I met Angar Mora a few years ago through Al Averbach, who invited me to the Arriverderci Cafe in San Rafael to attend an “unusual” salon. Before we went Al sent me a flyer that has specific instructions on arrival time, order time, dining time, discussion time, feature time, etc. Everything was planned down to the minute. Al said he had not met Angar, but had only talked to him on the phone. Angar had an accent that he could not place.
A tall, gaunt man with a pageboy haircut greeted us at the entrance of the Arriverderci Cafe. Angar Mora looked European. His gray hair might have once been blond. It seemed he talked metaphorically and the evening was conducted very much in the same manner. After dinner, we introduced the person sitting next to us by comparing him/her to an object in the room. We listened to Angar’s story of the planet that he came from and the universe that he once belonged to. The evening went on like this, suspenseful, intriguing and exotic.
I have since been back to Angar’s salon many times. Sometimes to read as a feature, sometimes to listen. He always pair a visual artist with a poet. The restaurant walls are filled with artworks that Angar personally put up.
In my mind, I seem to recall Angar once shared his earthly origin, that his Danish family was Rom (gypsy). To escape persecution they changed the last name to Mora. But this is just a story. Like so many he tells, I accept them without question.
Photo by Judy Hardin Cheung
