"My Mental State has a Midwest Shape" by Nicholas Grooms

A poetic memoir set in the backdrop of a small, melting pot city in Southwest Kansas. Nicholas Grooms grew up in a community that thrives on farming, meat processing, stormy weather and too many good Mexican food restaurants to count. While growing up in a landlocked state in the middle of the map, Grooms chased his dreams of performing in hardcore/metal bands, as an independent hip-hop artist and inevitably found his home as a heralded poet, slam poet and author. With publishing credits in periodicals such as Ionosphere, Midsummer Dreamhouse, Villain Era Lit, Pictura Journal, Suburban Witchcraft and countless others, Grooms' work navigates the waters of growing up and experiencing childhood traumas such as death, infidelity, weight gain, exclusion, inconsistent living situations and having a best friend fighting Leukemia. The book navigates the see-saw battle between "homesick and sick of home" in a back forth tilt between wanting to be where you feel the most comfortable then yearning to leave the moment you are there and stuck in your position. Winner of the 2024 Elban R. Magana book prize and heralded by the Yonkers Observer as: "delicate, truthful, heart wrenching, thoughtful and sometimes flat out mean in its honesty from a writer who seemingly thrives while writing about the life he has lived in his boldly proclaimed “Two States”...." proving that even when you're not in Kansas anymore, you never truly leave.