Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome back Bulgarian poet and visual artist Gabriela Manolova, who debuted with us in “Belonging.” “Identity” features “The Demon Woman,” which was the runner-up in our poetry contest, and the photograph “Let Go.”
In “The Demon Woman,” Gabriela explores the ability of women to transform their lives, manifested as a maniacal desire to clean house (literally and figuratively), to “Tear out journal pages,/ clang with the dustpan,/ crash boom bang,/ scrub leather shoes with vengeance,/ mount a witch-ready broom./ Total and strip down her life/ down to its skeleton—/ she can do that, you know,/ destroy what she built/ so cheerfully.” The ability of women to go on in new situations, to find their sense of self and wholeness when autonomy is denied, is an awe-inspiring creative talent, a superpower. Invoking the spirit of Margarita in reference to Bulgakov’s magnificent novel The Master and Margarita, Gabriela gives an inspiring warning to patriarchy. The spirit of life is not something you can control–it will inevitably burn those who try to do so. This poem builds in gradual rhythmic crescendo for two pages, then settles back down into an ordered serenity, mischief managed.
“Let Go” is an evocative portrait of a man and his reflection. He stands on the roof of a structure, where two clear, mirrored panels come together and his reflection comes up to greet him. He may simply be staring down into the structure, perhaps looking for someone or taking in the scene, but we get the impression that he is studying himself. Whether he realizes it or not, man finds his reflection in the world around him…if he is violent, the world is violent, if he is kind, the world softens. Here, both man and reflection appear wistful and there is an undefinable sadness. Can man let go of being in control, of dominating even his own shadow?
Experience Gabriela’s luminous poetry and telling photography in Synkroniciti’s “Identity” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Usually a prose girl, Gabriela Manolova turns to poetry whenever something too fleeting or painful to be fleshed out in novel-length demands to be expressed. “I approach prose as problem-solving, an intentional, analytical exploration. Writing poetry is altogether different. Like running into a sharp edge in the dark—a line hits you, and suddenly, you’ve found something you didn’t even realize you were looking for. My work’s kept circling back to the same themes, pointing me to that which remains unresolved. Love, grief, identity—all the unavoidable things, really.”
When Gabriela isn’t poring over her manuscript, she’s bopping to jazz or hiking mountain trails—grounding her mind through movement and letting her feet take over for a change.