About the Book
“Drop of Atom”, Salomone’s second book of poetry, is a poetic journey brimming with messages of love, mental health, and dwindling hope during the notorious covid-19 pandemic—all peppered with wit. Through writing that is stylistically diverse and bursting with raw poignancy, a highly relatable narrative is revealed. Within its pages, dire realities are also unveiled—albeit necessary ones. Experimental in its approach and cunning in its execution, it is evident that imposed limits are nonexistent along this literary path. “Drop of Atom” is at the intersection of the metaphysical and the tangible. You will be sure to run into the fantastical (ogres and pharaohs), the earthly (sunflowers and snowfall), and everything in between.
About the Author
Joey Salomone was born in 1984 in Kansas City, Missouri. Joey was home schooled, which allowed him a lot of free time to read and write. He began writing poetry as a teenager and continued to write throughout high school and college. Joey attended Northwest Missouri State University where he received a bachelors degree in Broadcasting and a minor in Creative Writing. After graduation, Joey moved back to Kansas City and made independent films for several years while working at several local area restaurants. He then became an educator and taught High School English in the Urban Core of Kansas City, MO for several years. After the school he was working at closed, Joey did sales for a few years then attended UMKC’s EMS Education program and received his Paramedic license. He worked for several years as a paramedic in Kansas City. After graduating from nursing school, Joey now practices as a nurse at a local KC hospital. He continues to read and write every day. Joey hopes to publish many more collections of poetry and prose, as well as several other projects he is working on. Joey and his brother Chris are currently writing a fantasy book series together and hope to release the first several books in 2020-21.
Qn 1: Can you tell us more about your book What is it about?
This is my second book of poetry. Like nearly everyone, I was trapped inside much of 2020 and 2021, besides going to work, I stayed home and you can only binge so much Netflix before you need to do something else. I am always writing poetry, little notebooks scattered around my house. But I took the time being home more to focus on and write and see what I could come up with. Because this is my second book, I also used a variety of editors to help transform my poetry and better find my voice, everything from being told to cut out useless words to finding more depth or digging deeper into others. I wanted to touch on everything from covid to mental health and anything else I was feeling during this time. I write about dreams, I write about my experiences as a health care worker during a pandemic. I write about what was happening in America during this time frame. I question politics and politicians as well as the patriarchy. It is sort of a random yet organized mess of prose and poetry that touches on everything from racism and sexism to the boomer generation and the internet. I do really like the way I have divided it and organized it in the book and I feel like it has a great flow. I honestly believe anyone who reads poetry/prose will find something they like within the pages, or at least, that is my hope.
Qn 2: Who do you think would be interested in this book, is it directed at any particular market?
I think anyone who is a fan of poetry and prose would enjoy the book. Whether that be someone who has been reading poetry for years or someone who has just started. I also think that anyone who struggled in any way during the 2020-2021 years with mental health, with covid, with work, with family, etc. might also find something meaningful they connect with in these pages.
Qn 3: Out of all the books in the world, and all the authors, which are your favourite and why?
Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors and humans. But I also enjoy a wide variety of sci-fi authors as well as poets. Frank Herbet, author of the Dune series, would be my classic go-to while James S.A. Corey would be the most recent author I have been reading (the expanse series). As far as poets, I enjoy have enjoyed reading and following the works of the following poets: Brenda Shaunessy, Louise Glück, Denez Smith, Maggie Nelson, Charles Bukowski, Langston Hughes, Richard Brautigan, Terrance Hayes, Ocean Vuong, Edgar Allan Poe, r.h. Sin, Sally Wen Mao, Alexandra Vasiliu, Melissa Studdard, Rupi Kaur, Tracy K Smith, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Patricia Smith, and J. Daniel Cruz.
As you can see, I have a wide variety of ranges, from classic poets such as Poe to formerly twitter poets like r.h. Sin. I believe that poetry is such a wide-range art you can find gems nearly everywhere you look, so I am constantly buying new books and reading them because while I do enjoy writing poetry reading poetry is definitely a very close second for me.
Qn 4: What guidance would you offer to someone new, or trying to enhance their writing?
I think the first piece of advice I would give is that you need to be writing every single day. Even if all you are doing to writing a plan, an outline or jotting down ideas or concepts or brainstorming. Writing every day makes it a habit and when you do something daily you simply become better at it. Secondly, I would say get yourself a good core group of friends, family and professionals who can constantly read and critique your work. This helps you develop yourself as a writer.
Qn 5: Where can our readers find out more about you, do you have a website, or a way to be contacted?
Sure! They can visit my Amazon author page here: https://amzn.to/3NjGGKZ
And they can visit this website as well to get in contact with me: https://icnhpublishing.com/
Be the first to comment