Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming back our final “Broken” featured artist, California poet Jonathan Yungkans. “And He Can See Quite Clearly into the Needle” is based on Caroline Bacher’s artwork “Cross My Heart,” but it pulls together many associations–among them Magritte, dementia and time–and images such as needles, eyes, heart, clocks and curtains. Jonathan has the requisite vulnerability and empathy to probe the subconscious and come up with collective imagery related to both language, especially words with more than one meaning, and visual stimuli. The result is striking in uniqueness and universality. Especially poignant is the world reflected in “the heart or eye of a husband whose wife goes from “Yes, I do”/ to “Who are you?” Her eyes windows in a vacant house. Floors/ sound an old rhythm, antiphonal, unanswered. A needle drops/ and rattles on hardwood, into a staring ear, followed by stillness.” This is deeply introspective poetry, rich in rhythmic, alliterative music. By focusing on the details of Bacher’s artwork and their subconscious implications, Jonathan gives us a tether to explore a deep mystery of the human psyche–where does consciousness emanate from and where does it go? The answer lies curtained in shadow, and yet we feel better for having contemplated it.
Read “And He Can See Quite Clearly into the Needle” in our September 1st issue, “Broken,” available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Image may be NSFW.
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Jonathan Yungkans listens to the pouring Southern California rain in the wee hours of what some call morning and others some mild form of insanity and types while watching a large skunk meander under the foundation of a century-old house. He is thankful when his writing is less noxious than that jittery creature on the other side of those floorboards. During what some choose to call normal hours, he works as an in-home health-care provider, fueled by copious amounts of coffee while finding time for the occasional deep breath. His poems have appeared in Gyroscope Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Panoply, Unbroken and other publications.
