Coming Events

J.T. Trigonis has been a staple of the poetry scene in New Jersey since the ‘90s, and now he is coming to Soldato to read from his newest publication— his debut chapbook, Through the Wreckage. Read Soldato’s interview with Trigonis to learn more about the wreckage he got through in this publication, his connection with the artistic community, and his advice for writers!

Mia Guzzo: Could you introduce yourself to readers who may just be discovering your work? 

J.T. Trigonis: I am John T. Trigonis, John Trigonis, and Trig to my close friends. I'm the writer of Through the Wreckage, which is my first book of selected poetry. Selected [meaning] that I chose all the things that I consider, and that people have told me are, bangers. I've done about eight self-published chapbooks throughout my 25, 30 years doing this-- this was the first one that was not self-published. I've also been a staple of the open mic poetry scene in New York, New Jersey, specifically Hudson County since the '90s.

MG: You said that this is your first formally published book. What was different about putting this together versus the other chapbooks that you have published previously? 

JTT:  My other books that I put together were just whatever I was writing that was new; every single poem in Through the Wreckage is its own thing. That comes with its own challenges: organizing [the poems,] putting them in the right order to make sure people don't get too much of one theme and then not enough of this. Even the best poets have filler and, instead of making a book with filler, I'd rather do chapbooks with 16 to 20 poems that just hit. 

MG: How would you describe this chapbook, Through the Wreckage? 

JTT: It's old. I think the first time “Old ‘89” was published was 2001. Some of the ideas of the time when I was writing it were: cars, broken hearts, and stuff that I would consider sort of trite nowadays, but it’s heavy when you're experiencing it. It's really a collection that shows me getting over breakups and being a real asshole for whatever reason-- but, also a thoughtful one, you know? A person who's thinking about: how can I be better? 

Also, a lot of diners. Very Jersey. If I had to describe it: it's a very Jersey collection. I don't ever want poetry, mine or anybody's, to be this esoteric shit that only a select group of people can understand. That's not a poem, that's not enjoyable. [Instead,] here's a hamburger reference and how I got into a car accident and here's a reframed line of a song that you may or may not remember. 

MG: Were there any themes that shaped the writing of this collection? 

JTT:  Nostalgia is one. There's a bunch of fucked up love poems-- like a really crazy Tom Waits type album that you play and just can’t get enough of because you've been there-- and you want to go back, but you don't want to go back because it was such a bad time. It was so bad it was good. A little bit of everything, but love and trying to get on the other side of the wreckage of a life misplaced [especially.]

MG: Was writing this chapbook like a healing process? Is there anything that you discovered about yourself while putting it together or writing these?

JTT: In the writing of them, I was sort of getting over a really bad breakup. I had gotten through that because I had written like a whole chapbook of stuff that kinda took care of that, but there was something that was lingering. I thought that you never truly move on, you just move past. In putting Through the Wreckage together, I realized, “Oh, you can completely move on now,” [because] these poems feel like stories from another life. 

MG: Soldato is a book and record store in an art center, so we definitely understand how important it is for artists to have their own artistic inspirations. Who are some musical, literary, or any other artists that inspired you in writing this? 

JTT: Yeah, I love that question. The big one for this particular collection is Tom Waits, for sure. He's been inspirational ever since I saw him on David Letterman way back during his Real Gone tour. I was like, "Who the fuck is that?" My dad didn't even know what to make of it, but I was so enthralled by that raspy voice, the look. I honestly think he's a poet first above anything else. A  little bit of Leonard Cohen. Basically, the two guys I have in my quotes at the beginning. 

MG: Do you wanna talk a bit about your store, as well? 

JTT: I run a vintage shop/used bookstore called ‘Sure Things’ in good old Jersey City Heights-- best neighborhood in Jersey City. I've been doing that with my partner for five years this October. We have the ‘By The Way Magazine,’ which is a magazine of poetry and visual art, and it is made possible from a grant from the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund. 

We've been running an open mic series we run called WAYE, standing for: We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm, which is, of course, the infamous first line of every rejection letter you've ever gotten. We run that every last Wednesday of the month. It's nice to be able to own a shop and not be so capitalistically minded [with the open mics,] where you don’t have anyone saying, "Well, this isn't really worth the time. I'm losing money with the electric bill." We do this for the sake of hearing each other and being in community together. 

