Noah Borromeo: In the Mood to Write...
Name, Zodiac Sign, anything else?
I’m Noah Borromeo, I am 21, I’m a Capricorn Sun, Cancer Moon, and a Scorpio rising, He/They pronouns
Aside from a poet what else are you?
I’m an idiot. I don't know, I mean I’m a student, I am a son....You know people are always like “i’m a mother, I’m a wife, I’m a sister,” but yeah no I have a really good relationship with my Mom
When did you write your first poem?
So the first thing I can remember writing, not a poem but I wrote something in like fourth or fifth grade, was this very angsty song in my room in the middle of the night. I remember the next day being like, “yeah this is it.” Mind you, I don’t know how to write or compose music so it was just the lyrics and I was singing them to myself in this off-rhythm but that’s the first time I wrote a poem verse
What was it about?
I don't know, I think it was about being heartbroken but I was like 12
Why do you continue to write? Were there gaps or were you a writer the whole time?
No, I journaled a lot on and off...but I keep writing for two reasons; One, it has become the only thing in my life that I find as the clearest way I can communicate with people and myself and also because I want to make it my life, my work. But mostly because I don't know any other way to say what I’m thinking in a concise way because I think a million miles per minute, when I speak, I trip over my own words as I am right now. When I write and look at what I’ve written and I know it as a clear thought line it’s the purest form of my expression that I can offer somebody. So it’s really just to communicate, [because] I’m really bad at expressing love and gratitude so sometimes I'll write and just be like here read this.
Can you only write in a specific location? What is your process to write a poem?
So my writing process is essentially, I’m out and about everyday and I see something, an image, or like a woman walking and she has on a coat. So I’ll just write that down “women in fur coat,” and I’ll remember that. Or if the line or sense of what I want to write comes, I’ll write as much as I can in my notes app and then later when I’m home, I’ll write it in my notebook or copy and paste it on a document to keep writing from there. But I always have to be in the mood to sit down to go through notes and notebooks and cherry pick what goes together, and what really speaks. That’s the process, out and about everyday, write in the notes app, get home, copy and paste. Sometimes they’re almost full poems in the flesh but most times it’s just lines.
Has being a poet caused dating problems?
Yes, yes, so many problems, and you know why? As i said before, poetry is my best way to communicate but it is also my worst way. Everytime it’s caused a problem, I’ll write something then I’ll post it instead of just saying what I felt to that person. They’ll see it and ask, “Why didn’t you just say this to me?” And it's like, because I physically could not tell you this in plain speech, in just a conversation. It’s the same thing if somebody is dating a popstar or whoever. You know what you’re getting into and you know you have to deal with it. If anybody told me right off the bat while dating them, “I don't want you to write about me, nor say anything.” I’d be like, “We can’t do this then.”
Do you think we can make poetry go as mainstream as visual mediums?
Oh absolutely, I think it already has to an extent, but I’m not talking about Rupi Kaur mainstream. I think there is a big difference between that kind of mainstream poetry and making poetry written by, I hate to use the words, real poets.That is poetry catered to Instagram feeds and Twitter. I want poetry to be more accessible in its most purest unfiltered form.
Where can your poetry be accessed?
I have a writing instagram