Niaz Khadem

World traveler, poet, Spanish teacher. Sexy Niaz Khadem, 25, is just about as cute as they come. Find him Friday nights throwing down a few phrases at Etcetera Coffeehouse. Or out on a dance floor with his smooth salsa moves!

Niaz, you are cute, cute, cute, no doubt about it! Tell us about your name. Niaz is a bit unusual around these parts!
My mom is from an Irish Catholic background. She was born in Detroit and grew up in Toledo. My dad is from Iran — hence, the name. They met in Toledo while my dad was in college, married and ended up living in Sulpher, La., which is where I grew up.

Did you go to college in Louisiana?
Yes, I went to Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, which is where they filmed Steel Magnolias.

Oh, how fun!
Yeah, it's based on a true story. The baby of the woman who died went to school with me.

No way! Steel Magnolias is our next Maiden Alley Chick Flick! You'll have to come see it!
I might just do that.

So Niaz, you're a Spanish teacher at Tilghman?
I teach Spanish 2, 3 and 4 to upperclassmen. I have some of the best kids in the school in my classes.

Really? I'd be scared to get up in front of a bunch of high school kids.
Sometimes the kids are challenging, but most of the time, if you just make sure they know what's expected of them, everything goes just fine.

When did you start speaking Spanish?
Between my freshman and sophomore year, I went to Costa Rica to help build a classroom on an Indian reservation. The next year, I took Spanish classes so that I could return and teach English at that school.

I also studied art in Bolivia for a year, and that's where I really fixed up my Spanish. And then I transferred to Murray State and earned my degree in Spanish Education.

You've covered a lot of ground in your 25 years!
Yeah, I've been around a bit. But I'm loving it here.

What brought you to Murray State?
My family moved here while I was in Bolivia. My dad got a job in Calvert City, and my mom is now a nurse at Murray Calloway County Hospital. I moved here in December 2006. It was snowing and cold and I'd just come from 90 degree weather in Bolivia. I thought, "What did I get myself into?"

Well, you've gotten yourself into quite a bit! Happy one-year Paducah Writers Group anniversary! How did you get involved in PWG?
My younger brother Naysan and I just happened to come into Etcetera Coffeehouse on a Friday night last December, and I asked, "Who's playing tonight?" And someone said, "You." So I joined in and shared some poems that I studied at Murray. Then I started coming every Friday night.

You studied poetry, too?
I hated poetry in high school, but at Murray State I took a Latin American poetry and drama class, and at about the same time, I was introduced to slam poetry, a form of competitive performance poetry where poets are judged on their ability to engage the audience. Those two things got me into poetry.

So it was just coincidental that you found the PWG?
Totally.

And now you're conducting poetry workshops!
Yes, we're holding workshops every other Sunday (November 16 and 30 and December 14 and 28) at A.I.R. Studios. We have some great poets from WKCTC who will be participating. Matt Curttis, a student, and Keith Kossow, an English and writing instructor, both of whom participated in the Paducah Poetry Jam this summer, will be there to provide feedback on people's poems.

So it's a great place for people who want to look at their poetry more seriously and getting it critiqued, not just from the performance side, but from a literary and technical side, too.

And you do other open mics.
Yes, every now and then I do the Tuesday night open mic at Jeremiah's and I've done the Thursday night open mic at Club Plush. Those events are a lot of fun and open to everyone.

Excellent! Now tell us about that crazy Artists/Writers Lock-In the other weekend. Were you nervous about locking yourself into A.I.R. Studios with eight other people for 48 hours straight?
Not really. The hardest part for me was being in one room for that long. But the people were amazing, and we had some great conversations about art.

The artists did their art, and the poets wrote various pieces. I wrote one that we ended up submitting to an anthology called The Good Things About America. Often, open mic poetry can sound like a list of complaints, especially when the subject is the poet’s country. I like that this new anthology is purposefully focusing on the good things America has to offer. My piece tells the story of a simple act of kindness to a stranger in a small town.

You're darling.
Yeah, I am.

Hah! So Niaz, you're fluent in Spanish, you're a poet, I can tell that you're terribly romantic. Do you have an amazing love life?
Love life? No. I don't know. I'm open to anything. I meet great people all the time. The only complaint I have is that there aren't a lot of places to go dancing.

I hear you are quite something on the dance floor.
I do like to salsa dance. A couple of friends and I go to Nashville to salsa, and it's really fun. I've heard from several people around here that they'd like to try it.

You might enjoy the Madison Hall Dance Nights. There's one Friday, November 14, starting at 7 p.m.
I'll have to go after PWG sometime.

Totally! So describe a great gal to us! I imagine she needs to be in her 20s.
Well, she'd have to be open to different cultures and traveling. I like to cook — so I'm always trying new foods. And if she's not a dancer, she'd need to be at least open to learning to dance.

Well, Niaz, if you're doing the teaching, I suspect there are muchas señoritas muy bonitas in Paducah who'd like to learn!

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See Gretchen's piece at the Healing Angels show opening reception: 4:30-7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 21, at HeART of Healing Gallery, 233 North 7th St.!

Artist/Writer Collaboration
As part of the Paducah Writers Group's one-year anniversary, Niaz suggested a collaborative project where artists and writers create work inspired by each other's art and poems. Niaz teamed up with artist Gretchen Smith, writing a poem based on her painting, Big Love.

"When I saw Big Love, it took me back to my time in Bolivia," Niaz says. "It's funny, after living in three different countries you find yourself feeling nostalgic no matter where you live. You feel homesick, but for more than one home."

Here's his poem:

Bring me home love
for Bolivia

Bring me sunsets and backgammon,
café chairs and African love songs.
Where white button-downs hang
off of clotheslines and thin men –
black as coffee and sweet as iced tea.

Dirt floors swept clean. Thick air
and a warm breeze. Bring me
home love. Black coffee,
sugar cane, and white tea.
Thin men play chess in the park

as we play backgammon on the balcony.
Sipping americanos and club soda
clean like lime juice – fresh squeezed.
Brazilian girls always have younger brothers
and fathers they want you to meet.

But if you're home now, then you know this.
And American girls, they are fearless.
Brazilian girls know better, but
if you're not careful – either one
could get you killed, but I'd risk it

to be at home now. To wear
a white button-down, dancing
to love songs on a dirt floor
with a warm breeze. Sweat
dripping like condensation

from a glass of iced tea.
Bring me home love. Bring me
café chairs and floors swept
clean. Bring me sunsets, bring me
Africa, bring me home love. Bring me.