MG: You're going to be having an event at Soldato on July 9th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. Would you like to share for readers what this event will entail? 

JTT: Yeah, I'm gonna read some shit. Some stuff from Through the Wreckage, but I'm also going to read some more modern contemporary stuff that I've been writing. I know the point of these things is to read from the book to sell the book, but, again, [I’m] not capitalistically minded. I'm going to read a few from the book and then I’ll just read because I love to read. It'll be a journey; from Through the Wreckage into the new wreckage, because the country's a fucking wreck. So, we're going to just be going from one wreckage to the next and then hopefully get through it. 

MG: What about this space and community at Soldato made you interested in having an event here? 

JTT: It feels like a nice home. Books, records, music in general are very important to me, it's always been important to me, and Soldato is all of those things combined. The fact, too, that the Williams Center also has an underground theater cinema and I used to be an independent filmmaker for 10 years. It's got all the arts in this one building that means a lot to me. It's really special to be doing this.

MG: What would you like readers to take away from reading Through the Wreckage? 

JTT: One thing is [how] we all go through the same stuff. You may not know some of the references in these poems, but I'm hoping that I did my job as a poet well enough where you feel it. You'll get a sense of the loss, the brokenheartedness, the nostalgia. It doesn't have to be my nostalgia-- it can be yours. People would sometimes ask me, "What does this poem mean?" and I would just put the question back to them because I know what I got out of it, but that’s not the point. You know, I did my part. What did you get? They would tell me and even though it's very unique to them, I get it. I can see it. At the end of the day, it's just a book of poems about a moment in time that's no longer that moment. It's frozen and it's in the past-- it could be my past or your past. 

Two is: if you're a fellow writer and a poet, you're never too old to get your first official book published. I used to say, "I'm gonna self-publish, and I'll staple it by myself and hand them out for free because fuck capitalism." I gotta say, it's kinda nice to get paid for a book of your poetry and have money for coffee because somebody bought your art. I don't regret giving away hundreds of copies of my handmade chapbooks to people who just needed poetry [but] back in the '90s and very early 2000s, you weren't paying for poetry from a no-name poet. Nowadays, it's so different. It's just such a different time and such a different appreciation for people's fucking souls. That's what I tell everybody: just publish. Put your shit out there. Get it out there, whether it's one poem or whether it's a chapbook or a full-length book. Just put yourself out there and try to get over the inhibitions or, in my case, the ignorance of just being too hard-headed.

The Far Side of the Moon by Nikki Nagorny brings the reader into a far future where the earth no longer rotates and a young woman risks her life to fight for her planet; now, Nagorny brings their debut science-fiction title to Soldato! Keep reading to learn more about their book signing event on July 13th from 5-7pm, why they wanted to write this novel, and the importance of sharing your art with the world.

Mia Guzzo: Could you share some of your creative and professional background?

Nikki Nagorny: I actually am mostly self-taught. [Growing up,] I was just alone in my room writing stories, drawing. had a lot to say when I was young. So my mom was like, okay, this is an outlet for them. When I was in college, I took a creative writing class and a screenwriting class-- I loved it so much. 

MG: How would you describe The Far Side of The Moon to somebody that's looking to read it? 

NN: If  you're feeling like you have all these thoughts inside of your head you don't know what to do with and you want someone to relate to-- that's this book. I created the main character, Terra, in response to what I was feeling at the time. She more or less became someone that I admired; I envied [her] for the longest time because I wanted to be like this person, but I couldn't at the minute. This book and this character is for anyone who has ever felt that way too. 

MG: You’ve mentioned with Terra how it was difficult to let her story go. What has it felt like releasing her into the world? 

NN: I feel like you kind of hit the nail on the head when you said like releasing her because she is very much attached to my past and with my past friends that I've had. There's some friends [I had] when I started writing her that I'm no longer talking to them. She has been with me through so many life stages that it just felt weird to say: “It's time. I want other people to read it, too. I want other people to experience it even if this will open up memories and everything like that.”

MG: Was there a reason that you decided to write [The Far Side of the Moon] under Young Adult Science Fiction? Was it always going to be that genre? 

