Poetry

The rushing sound of water
A sound some dread today.
The deadly liquid life
Striking fear into our hearts today!
The walls smash,
As water rushes through,
Submerging our lives and homes,
Wrecking our crops too!
our dams breach ;
Showing our impending doom ;
Rupturing our lives
Water goes splash!
The buildings go CRASH!
Bashing our shelter.
Like a tower of jenga
Snow-caps melt
And rain pelts us too ;
Because of this
Excess flow
The water surges through
As destructive as an earthquake
The riverbed rises ;
Covering the land,
And ruining lives .
Nowhere’s safe
When dams break!
Inundating the town.
Animals and humans alike
Flee to the water,
losing homes and lives

And water rushes through.
The polluted, desecrated rivers,
Decide to burst its banks
And the levees collapse too,
And the waters come rushing in,
Finalising our fate …
Unless…
We plant more trees
To fulfill natures need
We reduce
Our huge Greed
We clean the water
And prevent slaughter
That floods bring
By doing
Your little thing

Stop nature’s rage
And save us all

Poem by
Austin Ajit

About the author

Austin Ajit, a ten-year-old from Bangalore, India, defies expectations with his extraordinary interests and talents. He is a young naturalist, author, avid reader, storyteller, and child artist. Austin actively engages in wildlife conservation forums, draws inspiration from renowned naturalists, and passionately advocates for nature. With a knack for drawing and painting, he brings his love for nature to life through captivating artwork. Austin has already published three books, including “Grandma and Austin’s Plant Kingdom” and “Austin’s Dino World.” His works enchant readers with imaginative storytelling and vivid illustrations. At such a young age, Austin is a shining example of how passion and talent can make a positive impact.

SILENZIO

Un tuffo nel silenzio
tra ricordi passati.
Cerco nella memoria voci e pensieri, rumorosi

Fermo il pensiero, nuoto nel silenzio: giungono verità.
Ancora mi rifugio in te
giudice non sindacabile di questo mondo
percosso dal tempo.
Fragile si scopre l’uomo.

LEI

La guardavo e mi innamoravo sempre di più.
Ero lì e sentivo il suo cuore sbattere più forte.
Annegavo nei suoi sogni fragili, nello spazio immenso dei suoi occhi limpidi.
Era bella, fragile
Dolce e semplice.
Delicatamente le sue labbra sfioravano le mie
E tutti e due ci perdemmo dentro il rosso di un tramonto,
inciampammo contro un bacio all’improvviso.
Le nostre anime erano legate dall’Amore.

UNA LACRIMA

Una lacrima scende lentamente su quel bel viso.
Silenziosa ha deciso di abitare nei tuoi occhi.
Silenziosa accarezza le tue guance e sfiora le tue labbra.
Quanti livori porta con sé
Tutto tace
Mi emoziono ancora una volta mentre guardo l’altra immagine che ha conservato di te.
L’asciugherò con tutto l’Amore che merita delicatamente sfiorando i tuoi occhi lucidi.
Ma tu promettimi che non piangerai più
Promettimi che se avrai bisogno di me
E non mi troverai,
mi cercherai in un sogno ed io sarò lì ad aspettarti
sarò lì pronto a proteggerti.

