On May 9th, 2025, we explored culture, complementary passions, and the therapeutic value of poetry with YPL Finalist Noemi Romero. She attends Pajaro Valley High School.
How would you introduce yourself to someone reading your work?
I was thinking about this, and I was trying to figure out a way to say this. It would probably start with me being Mexican-American because that plays a huge role in how I write. A lot of my writing has Spanish in it. It's a mix of English and Spanish, and that's how I usually write.
I'm from San Diego, and I grew up there. That's something I would probably also lead with. I'm a Mexican American writer who grew up between both Watsonville and San Diego, which are totally different worlds to me. It was a very hard transition for me and my sister.
What brought you up north?
I used to live in San Diego because my dad's family is located there. My parents separated when I was about nine to ten years old. And my mom has no family down there.
She has two sisters here in the US. One lives in Milwaukee, and the closest one to her was my aunt, who lives here in Watsonville. So when the separation happened, my mom wanted to get us far away from my dad, just to remove us from a very toxic situation. It brought a lot of danger to our mental and physical health. So my mom decided to relocate us up here with my aunt.
Does writing poetry serve as a release for you?
Yeah. A lot of the poetry I get the most positive feedback on is what I’ve written when I couldn’t really express myself to people or articulate words, in that sense. But as soon as I sat down and started writing, it just happened.
What writers do you love or feel inspired by?
I actually have one of their books right next to me. I really like Celia Martinez. She's a Mexican American poet, and she's such an inspiration to me. I think she was also a Youth Poet Laureate where she grew up. But, she started coming up a lot on my TikTok, and I just started hearing a lot of her poetry and how she writes. On her social media, she's always encouraging people to get out there and share their poetry and write, and express who they are, too. There's a lot of her Mexican-American side to her writing, too.
And then there's this other person that I started listening to on TikTok too, a little bit before Celia started to come up on my For You page. Her name is Vianney Harelly, and she's actually located in San Diego. She's very much about healing her inner child after experiencing family trauma. She talks a lot about how she lost her dad and how she had that broken connection with her dad, and how her mom's relationship is also affected. So she's the first person who showed me that through poetry, I can have that outlet, and that other people feel the same way as me.
San Diego is a really cool hotbed for Chicano art and creative activity. Did growing up in that environment influence your own development as a poet?
Definitely. I feel like my development didn't happen so much in San Diego, but after moving to Watsonville and realizing that Chicano culture isn't as prominent, or isn't called “Chicano culture”. It's like you're Mexican American. A lot of kids are not as connected or not taught to celebrate it as much because it's so common between everybody here.
That just made me wanna keep embracing my Mexican-American side, my Chicano side, even more as I write. Even lately, I've been trying to reconnect with and embrace that part of me that loved the way I used to dress or certain parts of my identity.
What topics generate writing that you're most proud of?
One of the poems that I read at the Youth Poet Laureate celebration was a poem I wasn't super confident in, but as soon as I started sharing it with people, they were like, “Oh my god. She's so good.” I feel like that's my best writing, which was, I think, the one I opened with.
Topics about social justice are things that I'm very passionate about. Like, everything that has to do with immigration and things like that, just because there are such powerful emotions that I know how to write about because I've been experiencing them firsthand. As well as poetry that has to do with your emotions, which I don't know what kind of genre I would fall into, and your inner child. I do think that it's what I excel in.
What other passions are pushing you forward, and do you see those having a connection with your poetic practice?
Definitely. I discovered my love for theater at the same time as I started writing poetry. Reading out loud at the celebration really made me realize how a lot of things are connected. In theater, we learn how to use our body, how to use our voice, to give the audience this feeling that you have to interpret. And maybe you're not necessarily feeling it at that moment, but you have to give that emotion.
I feel that my theater background has definitely helped the way I deliver my poems. I'm also in cheer, which is a lot of body movement, a lot of discipline. That may not necessarily help me in poetry, but it's another type of outlet that I use. But my theater background is definitely a huge part of my poetry.
Right now, we're working on a lot of projects around school, and I’m asked, “Do you want to help us out with the poetry? We want to include poetry in this.”
Have you had mentor figures in your life who have gotten you to this point?
Yes. I'm such a lucky person to have three major teachers who are always encouraging me to do more and just go for things. Mrs. Harkins has definitely been one of the biggest supporters. I met her in my freshman year, and she found out about the opportunity with the Youth Poet Laureate program. She was like, ‘You should try out for this. ’ I was like, ‘I don't know’. I post my poems on TikTok sometimes, and she came across them a few days later. She was like, ‘No. You have to submit your application.' And I did. And this amazing thing came out of it.
My cheer coach is supportive. Today, she finally got around to listening to my poetry, and she was like, 'Keep doing what you're doing. You're doing really great.' As well as my theater teacher. I have people around me, and I'm so lucky to have those teachers because they're super encouraging.