Synkroniciti is thrilled to announce the winner of our “Patterns” poetry contest, “Plastic Pilgrims” by Bulgarian poet Gabriela Manolova. We had ten finalists and all of them will be included in the issue, along with many other fine and deserving poems. This was an extremely difficult field of poems to evaluate–we could have easily had fifteen finalists. If we publish you, we consider you a winner.
This is such a rich and varied field, particularly in terms of style. We chose “Plastic Pilgrims” for a number of reasons: the elegance and richness of Gabriela’s imagery, the still mood of wonder she creates, and the message that humankind has become estranged from nature resulting in an anxiety-laden existence that is relieved when we slow down to study and delight in nature’s patterns. We depend on nature’s balance for a livable planet and a respite from our busy-ness. Gabriela reminds us of this truth, not by giving us a logical or moral explanation, but by taking us on a paddle-boarding trip on the Veleka River and showing us the wildness there and its power for healing. The Veleka runs from northern Turkey into southeast Bulgaria. She makes us want to visit but also encourages us to look for the wildness around us.
I’ll have more in Gabriela’s Artist Feature in 2026, including an excerpt.
The runner-up was “via crucis” by Jonathan Yungkans, a powerful poem about the dark patterns of cruelty present in American culture.
You will want to read “Plastic Pilgrims” in Synkroniciti’s “Patterns” issue, Vol. 7, No. 4, available for pre-order here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
A lifelong dreamer and lover of language, Gabriela Manolova (Sofia, Bulgaria) began writing in childhood as a way to process thoughts and emotions. With a background in linguistics, she works as an administrative translator between Norwegian, English, and Bulgarian, and offers developmental editing for emerging novelists while exploring her own fiction. When not immersed in words, she can be found swing dancing or hiking.