Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome back San Francisco area poet Tina Harrach Denetclaw, with “Favorite Shape,” a contemplation of geometry and wonder. From the golden spiral to the familiar and personal shape of her husband’s shoulders, Tina expresses gratitude and joy. “If I must choose, I’ll take the shape/ of my husband’s shoulders,/ the gentle glide from his neck/ to the round of his arm.” But “What is the math of a button-down/ shirt?” If we are looking for the most mathematical shape, she suggests that we look no further than Shelley’s divine orb, the Earth itself, and quotes Prometheus Unbound.
The contrast and the combination of the mathematical and logical with the human and the visionary is transcendent, aided by the subtle alliterative music of Tina’s verses. The imagery is heightened but remains relatable, blending the mundane with the sublime in sacred harmony.
Read “Favorite Shape” in Synkroniciti’s “Patterns” issue, Vol. 7, No. 4, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Tina Harrach Denetclaw is a clinical pharmacist by trade, specialized in critical care and emergency medicine. Her poetry has appeared in Eclectica Magazine, Silver Birch Press | Poetry and Prose…from Prompts Series, The RavensPerch, Synkroniciti, Verse-Virtual, and Leading the Way: The Wisdom of the Navajo People. Her debut chapbook, Life Travels, will be released in March 2026 from Finishing Line Press and is currently available for pre-order at Finishing Line Press.
Tina and her Diné husband live in the San Francisco Bay Area where her husband is a biology professor, first reader of her poems, and favorite muse for her writing. They have five cats.