Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming writer and poet Hilary Plattner of New York. We are excited to feature two poems, “Prose Poem: The Box” and “Woman at the Fish Stall.” The first, one of our “Recovery” poetry contest finalists, is a fascinating exploration of the human memory, likening it to a box of drawers. “When a drawer is pulled open, inside you find: a smell. Each drawer contains a different smell: coffee or strawberry; wet wool or the dusty attic on a hot afternoon. The smell held in each drawer unlocks a different memory, like going back in time for a short visit.” As Hilary shares a few scents that activate her memory, we begin to think of those things in our lives that signal our experience. “Once you discover a memory you wish to pursue—like reaching the last sip of liquid in a cup from which you are drinking—when the drawer closes, you realize you want more.” The poem is in the shape of a box, but with a small space left open in the bottom right corner, as if a tiny drawer is open, sending out its elusive and poignant scent. It’s a magical touch.
“Woman at the Fish Stall” recounts an encounter with a woman selling oysters at a fish market in the wake of COVID. Because of the pandemic, she cannot open oysters for customers, so she must instruct them so they can do it themselves. “She shows me how to open an oyster,/ how to protect my hands/ with a cloth. You need to be careful, she says./ Her cap has a jolly pop pom on top, this woman/ showing me where to press the knife on the silvery/ wet shell.” It’s cold and one imagines there aren’t many customers. The narrator wants to help, to buy oysters and to bring the woman something to keep her hands warm, but today her gift is less tangible. The empathy between the two women is palpable and stirring, even as it is restrained by the virus.
Read Hilary’s clear-eyed and vulnerable poetry in Synkroniciti’s “Recovery” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Hilary Plattner has an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University and has taught writing at The New School. Previously, she founded and directed Brooklyn Writers, a community-based writing program. Her fiction and poetry have been published in numerous literary journals, including Allegro, Cider Press Review, Fence, GSU Review, Gulf Coast and The Ledge. Her memoir, “THE MOMMA PUZZLE,” was shortlisted for the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards, and named a Finalist for the Wandering Aengus and Trail to Table Book Awards. The book is forthcoming from Apprentice House Press.
She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.