Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome back Californian writer and poet Mary Pacifico Curtis. “Pell Mell and On We Go” is an exploration of downsizing, particularly in regards to books. New furniture calls for a reorganization and culling of old friends. “Now a conversation of sorts — as if the books I touch, old favorites, anxiously glance/ at, newcomers on tower shelves in each corner of the room.” As we age and have limited space and time, how do we balance our oldest loves with new things we have yet to experience? Curtis plays with the intersection of “belongings” with “belonging,” and what seems, on the surface, a mundane question has profound implications. The second poem, “War Games,” extols the bravery and persistence of a handful of Irish fishermen who refused to abandon their work on the waters off the Irish coast in the shadow of a Russian Naval drill. “Their voices ring of tionscnamh, grá an dúlra, saoirse, pluc,/ the stuff it takes to stand the bully down.” The fishermen would not back down, and eventually, surprisedly, Russia moved the exercise away from Irish waters. Less than a month later, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Curtis’s poetry is intelligent and contemporary. “Pell Mell and On We Go” is shaped like a bookcase, and both poems make heavy use of the square bracket to organize parenthetical thoughts. The result is a dialogue full of energy and vision. Read her poems in Synkroniciti’s “Belonging” issue, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Mary Pacifico Curtis is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, seasoned branding and PR professional, and author of poetry and non-fiction. Published work includes her recent memoir, Understanding Moonseed, two poetry chapbooks, Between Rooms and The White Tree Quartet and numerous pickups in literary magazines and anthologies. Hawk’s Cry is her first full-length poetry collection. Accolades include recognition as a 2012 Joy Harjo Poetry Finalist (Cutthroat Journal), 2019 Poetry Finalist in The Tiferet Journal, non-fiction finalist in The 48th New Millenium Writings contest and a 2021 non-fiction finalist in The Tupelo Quarterly Open.
Curtis lives with her husband in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains on a terraced property where she grows vegetables and fends off gophers while admiring deer, coyotes, wild turkeys and the occasional bobcat.