Synkroniciti is excited to welcome back poet, writer and visual artist Rachael Ikins with two poems and a photo exploring how we recover from the vicissitudes of modern life, political and personal. “Hot Damn” celebrates how music, in this case jazz, and dancing give us an outlet, a chance to be happy in our bodies when tyranny threatens our autonomy. We cannot afford to forfeit our joy and our individuation, nor can we support these things being taken from others. “Do you see your own face/ reflected in golden shine,/ seed’s possibility planted in the garden/ between quarter and half notes…” Rachael builds a tumbling, dancing rhythm that crescendos as Rachael neatly invokes Jasmine Crockett and Bernie Sanders.
Suspended Animation shows a frozen flag, bare branches encased in ice in the foreground and skeletal trees in the background. The flag, heavy with frost, bends in the middle, obscuring its message, “Science is real/ Black lives matter/ No human is illegal/ Love is love/ Women’s rights are human rights/ Kindness is everything.” Rachael gives us an image that describes not only the numbness many of us felt after the 2024 election, but the denial and voidance of these things in American society, at least as far as our government goes. All of this strength is now considered weakness. It is a chilling time to be alive in the United States of America, and we can only hope for a future spring to thaw the milk of human kindness.
Finally, the prose poem “Light and Revelation,” one of our poetry contest finalists, focuses on how we care for and nurture ourselves and nature around us. “Some days the light reveals too much. You don’t like darkness as you lie in bed at 5:30 AM. A blanket over your eyes. You think you want light more than the white outline, black naked tree-scrabble at the window. Later, animals fed, chores done you’re restless, ache and you realize; light reveals too much.” Rachael paints a winter day from early morning to sunset, acknowledging the company of the birds, “None of them caring for more than an offer, a hand,” and her dog Bug, who “Circles the spruce tree, an S curved around a drift as he dashes for the door, dragging the whole tapestry behind him birds, tree, human shadow knotted off the loom.” Rachael looks to animals to show how to keep our balance and our joy, providing an antidote to the exhaustion and lack of fulfillment that stem from greed and hyper engagement.
Experience Rachael’s honest and hopeful vision in Synkroniciti’s “Recovery” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Rachael Ikins is a multiple Pushcart nominee, 2018 Independent Book Award winner, 2024 winner 2nd place Northwind Writing Awards, and activist author/artist of 13 books. Her cats and dogs remain unimpressed with this and will sit on the keyboard if she works past their mealtimes. Her artwork has appeared in NYC; Paris, France; and Washington DC. Syracuse University grad, member Bayou City branch NLAPW. Associate Editor of Clare Songbirds Publishing House, Auburn, NY and Chicago City Press, Chicago, IL.