ABOUT THE POET

Fabio Petrilli (Foggia – Italia, 2000). He attended the E.Medi Scientific School of San Bartolomeo in Galdo (Benevento) where he currently lives. After finishing high school he understood that he possessed a burning passion for humanities, such as Italian Literature and Latin in particular, starting with writing texts, sentences and especially poems in 2020. He is currently studying at the University of Molise, in Campobasso, where he has undertaken the Faculty of Letters and Cultural Heritage. Through writing he manages to best express the emotions he has inside, to draw and create that perfect harmony of the senses that only through the right words and the right phonic combinations he manages to convey to the reader. The themes present in his poems vary and deal purely with topics related to Love in all its facets although themes related to Nature are also present. Everything is expressed through a language that we would dare to define as “polished and fluid”. Numerous literary authors of great national prominence have spoken of his poetic writing such as Paolo Melandri, Sebastiano Impalà, Marzia Carocci, Adriana Sabato (journalist correspondent at the “Quotidiano del Sud”), Filippo Minacapilli and Michela Zanarella. He has collaborated with the publishing house “Ivvi editore” where he is present in a book entitled “Poesia Italiana”, having received several honorable mentions from the publishing house “Aletti Editore”. His poems have been published in various national magazines such as: Leggere Poesia, Di Sesta and Settima Grandezza by the poet Alfredo Rienzi, Borderliber by Martino Ciano, Thetis La Ginestra magazine, L’Altrove – Appunti di poesie, the review “poetrydream” by the poet Antonio Spagnuolo, the literary magazines Limina Mundi by Deborah Mega and “Alla volta di Lèucade” by Nazario Pardini. Fabio Petrilli appears to us as a young revelation poet hoping, in the not too distant future, to publish his first book of poems. Undoubtedly a poetry to delve into the proposition of the great master Giuseppe Aletti that he likes to mention so much: “We write poetry so that human time can be defeated by the infinite projection of ourselves”.

 

Like a mother’s genuine heart
Beating with love so deep and pure
Mine feels – oh! – so full
Of such unconditional love
Ready true emotions to impart
To those that are to me so dear
And all their troubles get to cure.

So full of wealth inside to offer
So rich in gems within to share
Used to giving open-handed
still a doubt lurking in the corner
– It is indeed because I too much care –
If all I give or have granted
Will ever be sufficient
For the people I love

I doubt if all I give them
Will also to my own mind be sufficient
And most of all, it’s tough,
I doubt if even my whole self,
If I get to gift it all away,
will ever be close enough

All I have to give is an open heart
a bounty, rich, vast land,
endless and limitless in colours,
a gift from the hand
promising never to be apart –

Will that ever be enough?
Silence, a dark veil all around,
but the image of a Mom
sheds holy light to abound

My question has been answered!
Now I know, with my courage gathered;

In the end, what truly counts
Is only the love we one another give
and how this actually amounts
on this planet we have come to live.

Poem by
IRENE DOURA-KAVADIA
©Irene Doura Kavadia

O Mother mine
long did I walk
on your holy bosom
with my feet of sludge
my burden of futile
attachments
hopeless clinging
endless desires

O Mother mine
innumerable wounds
did I inflict again
and again
on your pristine
lap of alabaster,
in hapless births
of dark despair.

O Mother mine
You held me
clasped still
in your arms
of infinite compassion
silently comforting,
cajoling
At times shaking me
with lessons
of pain unbearable
yet shielded ever
by your deluge
of love infinite

O mother Mine
my gentle sculptor!
I know not when
You chiseled away
layers after layers
of barren debris
from lifetimes past
I became your tiny
stone of melting tears
of ceaseless penance

O Mother mine
I know not when
Your forgiving waters
of cascading Grace
Washed over
this tiny pebble.
icebergs melted
Your mighty river
of boundless mercy
carried me tenderly
closer and closer
home to you

O Mother mine
You bathed me
incessantly
with your rays of light
I became
Your soft glow
of light divine
content to flow
with your river’s tide
of highs and lows
undisturbed

O mother Mine
in the hush
of silent nights
when your silvery moon
poured peace alone
on the tranquil waters
I listened intently
to the river’s hymns
of eternal truth
of timeless wisdom

O Mother mine
You touched me
with your immortal
essence
of pure ecstasy
Spirits soared
I don’t know when
I became a speck
of dust
yearning for nothing
but to be
eternally
at your Lotus Feet.

O Mother mine
let me flow
to the journey’s end
holding you
adoringly, reverently
the way the breeze
holds
your sacred fragrance
Until
I melt into your river
Until
The river merges
into your ocean.

Poem by
Shalini Nandkeolyar

On the other side, grim and bare,
Devoid of a shining star,
The spectacles display the marathon,
Striving to finish it in short afar.

In the midpoint, I see the Moon, my friend,
Tickling me, “Hey Sun, do you remember me?”
My words reached the depths of the night,
I could feel its power, all around me.

My symphonic breath whispers stealthy from thee,
Oh, Moon, you have touched my heart,
Your glow has illuminated my path,
And I feel grateful for this special part.

