Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming poet Daniel Barlekamp, a New Jersey native now based in Massachusetts. We feature his poem “I had to laugh,” exposing the hypocrisy of families and religious communities who blame outside influences like music, movies and literature for their children’s negative attitudes without acknowledging their own angst, especially when that angst is abusive. Daniel’s mother and the local priest railed against his teenage interest in heavy metal music, behaving “as though a loving God would send me straight to the pits of Hell/ for listening to music,/ as though my mom never screamed,/ when I was barely old enough to understand death,/ that she wanted to kill herself…” Daniel is clear, intelligent and vulnerable, boldly calling out the idea that conformity, perhaps the most dangerous form of belonging, saves us. Instead it uses fear to saddle us with the same frustrations that have been passed down for generations, threatening us with hysteria, myopia and unsatisfied lives.
Read “I had to laugh” in Synkroniciti’s “Belonging” issue, available for pre-order here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/. Daniel will also be joining us for our next issue, “Haunting.”
Daniel Gene Barlekamp is the author of poetry, fiction, and audio drama for adults and young readers. Most recently, his middle-grade fiction has appeared in the anthology The Haunted States of America (Godwin Books/Macmillan, 2024), and his poetry has been translated into Mandarin by Poetry Hall. Originally from New Jersey, Daniel now lives with his wife and son in Massachusetts, where he works in immigration law by day and attends law school by night. Connect with him online at dgbarlekamp.com.