Barbara Leonhard: The title of this collection inspires a strong image. Standing Lonely in the Alley. How did you come up with the title for the book?
Ken Tomaro: Uh, good question. The short answer is, most of my poetry comes from a place of living with depression, and consequently, your circle of friends can be very small or non-existent. The long answer is I used to walk around downtown Cleveland and take photos of the architecture. I came across a really sketchy-looking alley, and a single pigeon was standing at the opening, and that thought popped into my mind, so I called the chapbook Standing Lonely in the Alley. The photo has since been used as the cover art for Alien Buddha Zine #42…in case anyone wants to see it.
Barbara: In what way does your epigraph, “poet laureate of the Cleveland sewer system,” set the tone for this collection?
Ken: Maybe not specifically for this collection, but my writing as a whole. It feels like you have to know someone who knows someone in the literary world to get your work out there. Or you need an MFA, several books published, or awards next to your name. I don’t have a writing background or an MFA, and my work is the exact opposite of what I consider academic writing. It’s blue-collar poetry that I hope appeals to the average person, so the poet laureate thing is just me making fun of the whole process. It’s a title that means nothing.
Barbara: The poetry in this collection explores emotions through Neo-noir humor. What was your frame of mind while composing these poems? Can humor heal?
Ken: I’ve always used humor as a way of coping with life, depression, and all those themes I cover. This life, as I think we all know, is going to be really crazy in the next few months. I firmly believe that humor heals, and we’ll need it to navigate the times. My frame of mind for any of my poems is, well, I don’t know it until the words pop into my head, where my thought process will be.
Barbara: Your poems are playfully sardonic with witty end lines. How do you design poems to lead the reader to profound insights?
Ken: I can’t say I’ve ever designed a poem. Everything that comes out of my head is organic, so they lead me, I don’t lead them. As far as playfully sardonic, which is a description I love, that is my personality. I write what I know and write in the way I speak. Even though I have a sarcastic, slightly grim view of life, there is a tiny spark somewhere in me that sees a bit of hope in this world.
Barbara: These poems explore nostalgia, love, grief, depression, and other emotions. How would you like or expect your readers to respond?
Ken: Oh, maybe just that the writing is relatable on any level or that it evokes any kind of emotion. I use nostalgia a lot, and I’m showing my age in saying that I like to go back to simpler times.
Barbara: The titles of your poems are creative. What advice can you give on how to write effective poem titles? What do you hope the titles can do?
Ken: I’m glad you think they are creative because I can not stress enough how much I HATE coming up with the titles. I feel like I spend X amount of time crafting a poem, and then I have to spend more time coming up with the perfect hook or tag line to reel people in. If I remember correctly, initially, when I submitted the chapbook, I titled every single poem ‘Nope,’ and it still got accepted. I suck at it, and I hate it, and all I can say to the readers is, please excuse my titles and go straight to the poem. For the second and third part of the question, the only advice I could give is just do what feels right, and again, my hope would be that the title draws the reader in, but how can I expect that when some of my titles have absolutely nothing to do with the poem itself? I must have done something right, or you wouldn’t be interviewing me…
Barbara: And this is why you don’t sell” is a commentary poem. Who is the audience and why?
Ken: I guess I’m taking a dig at the academic side of writing again. It can feel like some people don’t take you seriously or consider you a poet unless you sell a ton of books. I write because I like to, because it’s good therapy, and a few random people out there do like my poetry. The writing world is so over-saturated that it’s unrealistic to think I’ll be the next prominent writer, so if only 3 people are listening, that’s three more people than I expected in the first place.
Barbara: These poems reveal your internal world. How does everyday life influence your poetry?
Ken: I think you kind of answered that yourself. All I have to do is walk out the front door or just look outside, and there is a poem to be written. Everyday life is there, whether we want to confront it or not. It’s unavoidable, so instead of running from it, I embrace it and put it to words.
Barbara: What inspired you to become a poet? What is your writing process? Does poetry have value today?
Ken: This could be a really long answer, so I’ll try to keep it short. I wrote some short stories many years ago, and a friend said my style reminded him of Charles Bukowski. I had never heard of him, but I picked up a few books and instantly fell in love with his simple storytelling style. Anyone who knows the name Charles Bukowski either loves him or hates him. He, for the most part, was a horrible person, but his writing inspired me to at least try writing poetry.
I’m not sure if I have a specific process. A single word, sentence, or fragmented thought pops into my head, and I roll with it. I do believe it has value today. I understand poetry can be a hard sell, but on some level, I don’t know why it doesn’t. A lot of poetry is very short, so it seems like people would get into it because our attention spans have gone down the crapper over the years. I feel that poetry, at least mine, is still somewhat of an underground thing, which is cool, but occasionally I wish it would rise to the top.
Barbara: What projects are you working on now?
Ken: How much time do you have? I had another chapbook come out earlier this year and I’m still trying to promote it. My mind is a cherry pit withering in the sun, by Ken Tomaro – Bottlecap Press. Still adding to the website and hopefully will have some animation to go with some of the poetry.
Still trying to find a place to display the poet-tree.
I’m still working on the YouTube channel, although I’ve become pretty lazy with it. 18 subscribers is 18 more than I ever expected. Screaming Down the Poetic Highway – YouTube
Still working on coming up with titles for poems for around 20 unpublished chapbooks. That’s about it. Thank you, good night. We love you all!
It was a delight to spend time with Ken Tomaro! Standing Lonely in the Alley is now available for preorder. The paperback launches on June 24, the ebook on June 28. Follow this link to access the book.
Author Biography
Until recently, Ken Tomaro had never considered writing poetry. Not when he slid from the womb. Not when he felt the first tingle of teen hormones. Not after he got married, divorced, moved to another city, lost a couple of jobs, and moved back. It just sort of happened. Ken Tomaro, self-proclaimed poet laureate of the Cleveland sewer system, has been writing poetry for a few short years. He’s not famous, rich, recognized, or read in schools across America. He has been published in several literary journals, done a couple of podcasts, and started the YouTube channel Screaming Down the Poetic Highway, and that’s pretty damn impressive.
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