confetti - Featured Poet: Nick Romeo

Picture of Nick Romeo taking a photo of Nick Romeo — **Nick Romeo taking a photo of Nick Romeo**

BIOGRAPHY

When Nick Romeo is not at his nine-to-five occupation, which is strongly situated in the STEM fields, his main forms of expression are 3D digital renderings, electronic music, writing, sewing, and photography. His work has been seen in various journals such as Alien Buddah Press, Highland Park Poetry, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Marrow Magazine, Rune, Door=Jar, and many others.

INTERVIEW

confetti: Who or what inspired you to write?
Nick Romeo (NR): My mom wrote poetry with some fiction (still writes at times). My mom always inspired us (her children) to continue reading and studying. During the summer breaks from school, she would sign us up for the library reading program. And she bought us numerous books for our collections. Fun Fact: she recently re-bought me a childhood favorite book, The Three Investigators and The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot. She also played with us when we grew up, we would have entire stories and games she would help formulate and put into motion. She really cultivated and nurtured my imagination. I used to run a mini-company where a friend and I wrote and drew our own comic books and joke magazines. So, I had some writing experience at a very early age.

confetti: How would you characterize your writing style?
(NR): I would describe my writing style as madcap hyperbolic absurdist surrealism, which is based on events that might have happened in real life, or perhaps, only in my mind.

confetti: Who is your favorite poet and why?
(NR): I find this question triggering; therefore, I wish to skip it.

confetti: Favorite poem or style of poetry?
(NR): I read all types (obvi) but my favorite might be free verse non rhyming with a smidge of spec fiction (spec poetry?) But I say this today whilst hopped-up on copious gallons of caffeine before eating breakfast after being awake since 2:30 am. Tomorrow I might mention that my favorite is Victorian rhyming poetry with meter, with such interesting discussion points such as their wife’s ability to churn the best butter in the land, or how beautiful the river is whilst they both do laundry.

confetti: What are you currently reading?
(NR): One Hundred Years of Solitude, If Cats Disappeared from the World, and the Bible (second time thru).

confetti: What are your three favorite books?
(NR): In the fiction category: Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, Martin Eden by Jack London, and Metamorphosis by Kafka. In the nonfiction category: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol 1 by Edward Gibbon, The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard, The Human Use of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener.

confetti: What are your three favorite movies?
(NR): I have a few: The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson directed), The Book of Eli, The Matrix, Star Wars (well, used to be – kind of), Napoleon Dynamite, The Princess Bride. As for the last two mentioned, one will find me quoting interesting lines at various points throughout the day.

confetti: What is your favorite song of all time?
(NR): I do NOT have a favorite… but I am highly influenced by music and love music so much, so I have quite a few favorites.

Here are a few: “Burn Away (DE_TOT_COR Remix)” by Diverje (and yes, that is the correct spelling for this band – love ya TommyT), “Monster” (DotEXE Remix) by Meg & Dia. I sing that song to my cat, Megatron, complete with the dubstep drops. “Stray from the Path” by Wolfdown, The song “The Wolf You Feed” by Nita Strauss (ft. Alissa White-Gluz) has one of the best guitar solos I have ever heard! Other notable bands: Sleetgrout, Fr/Action, Synth Attack, Stinky, BlakOpz, Detroit Deisel, Burl Ives.

I mostly enjoy high energy / screaming music. I esp’ly enjoy listening to such in my Walkman whilst trying to sleep in the bathtub. Oh! And the bathtub is empty, besides the spiders and centipedes.

Special note: I wonder if anyone noticed that as a cat guy, I mentioned a canine twice in the above dissertation?

confetti: What advice would you give to young writers?
(NR): Buy low, sell high. Don’t use an aerosol can in a way that is not directed by the warnings on the can. Don’t play leap-frog with a rhinoceros. If you find yourself needing a kick of inspiration, swallow an entire can of Alphabet Soup, and then induce vomiting onto a clean sheet of paper. That is how the world’s best haikus are written. But above all, always remember to ‘thirst trap’ on Instagram, because that’s what the peeps really care about.

