually has actually molded my mind where I felt like I had the words to articulate what I wanted in my work,” Fox said, “So when it comes to young people, even older people, it’s important to have these creative outlets not only just to inform us but to also learn how to express ourselves.”

One of Fox’s first poet laureate roles was reciting poetry at a recentnaturalization ceremony at the Aurora Municipal Center.

“For me, that was such an amazing opportunity to have to see people coming into our community, especially Aurora being the most diverse city,” said Fox.

Colorado Voices

Aurora Poet Laureate describes poems as “snapshots” of life

Ahja Fox shares her journey of poetry and how it relates to her everyday life.

A love for her city

Fox was sworn in as the Honorary Poet Laureate on Aug. 8. She will serve a four-year term through August 2026. Her duties in this role include celebrating the diversity in Aurora through community outreach programs and commemorating city and national events in a poetic format.

Fox said Colorado poets like Kathryn Winograd, Nicky Beer, Hillary Leftwich and Meca'Ayo Cole inspire her. She also named novelists like Steven Dunn and Kali Fajardo-Anstine.

“Aurora is super special to me not just obviously because I was born and raised here, but a lot of the connections that I have actually made here. The library itself, all the libraries in Aurora, are ones that I have visited and the material that I encountered is what helped mold me into who I am today,” Fox said. “But also a lot of my friends when it comes to the different schools in the community, I still have those friends today and some of those are friends are when I was 10 years old. And so just knowing how robust and diverse we are here is something that I want to constantly scream to the world.”

Answering the unanswerable

Fox's writing style stimulates the mind as well as the heart.

“I feel like my work usually delves into the different questions that are really unanswerable, so especially about life and especially about death,” Fox said. “A lot of my work has consisted of those hard traumas that some of us have gone through and it's always me just trying to re-articulate what that might really mean and see it through different lenses and perspectives.”

Fox told Rocky Mountain PBS that she is currently working on a manuscript about the death industry. She explained that she recently discovered that the same mortician has been working with her family for generations.

“So I asked more questions to that mortician and found out that she actually knew a lot of my family as a child," Fox said. "They grew up on the same street, and to me, that’s an interesting story."

The impact of family

Fox said her mother, Lacresha Duru, is a “really big inspiration” for how she got into poetry. Duru struggled with a learning disability, and reading was an “extreme struggle” for her, Fox said.

Because of this, Fox said her mother told her that while she was pregnant with her, she would read to her every night with the hopes that her daughter would not have the same reading struggles.

“And it’s crazy because I ended up getting into poetry and now, I’m the poet laureate so she’s very supportive, very happy and she talks about it all the time, that she really believes putting that wish out there every day is what got me to where I am now,” Fox said.

Ahja as an infant with her mother
Ahja Fox

Fox proudly said she recently gave birth to a little girl named Izzy, who is currently 11 months old. Just like her mother did for her, Fox reads to her daughter every night.

“My family is really a big drive to me when it comes to this career because I want to be able to show my daughter, for instance, that you can go for what you want,” Fox said. “There is something to go for when it comes to creative arts, and I just think that’s beautiful.”

Lindsey Ford is a multimedia journalist with Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at lindseyford@rmpbs.org.