Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming poet Judy McAmis, currently a resident of Massachusetts. We are excited to publish three spooky poems that traverse the classical sense of “Haunting.” In “The Groundskeeper,” Judy paints for us the creepiness of a garden in winter, allowed to decay and reseed. “Nature has a delightful way of turning/ to the avant-garde./ Instead of a light filled snowy tunnel/ of trim stalks balancing against one another,/ they resemble more the hedges/ where the mischief lives.” She plays with plosives and sibilants to create a gentle, beguiling music that speaks of the cycle of death and renewal that is the earthly experience. “Gertrude, circa 1910” tells the story of a haunted house, relating several personal experiences that have taken place in the home and backyard. “The spirits that reside in the remains of decrepit homes/ are no different than those who reside in my brightly colored faerie house, Gertrude./ Age makes homes misshapen and curious, like people and old books.” From the boy in the blue suit to the growling malevolence that accosts her one night, these are restless and alien spirits. The boy once told her “energy cannot take shape unless given a name,” and we are grateful she does not name them. Finally, “Carrion in Memoriam” is a tribute to a deceased companion, living in the memory of the narrator so strongly that they remain a presence in the house…or does the presence create lucid memory dreams? “…It is strange magic keeping you alive. The soapstone sarcophagus in the attic/ where you rest is meant to keep the buzzards away, but a house can only hide so many/ secrets.” Again the plosives and sibilants dance, like embers cracking in the fire.
Read Judy’s bewitching poetry in Synkroniciti’s “Haunting” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Judy McAmis is a poet, yoga instructor, sound healer, and wild spirit. Her work is heavily influenced by life experience, characters she has met in real life or by other circumstances, the occult, and the mythological diaspora. She has published poems in Deraciné, ParABnormal Magazine, Enheduanna Vol. 6, The Banshee: The Leading Magazine for Women who Scream Vol. 2, The Banyan Review, Pensive Literary Journal, and Ghost City Press. She has attended Cambridge Writers Workshop, Elk River Writer’s Conference, and Holy Gossip Writer’s Workshop.
Judy is currently working on a chapbook and full-length poetry manuscript.
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