Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming back writer and visual artist Denise Bossarte of Houston, Texas, who first joined us as a photographer in our previous issue, “Haunting.” We are excited to feature her poem “Scarab Envy,” one of the finalists in our “Identity” poetry contest. This is an insightful piece exploring the scarab beetle not merely as a beautiful creature, but as a symbol for personal safety and protection due to its hard exoskeleton. “I wanted a casing of my own/ to protect my sensitive heart,/ my alien nature, to breathe/ through holes in my abdomen,/ my skin a song of iridescent melody…” Denise employs imagination in an observant and empathic way, rather than jumping directly to the numinous, although the numinous remains, whispering with a sense of wonder rather than dogma. The poem is presented in four stanzas of varying length, with a gentle word music characterized by alliteration, sibilance and some repetition of structure. It is superbly intentional in terms of imagery and nuanced word choice. Vulnerable, incisive and capped with a self-effacing humor in the final stanza, the reader feels as if they have been taken aside and given a secret in confidence.
Read “Scarab Envy” in Synkroniciti’s “Identity” issue, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Denise Bossarte is an award-winning author, poet, photographer, and visual artist whose passion is inspiring others. Her photography is in the Buddhist Contemplative Photography tradition, Miksang. She has been a practitioner of Miksang photography for 15 years and a Miksang teacher for over 12 years.
She enjoys writing, exploring new art forms, and teaching contemplative photography workshops. She lives in Texas with her husband and literary cat, Za’ Ji.