Angel Wood is a poet and playwright and has just completed her debut novel Clutch.  She was a featured spoken word artist on the Intro track to Jay Z's American Gangster album.  She is the daughter of famed funk musician Mark Wood, Jr. of Lakeside.  Angel was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She moved into the projects of Dayton, Ohio with her family shortly thereafter. The Bella Vista Estates, where Angel called home, was a world of drug infestation and violence. It was a war zone and like any other war zone everybody leaves with scars. She had to deal with crack and heroin addiction in her own home, her family being torn apart, and her friends dying way too soon. Angel could have easily gone under with circumstance. Instead she chartered a new course, graduating high school with the highest grade point average in the city. She became the first person in her family to finish college, when she received her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice from The Ohio State University. Angel started writing poetry very early in life as a way to express her thoughts and feelings. Poetry was a soul anchor for her as she navigated her way out of the projects. Even as gun shots rang outside of her bedroom window; Poetry offered an escape from the violence and confusion.  In A Spring in the Desert Angel immortalizes those that she has loved and the ones she has lost - the many souls she has encountered along the way. Each piece, like a snapshot, captures a moment in time. It speaks to the pain that we all experience in this life and the hope that allows us to rise above even the most dismal circumstances. With the pen Angel found her voice and with her words she hopes to give voice to those who have yet to find theirs. Angel's next collection Flame was released in  April 2015. CLUTCH is Angel's debut novel.