Introducing Nathan Guertler
Nathan Guertler submitted his poetry chapbook Internal Abyss to Jack Wild Publishing; the first of many great works to come. In fact, Nathan hopes to publish it as a full collection of poetry in the near future. When writing the majority of his poems, he is typically overwhelmed with a certain emotion, thought or memory that he just can’t shake. He then writes exactly what he’s feeling in that moment as the last line of the poem, and works backwards from there. Art in reverse is an interesting concept that Nathan fully encompasses. Nathan never writes poems based on the title of the collection; interestingly, he writes the poem first and creates a title based on the overall feeling.
In essence, his poetry writes itself sometimes! He has been writing poetry since he was around seven years old. After a good friend of his published their poetry book, it inspired him to begin working on his own. He initially started writing poetry as an expression of his own feelings and in an attempt to understand them. Now, he wants to share those thoughts and feelings with the world. To get those beautiful words out of his head, he consistently does all of his writing on his phone. Sometimes he feels the urge to jot down an idea at the gym, at work, or even at dinner, so it’s a good idea to keep his writing tool close. He doesn’t have a set day or time to write. Instead, he puts ink to phone whenever he gets the urge to, often just before bed, resulting in him staying up later than he should!
The most difficult part about writing for Nathan has always been building the courage to share his work. He pours his entire being into writing, and it makes him feel vulnerable. However, he believes that the power poetry has to make people relate to his feelings and thoughts helps him overcome this fear. He feels that sometimes the best thing to do is to just write down your emotions, feel them, understand them, and then try to accurately and artistically portray them on paper; he finds it to be a tiring but fun challenge! In the process, he feels both energized and exhausted by writing. On the one hand, being flooded by fantastic ideas keeps him excited, but then on the other, it can drain him sometimes and he’ll need to take breaks during the dark and deep sections of his poetry. He considers his poem “Purple” to be his favorite, and tears up every time he reads it. Scott Felix is the author that most inspired his own writing, but Nathan does not consider himself much of a reader. He does enjoy some poetry books and other thought-provoking words he comes across, though, notably Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.
When he isn’t staying up all night to write, he enjoys spending time with friends and family, gyming to keep his writing muscles strong, and gaming. For Nathan, literary success is continuing to build the courage to share his work and having his poems potentially resonate with others, all while growing artistically and emotionally. His advice for new writers would be to pull out your phone and just keep writing what you’re feeling; if anything, it’s a fantastic way to process your emotions!
You can find Nathan Guertler on Instagram as @nate_guertler or email him at nathanguertler76@gmail.com.