Synkroniciti is thrilled to welcome back poet, writer, and photographer Jonathan Yungkans of California, a familiar and beloved presence in our pages. As the only contributor to have won contests in poetry, flash, and cover art, he has offered our readers a rare blend of wisdom, wit, and vulnerability across nearly every issue. His work returns in Patterns with two poems tracing the human capacity to endure, remember, and bear witness.
The first poem, “groceries,” is an intimate recounting of weekly trips to the store with his sister‑in‑law Rachael as she navigated terminal illness. These outings became a ritual—small, fragile, and fiercely meaningful. She couldn’t drive the electric carts, so she and Jonathan pushed the manual grocery cart together.
“getting her/ a half-hour or so of life/ out of bed/ her liver shut down/ no chance/ for a transplant/ ammonia building inside her”
This poem moves from right to left justification several times, mirroring the difficulty of Rachael and her family getting through the struggle of each day. Now, when he shops, Jonathan is flooded with memories, sweet and sad.
This is followed by our “Patterns” poetry contest runner-up, “via crucis.” Moving from personal grief to collective history, the poem draws a line between David Alfaro Siqueiros’ mural Tropical America—with its crucified Indigenous figure indicting U.S. imperialism—and the experiences of Yungkans’ fourth‑grade teacher, who was incarcerated at Manzanar during World War II. The poem then threads these histories into the present, confronting the actions of ICE and the ongoing dehumanization of migrants.
Together, these moments reveal a troubling pattern in American culture: cycles of oppression, scapegoating, and racialized violence that recur beneath patriotic rhetoric. The poem’s most arresting turn comes when Yungkans fractures the familiar rhythm of My Country, ’Tis of Thee:
“what’s left/ to sing but my country hates for thee/ sweet land of cruelty while boards and knees groan/ and Christ weeps blood”
The reader’s internal melody stumbles, collapses, and breaks—an intentional dissonance that mirrors the moral rupture at the poem’s core. It is not mockery but lament: a reckoning with the distance between America’s promises and the suffering it has sanctioned.
Read Jonathan’s poignant and deeply human poetry in Synkroniciti’s “Patterns” issue, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Jonathan Yungkans hopes for one more raspberry black-tea lemonade from Starbucks before Aug-tober’s pumpkin-spice completely clouds the landscape. His work has appeared in Book of Matches, Gyroscope Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly and other publications. He has written three poetry chapbooks; the latest, The Ravens Will Arrive Later, is scheduled for a 2026 release from Gnashing Teeth Publishing. His e-mini-chapbook as the sky fragments was published by Yavanika Press in August 2025.