Synkroniciti is excited to welcome poet Leila Tualla, who opens our “Audacity” issue with “— fearless in my forties,” a delicious, shimmering poem about a New Year’s resolution to claim boldness without apology.
“This is the year/ I stop hiding and start taking/ up the space I know is meant for me./ I whisper into the night as the/ fireworks light up the sky.”
Leading by example in an atmosphere of celebration, excitement and energy, Leila invites us to step into our light and embrace who we are and who we want to become. She acknowledges the tremor beneath the bravado but refuses to let hesitation eclipse hope. The moment is heady, bright, and fleeting, the kind of flare that must be rekindled again and again. Transformation begins with a spark like this: a whispered promise, a breath drawn in the dark, the audacious decision to stop shrinking and start becoming.
Read “— fearless in my forties” n Synkroniciti’s Audacity issue, Vol. 8, No. 1, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Leila Tualla is a Filipino American poet, educator, and writer based in Texas. Her work explores identity, immigration, motherhood, faith, and becoming, often through the lens of quiet strength and inherited resilience. She is the author of Love, Lumpia & Words (forthcoming), PMDD & Me, Storm of Hope, Love, Defined, and Letters to Lenora. When she isn’t teaching or writing, she’s usually overthinking a line break, drinking coffee, or reminding herself to take up space without apology. She believes boldness ages better than wisdom.