POETRY BY NICHOLAS TANA
Nicholas Tana, an Amazon award-winning director, Disney-published author, and versatile musician, achieved acclaim for his creative journey with Hell’s Kitty. Originating as a web series and evolving into a graphic novel, the horror-comedy project called Hell’s Kitty soared to new heights as a film and an award-winning musical at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
His extensive portfolio spans writing, directing, and producing for Smart Media L.L.C. (www.smartmediallc.com), showcasing notable works like the Amazon award-winning documentary Sticky: A (Self) Love Story and We are Animals, a documentary on animal rights. His diverse repertoire extends to acclaimed children’s stories, including Monsters are Afraid of Babies and The Little Lion that Listened, an Independent Press award winner for both best picture book and best audiobook in 2023.
Recent accomplishments include his sci-fi horror graphic novel eJUNKY, distributed by Simon and Schuster, and the grand prize-winning entry in the 2023 Horror2Comic Competition titled Hillbillies vs. Alien Chickens.
Discover more about Nicholas Tana at www.nicholastana.com.
SHADOWS
Shadows in the night
Which follow me everywhere
Vanish in the light
BLACK HOLE HEART
I noticed last night
A hole in my chest
The size of a Japanese kite.
Started as a spec
The tiniest of dots,
Empty as the universe,
Space between stars.
My girl saw my heart
Beating so open
She thought I was falling apart
Am I a victim of conspiracy,
Delusion or disease?
How am I to live
To fill this void?
If it continues to expand, soon, I’ll be erased—
I must tell the world since I can’t keep secrets,
With my insides out,
It’s hard to keep anything in.
I give birth to darkness, the size of a fist
Ready to strike—
A big bang, an unhappy ending,
A blast from a shot gun, sans blood and guts.
An all-consuming expansion with time—
Despite doing all that I can to distract myself
It’s (now) obvious,
I’ve become both the victim and monster in my own B-movie!
As the emptiness looms, stomach disappears;
How can I not stop thinking about it?
If I ignore this growing void,
Will the nothingness disappear?
Will I vanish forever or become one with the universe?
Some folks think I’m a fool
For running around looking like some kind of goon;
Others keep themselves too distracted to care
Either way, it’s bringing me down
It’s hard to look cool
With a chest
As black as the ground
I’ve got a black hole in my body now…
Maybe, it’s just one big cosmic joke?
Perhaps, I should let all the silly people stare through my chest
To wave to a neighbor or friend?
I don’t think it’s going away
It’s getting bigger today
‘Circling round and round
It’s gonna take over this town.
WORLD EATER
In bed, the boy lies comatose,
Crippled and dying,
One foot in this world,
Another in the next,
Some state before death, beyond consciousness
While his mother seeks signs of life and doctors keep him (barely) alive!
If mother could see through his vapid gaze
His mind remains very much active and alive,
On a mission beyond her wildest dreams!
In his consciousness, he’s capable of devouring black holes!
In other cosmoses, the mere mention of his name
Conjures horripilation and capitulation!
As he closes his eyes in this realm, he opens his mind in another.
In this hidden reality, he manifests as a gaping mouth of darkness consuming stars,
Gobbling galaxies of souls
While distant, shadowy figures gaze upon his greatness,
Their consciousness snuffed out in nanoseconds,
Because here, he is known as “World Eater.”
Still in bed, however, the boy rests feebly, while two people decide his fate:
“We should take him off life support,” suggests his mother’s lover.
But the child couldn’t care less; he’s busy swallowing stars as his body dims.
His mother stares through tears, giving up one hope for another,
Somewhere beyond time, in another plane of existence, more planets are consumed.
For as long as he is on life support, the boy shall remain a devourer of dreams.