So, I’ll keep running this marathon,
Through the highs and lows,
Knowing that with every stride,
I’ll reach where the Moonlight glows.

Poem by
Preetha VR

Naturaleza que surge, desde lo más profundo de la tierra hacia lo más elevado del cielo…
Naturaleza que ofrece, abrigo, techo y cobijo a las especies que comparten su hábitat…
Naturaleza que brinda, diversidad en especies y colores…
Naturaleza que da luces y sombras, calor y frío, brisas y vientos, agua, nieve y hielo…
Naturaleza que aporta con alimento y salud, aire y vida, sensaciones y sentimientos…
Naturaleza que florece… en diversidad de fragancias y colores de esperanza.
Naturaleza que produce, sabores dulces y salados, sonrisas y alegrías.
Naturaleza que alimenta a la vida y a las emociones.
Naturaleza que suena… en risas de cascada, en zumbidos de grillos y langostas, en cantos de las aves y en las sinfonías del bosque.
Naturaleza que brilla, que refleja la luz de los astros, que es el espejo que refresca y limpia tu rostro en la mañana.
Naturaleza que ilumina, como el hongo “fuego chimpancé” o como luciérnaga que se enciende y se apaga…
Naturaleza que adorna con diferentes tonalidades de tierra, hojas, flores, agua y arcoíris que une dos corazones alejados…
Naturaleza que vive, que se mueve para adentro y para afuera para arriba y para los costados, que sube y baja, que vuela y camina, que salta y se arrastra.
Naturaleza que da vida, semilla que germina, huevo que revienta con un nuevo ser, plantas que se reproducen solas…
Naturaleza que protege, que regala sombra y agua al caminante cansado, que abriga en las noches frías, que entrega sus ramas como brazos para acoger los nidos…
Naturaleza que acaricia, agua que recorre suavemente besando las orillas, suave brisa que disfrutan las aves jugueteando sin esfuerzo en su viaje.
Naturaleza que ama, que muestra que los animales y vegetales tienen vida, que tienen sentimiento, que demuestran amor y protección por los suyos…
Naturaleza que sorprende, donde el cielo bebe el agua de ríos, mares y lagos, para devolverlo en forma de lluvia nieve o granizo. Que el vientre de la tierra genera millones de vidas de distinta naturaleza y especie… que raíces recorren su interior en busca de agua y alimento, que microorganismos participan en la descomposición de hojas secas, para devolver a las plantas el alimento que han dejado caer.
Naturaleza que siente, que se marchita o se desvanece cuando le quitan parte de su vida, que se ve obligada a migrar por falta de equilibrio en su hábitat, que se resquebraja por falta de humedad.
Naturaleza que envejece, que pasan los años y se endurece, se enferma y se va secando, se va muriendo…
Naturaleza que se empobrece, que va cambiando las especies que la alimentan… que se van alejando a medida que el humano se va acercando.
Naturaleza que se reduce, que hay menos flora y menos fauna, menos complejo los ecosistemas, causando desequilibrios que reducen la vida.
Naturaleza que se pierde, especies que han dejado de existir y otras que están en peligro de extinción…
Naturaleza que se acaba, que se seca, que se hiere y que muere.
Naturaleza que se enoja, que vomita saliva caliente en ríos ardientes que amenazan con mayor muerte…
Naturaleza que sufre y llora, que muestra su rostro ensombrecido y enojado, dejando caer sus lágrimas de dolor como gotas de metal…
Naturaleza que grita, que truena y revienta, que se rasga con dolor y mata…
Naturaleza que implora, que, al poner sus pesadas rodillas en tierra, hace temblar sus entrañas abriendo su boca y tragando sin piedad a la causa de su dolor…

Poem by
Marco Antonio Rodríguez Sequeiros

Can I utter what my heart does?
Lub-dub, lub-dub, the palpation sounds;
Noising like silent rocks sputter
On the Cliffs high,
Thundering the forest calm,
What, to many like me, science this is!
No passerby, no stopping by
The voices go unheard

