Synkroniciti is proud to welcome back Louisiana poet Stacie Eirich with two poems reflecting on her daughter’s journey through chemotherapy and treatment for brain cancer. “Days Spun Gold” is an acknowledgment that there will be worse days and better days, but “Today I will let her sleep, today I will keep vigil/ in darkness, quietly watching her breath rise and fall.” The possibility of each day is met with hope and with reality. Staying present is difficult–human nature is to roam ahead with expectation or stay behind with memories–but light and goodness often meet us best when we are in the moment. On the other hand, sometimes light and goodness can’t penetrate the murkiness of the moment, as in “What Remains,” and we need a refuge. “Evening lingers with faded sunlight, a stretch of warmth that aches, reaches but cannot meet us.” One of our contest finalists, this poem is a testament to the part of the human psyche that remains anchored stubbornly and wonderfully as we endure things that threaten to sink us. “An island where/ Peace—Love—Wholeness/ is all that remains.” Stacie’s language is radiant and expressive as she orders and relates her experience in an effort to stay present.
Read Stacie’s luminous poetry in our September 1st issue, “Broken,” available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Stacie Eirich is a mother of two, poet and singer from Louisiana. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in The Healing Muse, Cantos Literary Journal, The Bluebird Word and Valiant Scribe Literary Journal, among others. She is currently living in Memphis, TN while caring for her daughter through cancer treatments at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.