Meet Adam

I’ve been writing for several years. You can find my work on Substack and my website, Adam Kozak Writes.

I don’t limit myself to one form, genre, or topic. So it’s just whatever I write, which is whatever I’m interested in or thinking about at the moment.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t write with consistent ideas or feelings in mind. I can best sum this up by saying that in my writing you’ll find gravity, levity, and sublimity.

What does that mean?

I believe in work that means something. Not that stands for something (you’ll find no politics here), but means something. Of course, each poem or story will mean something different to me than what it means to you, the reader—that is the nature and joy of creating and consuming art—and in my work I aim for gravity, levity, and sublimity, although certainly not all at once.

Gravity: My work will have weight. It will be serious and severe or kind and heartwarming but above all it will be dedicated to the human condition, to people and their struggles, challenges, failures, and successes great and small. Above all, it is earnest.

Levity: My work will have humor. It may even be frivolous at times. There is nothing wrong and everything right with not taking yourself, or life, too seriously sometimes.

Are these in conflict? I think not. If you’ve ever laughed at a funeral, you will understand.

Sublimity: My work will hope for the sublime, the numinous, the transcendent, the greater-than-yourself. I say ‘hope’ and not ‘aim’ because to try to achieve the sublime is often to miss the mark before you’ve fired a shot.
Much of my poetry is inspired by nature, classical mythology, and Arthurian legend. Homer, Vergil, Tennyson, and Keats loom large for me.

Fiction genres include humor, romance, magical realism, supernatural, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, and detective/crime fiction.

Also, I don’t use AI, ever. That’s my promise to you. My ideas are my own. My words are my own. My creations are my own. I might say “for better or for worse” but this would be a lie. It’s infinitely better. AI has no role in my creative process. Using AI defeats the purpose of creation and makes the acts of creating and of reading meaningless. It destroys art. Using AI is theft and AI companies are thieves.

-Adam