"Hello, my name is Nicholas Grooms, I am originally from Garden City, KS but I currently live in Austin, TX. I am a writer, poet, hip-hop artist and a very proud father. I am very excited you asked me to do this! Thank you so much for having me."

"Pretty much all day long as it pops into my head. I jot and jot and work on many things at once as they come to me. I feel like anytime I devote a large quantity of time to sitting and writing I find myself trying to pull length from the jotted lyrics and ideas pile and I have the task of getting it into a concrete shape. Sometimes I can sit and write a whole piece, but more often than not, I just compile a lot of ideas and build. It's a good formula that has served me well. And I often end up with a lot of finished or nearly finished pieces all at once."

"I am currently hooked on “A Dissection of Memories” from my Crying Heart Press teammate and friend Ashley Bradley. Her poetry is so hard hitting and makes me keep coming back to read it again and again. I always have a book to peek at anywhere I go and that one has become my go to. I read it and can’t believe it's her debut. It's so fine and polished and full of amazing lines that just stick with you long after you put the book down.

"I'm such a sucker for books about bands and music as well, I have been really into “Red Letter Days” a memoir by Matt Pryor, singer of the band The Get Up Kids who are a Kansas staple and my all time favorite band. A lot of my poetry is inspired by midwest emo and punk rock music, specifically Matt’s work all through his catalog. He’s gotta be getting sick of me tagging him Instagram stories by now. I feel like it's a weekly occurrence with how much I love his work.

"I know you said three, but I’ve got to show love to a few I’ve reread and stayed stuck on, since I can’t narrow it down; Lauren Oertel & Robert Lily “Inside Out : A Texas Prison Story”, Vaughn Ross “The Main Event”, Nina Nicole Gardner’s “The Composition of Returns” and of course, my most worn out book (cover and dog eared pages, not the content) over the last couple of years, Bree Bailey’s “Wailing on Whisper Street” from Write Bloody Press. I have a lot of books on my shelf and it was incredibly hard to pick only three, especially when these are the ones I am picking up over and over. My friends are all incredible and I feel so lucky to be considered worthy of working beside them."

"That’s an easy one to answer; Working around my kids and their needs. Being a stay at home / work from home parent is the most thankless job there is. Writing becomes such a start and stop process when you are constantly being interrupted or spoken to with random questions. It's definitely made me better in the respect of distractions while I am performing, though. Background noise, be damned! My two screaming kids rocking to Danny Go with the television turned up way too loud have me well trained to ignore anything."

"Two things really. The first is when someone really engages with something I wrote and it resonates enough that they reach out to tell me it inspired them or helped them in some way. Nothing can touch that feeling. Every so often, someone will tell me I gave them the itch to submit for publication, or that I helped them find the courage to post publicly or finally go to an open mic to perform. That’s where the second part of my enjoyment comes in, the moment I get to be the hypeman and get to root for others to succeed. To watch someone go from being too scared to perform or to post, to feeling brave enough to become part of this amazing community…It's incredible! It just reminds me of all of the amazing mentors I have had along the way. It's a beautiful cycle when everyone remembers we're all on the same team doing this thing we love."

"Just be yourself. I have had times where I wrote things tailored to a style or a popular artist I thought people would gravitate towards. I was looking for something that resonated with everyone, but it just felt like I was manufacturing more than I was letting myself onto the page. It’s hard to find your own voice when you’re busy doing an impression. We’re all guilty of it at some point. Everyone wants to be accepted and liked, but I’d rather be the guy that told you something about myself that matters to me. It took me a while to figure that out. I’d let myself in on that a lot sooner. I’ve had so much fun just being myself and having so many poets and readers accept me for the weirdo I am that I could never go back."

"I have just completed a split chapbook with an amazing friend and poet, Gaby Ortiz that focuses on the current political climate and what it has felt like to her as an immigrant trying to go about it legally. I add some dark humor and some poems that freeze the gross incompetence of this administration in time, but Gaby really carries the book with her brilliance and I am so honored she asked me to be a part of it. I have also just completed a new chapbook I am hoping to drop soon as well. And of course, I'm always submitting and looking for places to network and grow. I should have more information on books and all that jazz in the next few weeks if anyone wants to follow my Instagram page. I'm excited to release some new work!"

"I love spending time with my kids, there is nothing in this life that hits like a Superman action figure battle or putting fridge pack soda boxes on our arms and pretending to have a robot war. I am also a music hound who refuses to use streaming services so I have quite the collection of CD’s, records and cassettes and spend a lot of time with music on. I also collect pop culture items, stuff from obscure movies and tv shows. I have always had an affinity for thrifting and hitting the flea markets and my parents turned me into a collector at an early age. And of course, I love to go find places to perform and read."

"Wu-Tang is forever. 'With great power comes great responsibility. AI artists are artists too…"