POETRY

“I Forgot the Words” by Nick Romeo

I Forgot the Words

Of a poem I worked on
In the abyss of my brain
While haunting the halls
Between the bathroom my cubicle
Coffee maker water fountain
Maybe in that order but not likely

I think it was about my dear friend
My job my broken computer at my job
My fellow workers at the job or detractors
Smoke detectors propulsion system inspectors
Stamp collectors debt collectors tax collectors
I still haven’t finished my taxes by the way

Or was the poem about how my dear friend, the accountant, broke my work computer during a fire because the propulsion system malfunctioned and the lack of smoke detectors did not signal my fellow workers and detractors in time to save the stamps from burning so therefore, I could not mail out my taxes and now the tax debt collectors are calling.

Actually I think it was about the rain.
How it can put out the fiercest fires.
It has been known to put out forest fires.
Is that why, my dear friend, you don’t like the rain?

Riverside Property on the Lethe

How far would your home be from the shoreline?
How many rooms would your home have?
Would it have a guest room for the mom-in-law,
and a doghouse for me when I stop by?
Would you have that white picket fence,
or do you prefer the natural look – a wall of hedges?
What would you do to pass the time?
Maybe swim, fish, jet ski, skip rocks,
or write poetry and prose?

Much literature was written near a river.
What would be your story?
Does it have an end?
Would it likely say: ‘To be continued’
extending to the next volume and the next?
In a short time, it will fill a bookshelf, then a room.
Eventually, it will engulf a neighborhood,
city, country, and you will run out of room.
You can pile the books up in a makeshift mound,
as it expands, extending into space.
Finally, climb your mountain of words
until you reach heaven and meet God.
There you can ask all the questions that perplexed you.

Lunchtime Launch

I cheered on those cloud scribes
as I watched the writing
via binoculars and a point & shoot
along with people landmarks birds
making sure they didn’t misspell
call me soon because last time
they wrote Calamazoo

I paid them to write you
a tasty sestina in the clouds
but you shot the plane down
using a drone stinger
Or satellite mounted rail gun

before impact I did capture
your special communique
written on the projectile:
This sky’s unclouded
Sulfur touched sunshine abounds
My mind uncrowded

I wrote it down on my hand
while I finished my lunch
in a park still skywatching
with an umbrella to shield
the raining fallout
I ordered anchovies
on my pizza and salad
not burning flesh and debris

but eye and ear regardless
I gathered the pieces
and began to construct
a zesty villanelle on the grass
but I was interrupted
by roars of grinding gears
and crushing vegetation
I looked behind then greeted
a bulldozer with the business end
emblazoned with a tanka:
Litter cleared on earth
Don’t dare to stand in the way
I’ll free the mind fields
Of spectacle disarray
And that alone brings me mirth

(S)LAUGHTER(S)

The boogeyman
Lives inside
My closet.

He has been there
All my life
Haunting me.

For a time I kept
Him at bay by
Sleeping with a night-light
And Grumpy Bear.

But through the years
He has grown
In might and terror.

But I too have grown
In knowledge
And power.

Now I stay awake
In the dark,
All night,
Every night.

With night vision goggles,
Emerson ES1-M, AR-15,
And Grumpy Bear.

On/Off Schedule

When the Agaperos express
Train streaks in from Philly
Will you buy two or more
Tickets while sitting calmly
In the station next to bags
Fully packed with essentials
Of overnight wears vitamins
Minerals and a fresh planner
To map out your objectives

Maybe you’re here to watch
People hop around like bugs
Nursing their predilections
Consuming food and drink
Thumbing thru mass market
Paper backs with movie roles

What’s your reason to be here
You haven’t bought a ticket
Nor are you watching people
Downing brew munching food
I fear your plans are nefarious
As you are deliriously tapping
Your feet and phone sweating
As those big dogs with armed
Companions spend extra time
Sniffing circling your luggage