Synkroniciti is thrilled to welcome emerging poet A.J. Parker from Arizona. “i wrote this sick on sleep medicine, sick of you” is a searing, vulnerable look at how the bitterness of an unhealthy relationship alters reality and takes up space in the psyche. A.J.’s rich imagery, divulged in frothing free verse seething with fricative music, does not shy away from the gritty and intense, but invites us into the drama which continues inside the mind of the abused. Abusers do not only hurt people, they train people to hurt themselves and to punish others out of defensive aggression. The narrator asks the former lover to “…watch the world dribble by like blood over your/ bottom lip, something I claimed was never my fault but sure enough, my teeth had been where/ my fist could never reach”. And yet hope remains for healing coming from within–“…how I tripped and bruised/ my knees on the scuffed-up concrete and how you hated that I saw galaxies within the yellow,/ blue, and purple markings, as if I could make something prettier and deeper than the reality of/ the hurt”. This is powerful, heady poetry, recalling the confessional female poets of the 20th century, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
Experience “i wrote this sick on sleep medicine, sick of you” in Synkroniciti’s November 30th issue, “Space,” Vol. 5, No. 4, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/. You don’t want to miss this exciting new artist in her poetic debut!
A.J. Parker is desert born, and it shows. She grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and then spent some time on the East Coast trying to make up for all that water she lost. She’s worked as a reporter, arts and entertainment writer, and digital editor. She’s won journalistic awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association as well as the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. Now, she’s venturing out into the literary world. You can follow her at @ashleyjadeparker on Instagram or at @ashleyjadeparke on Twitter/X.