NN: I think it was just [because] some of my greatest inspirational pieces of media have been the Avatar series. Then it was The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner.  I was just always drawn to it as a kid-- the concept of dystopia. I was always thinking: “Okay, how are we as a species going to survive that? Is it possible?” Then something like that did end up happening [with the COVID-19 pandemic] and we all had to survive it and figure it out. The movies made it seem a lot more cool and exciting. 

MG: Everyone wore cool outfits and it seemed a lot sexier for some reason. 

NN: Right. In reality, it’s like, “Well. Everyone's just sad and inside and cold and sick.”

MG: The fact that all of these dystopian things are happening now [or were happening,] does that make sci-fi and dystopian more or less appealing for you as genres? 

NN: I would say that it's just become life. It's always been appealing, and I feel like it always will be appealing. There is a morbid curiosity in all of us and I feel like we always want to get to the nitty-gritty of something. From my time working in a school system and working with the public in that way, I have realized that no one wants to open up the band-aid and look at what's inside-- it's the same thing with science fiction. Once you do, yeah, you'll still feel uncomfortable, but at least you've addressed the problem. 

MG: Who are some authors, musicians, or otherwise that inspired you while writing this collection? 

NN: Well, definitely the “2001: A Space Odyssey” series by Arthur C. Clarke. I read the whole book series. People are always asking: “Is the book named after the Pink Floyd song?” Yes. Yes, it is. I was just into really grungy type music at the time [of writing] five years ago. Also Imogen Heap and Julien Baker [because] listening to those music art with those very earthy tones kind of set the tune like when I was writing. 

MG: You mentioned in the acknowledgement and dedication about your friend Isabel. Do you want to share a bit about how Isabel inspired you and on the experience of having 22Q?

NN:  Of course. Isabel passed on far too soon for anyone's expectations-- she was only 18. Me and her met during a study and at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx on 22Q in teenagers going into adulthood because there's not a lot of research done [on the subject.] It was such a profound meeting where we both said, “Oh, there's someone else like me. You've experienced this too.”  We talked about Broadway and we talked about how much we love writing and how much we love drawing and everything like that. I felt so protective of her. I feel like we've all had someone in our life who's been like that [where we have] such a strong instinct to hold on. I told her that the first book that I write would be dedicated to her. 

I hope that I honor her and that I get  people talking about 22Q; we're just like any other person, we just have a missing chromosome. The way it affected me was intellectual disability, so I had a low developmental delay. I had a motor disability. Growing up, it was a very alienating experience, so knowing Isabel and knowing that there are probably hundreds of other young Isabels that exist out there helped so much. I hope that with my acknowledgments, even though it was hard for me to write, I hope that it reaches someone. 

MG: Thank you very much for sharing and I am sure Isabel would be very proud. Besides raising awareness, why else do you think people should read this book? 

NN: If you just want to have a good time escaping from the world for five minutes. If you want a little extended period to escape into a world where the main character tries to take on and dismantle an authoritarian government, you can do that. If that sounds like a good time, go for it. Enjoy yourself. Just read it and enjoy yourself.

MG: You're going to be having an event for this book in Soldato on July 13th from 5-7pm. Why is it important for you to connect with these local venues and be a part of this artistic community? 

NN: Art is so much better when shared. When I was working at a middle school last year, there was a creative writing teacher who was so thrilled that I wrote a book. I was saying to her how I'm so glad you're having these ethical conversations about AI in the classroom because the main reason why I published, why I still write, and why I still draw is to show these kids, the younger generation, that you can still be creative. You can still create things, even if it's just drawing a stick figure-- you're doing something and I want to encourage that and to keep that art alive. While I may not be doing paraprofessional or SPED work now, I'm glad I made long-lasting connections with those teachers.

MG: Is there anything I didn't ask about that you'd like to share? 

NN: I guess just this whole experience has been so rewarding. If I were to do this all over again, I would definitely not have waited so long because I feel like Terra’s story needed to be told and it needed to be told yesterday. I just hope that when people read the book, they feel a connection to Terra, the story, and the characters. 

This is a love letter to my family and to my friends. To anyone else who reads, thank you for taking a chance on it-- that's just awesome, you're really cool for that.