Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming Houstonian writer and poet Angélique Jamail with two poems and an award-winning essay, all full of wit, musicality, and warmth. “The Elder Sister (1869) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau” is a contemplation of a famous portrait which hangs here in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the story it tells of budding femininity. “She knows something, her patience scraped/ across the landscape between hearth and heather,/ about how this unravels.” The second poem, “Recipe for My Daughter,” is a combination of advice from generations past and new things learned from experience, showing how families evolve as generations find their sense of self. “When you have a craving for kibbe niya,// make it yourself and eat it the same day home from/ the butcher, and bless the dish before you pour the olive oil,/ because raw meat is not a thing to trust to just anyone.” Mother’s voice rings with love and common sense. “The Kirby Store,” winner of our “Family” essay contest, is an engaging memoir piece, inhabiting the space between essay and prose poem. It centers on her experience growing up in the family business. Angélique shows us the integrity of the Jamail family, intent on improving and serving the community, and creates nostalgia for the time when a family grocer willing to work long hours and provide exceptional service could compete with the mega-corporations.
Read Angélique’s delightful poetry and prose in Synkroniciti’s “Family” issue, available for pre-order here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Angélique Jamail is a Lebanese-American author whose work has appeared in over two dozen publications, including New Reader Magazine, Waxwing, Pluck, The Milk of Female Kindness, Femmeliterate, Bayou City Magazine, and Literary Mama. The first time she read one of her stories to an audience was fourth grade; it was a character-building experience. Her books include Finis. and Homecoming (both fiction) and The Sharp Edges of Water (poetry). Her work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and has been a finalist for the New Letters Prize in Poetry. She serves on the Board of Directors for Mutabilis Press and is the Director of Creative Writing at The Kinkaid School in Houston, Texas. She’s also the creator of the popular zine Sonic Chihuahua.
