Actor-turned-poet Nico Tortorella recently sat down with EUPHORIA. Magazine to pose for a photo shoot and talk about his new book of poetry all of it is you.
“I think that the way in which I live my life is really poetic,” Nico says, “and it was just the natural place to start.”
The 29-year-old gender fluid artist continues, “There’s a space in which my brain operates and my mouth moves, and for me, poetry lives in between those two. That’s where the magic happens for me.”
Nico spent 45 days writing the 256-page book. He describes the experience as “innately spiritual.”
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Related: Nico Tortorella just published a poem describing his penis
He explains:
Having to harness inspiration every single day for that long is innately spiritual. I setup a timeline and had a certain amount of time I was dedicating to the work daily, and there is obviously a rhythm to my poetry that is almost like mantra. I think the greatest way to start learning about yourself is through spiritual practice and that’s what that book was for me. It still is. I pick it up everyday and I’ll read something, and it hits me in a new way every single time. It was a guidebook that I could go back to and be inspired. I wrote that book for myself first.
As for his creative process, Nico says he wrote the poems in the exact order they are published.
“I started with the first one, and ended with the last one,” he says. “By the time I got to the universe section, I had just found my flow. That’s my favorite section to go back and read. There’s the most subtle magic in that section than any other section.”
He adds:
I’m obsessed with words and how we use them. I think they can either be used as medicine or weapons. I feel like I’m getting my Doctorate in the medicine right now. I’m exploring the world of gender and what it means to me. I think the more work I’ve been doing in the space, the less I believe in gender as binary, as the construct that it is.
Related: ‘Younger’ star Nico Tortorella performs hypnotic barefoot poetry in Austin
h/t: EUPHORIA. Magazine
photo credit: Aysia Marotta
Donston
I am borderline non-binary and have some fluidity in my orientation (though I ultimately still refer to myself as a “gay male”). But besides self-involved, loony and perhaps self-hating “queers” as well as people who have hard-ons/wet pussies for him, he doesn’t have much to offer anyone. Talking in-depth and honestly about gender, orientation and experience are important, instead of depending so much on indentity and sociology, which we still do too much of. But he never says anything practical, insightful or straightforward. He’s also said and done too many problematic things and is overall too affected and too ego driven. Worst of all, he has no telent. But more power to them/they and them/they’s “following”. All these indentities, stunts and vague, pretentious interviews have certainly kept him in the “queer media”.
luvit00
/\ what “they” said!
Chrisk
Yeah right now he’s got youth and cuteness going for him. At 40 ain’t no magazine will touch this conceited mess.
Kangol
Not sure why Queerty keeps highlighting this confused narcissist, but seriously, are they (NT) really proud of the fact that they spent only “45 days writing [a] 256-page book”? Are any readers other than their parents, lovers and best friends supposed to read it and care? Or is it just another stunt? Let’s try this: maybe they should spend some time reading a queer ancestor like Oscar Wilde, who pioneered the “life as a work of art” concept, and once they’ve gotten through Wilde’s work and that of a number of other queer pioneers in queer lit, they can share more of his “art.” All the stunting is getting tiresome, though.
Heywood Jablowme
Oscar Wilde said he took his diary everywhere he went, because he always wanted something sensational to read on the train.
This is a similar idea only it’s probably, um, bad.
jjose712
Oh God. But for some reason i really believe he is obsessed with himself
MonkeyMan
I laughed out loud at him saying, “I feel like I’m getting my Doctorate in the medicine right now.”
Is he also doing stand-up now? Because that shit is straight up hilarious, too funny.
Chrisk
I loved how Queerty removed my comment. Allot less harsh then some of the other comments here but now it seems to be the consensus. Lol
dgsea06
Well I guess we all love our own writing but, however, the greats leave it for a while and read it again when it gets cold. Edit it! Hurts, I know, just do it.
My fave Oscar Wilde: “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma.
In the afternoon I put it back again.”
We should be thankful for the word processor in place of the quill pen.
But then…