Synkroniciti is delighted to welcome back Tara Iacobucci, a writer/poet and English teacher from the Boston area. We feature two of her poems: “Wolverine” and “Ode to Weeds,” both of which deal with the intimidation and threat of violence that many women experience on a daily basis in modern society. “Wolverine” recalls instances on the street, men in their oversized vehicles berating her for being in their way, full of toxic masculinity. The meanness is palpable and, unfortunately, familiar. A “man who leans his virile body out the window to growl at you for something that is not your fault,” “his spit the opposite of how you swallow.” We feel Tara’s revulsion and terror, distilled on the page into an alliterative music. She laments that while she may feel like a bear, she’s really a wolverine, smaller and slighter than these men, and much less adept at being threatening. “Ode to Weeds” contains a grudging respect for the resilience of weeds, particularly dandelions, growing up where they are not wanted. “And how about your optimism? Like a child’s wish as your seeds float away in their mouth’s wind, or how my daughter insists that you are a flower.” She wishes she could be as tenacious “when the world wields its sickles and hooks.” These stunning poems were finalists in our “Wild” poetry contest.
Order your copy of “Wild” to experience Tara’s powerful and illuminating poems: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Tara Iacobucci is a poet, mother, and ELA/writing teacher. Her greatest personal challenges, besides raising three children, are writing a clever author bio (this is her thirtieth attempt) and shamelessly promoting her work on social media, so she simply tries living an honest existence even if that means letting go of the perfect image she has concocted in her mind.