I listen every beat unfurled
Volumes of an amalgamation of tunes
As of the Sitar that leaves
An ambience,
Whirling- in unforgetful of every other thing around
Shedding, otherwise, drops
Offering the tips of the fingers to be bathed with
So vivid for one who could
Listen, if not, read through the screens two
Transparent as water crystalline
That has; tiny, large and even the largest
Blue, white, black…..and green pictures so many
Dancing in mirth or weeping on burial
For the sky above to witness

Every beat;
So subtle yet so clear
Pronouncing aloud,
“I ache for none does:
Moving; strange, straight
In the rays their aspirations fall,
Avoiding images in darkness along the sides”

Naheed Akhtar
© Naheed Akhtar 2023

About the Author

Naheed Akhtar is an accomplished Assistant Professor of English, Writer and Poet based in Hyderabad, Southern India. She has published three poetry collections, namely ‘Phantasms of My Heart’, ‘The Earth’s Love’ and ‘The Morphine’. Naheed’s literary works have received several prestigious awards, including the Gujarat Sahitya Academy Award, which she was honoured with for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022. Naheed has been actively participating in various literary festivals and her third book, ‘The Morphine’, was launched at the National Kolkata Book Fair on the invitation of the Sahitya Academy and the Department of Culture and Language in association with the government of West Bengal. Her poems have also been published in various National and International Magazines. Apart from writing in English, Naheed also writes in Urdu and has participated in Mushairas from different parts of India, receiving Certificates of Participation. She can be contacted at naheedakhtar123119@gmail.com.

What constitutes
the peace
that prevails
the yard
where our
ancestors
sleep..
they who
sought
eternal
peace
after their
frets and
fevers…

time stands
still
rendering
relief…
sedimented
silence
speaks
volumes
of the
presence
of their
beings
that jostled
against
the vagaries
of time…

they who
had their
say on
things,
their way
of doing
things…

be it a poet
a man
speaking to
men,
the fretful
housewife,
the ploughman
who ploughed
and ploughed
and never
turned back…

the teacher
who could not
complete
her class,
the politician
evoking
uproars,
or the musician
who enthralled
everyone
leaving his
notes to
resonate,
or just
the ordinary
working
a lifetime
to pay off
the rent…

hah!
there they
sleep
in divine
symphony
so calm…

the sea bare
while the
last ship
has turned
a dot
on horizons
dim…

the sky
pale white
after
the storm
that left…

Yes, a calm
that passeth
all understanding!

Poem by 
Dr. Molly Joseph

Painting
Peace Bomb by Laura Barbosa

About the Author

Dr. Molly Joseph is a Professor, Poet (Bilingual) from Kerala, who writes Travelogues, Short stories and Story books for children. She has published seventeen books -14 Books of Poems, two Novels (translation) and a Storybook for Children. She has won several accolades which include, the Wordsmith Award 2019, the India Women Achiever’s Award 2020 and the Best English Poetry Book of the Year Awards 2020, 2022 (ALS, New Delhi). She believes in the power of the word and writes boldly on matters that deal with the contemporary. With her Doctorate in Postwar American Poetry, she has won Galaxy Award in Experimental Poetry, developing an indigenous diction characterized as ‘Ribbon Poetry’. She can be reached at mynamolly@gmail.com

A lighted lamp in my corner
the universe aglow outside with
speed of reeling galaxies…

immeasurable stars criss- cross
scintillation whizzing past
the orioles, planets, comets

all across the multiverse
speeding inconceivable
through countless light years

born with the Big Bang
they say without a Creator
auto life and auto fire burning

with stupendous black holes
sucking in all illumination
yet ceaseless birth of light

Big Bang they say was the source with no architect
yet zigzag lights, shades, spaces,
time constant and moving in hourglasses

hope and faith wane with
the dying sunny day
my lamp still flickers in the corner

the planets and starry skies
fade under its shadow
a mini black hole right under its eye

I place my lamp at the shrine
vague, unknown in its existentialism
the black circular aura under its shine

the stupendous black holes swallowing
and theoretical Big Bangs call-out
searching for the arch Creator still

at last I hold my lamp up to the pinnacle
negating all darkness underneath
as appearance and reality twist and twine

the puny glow reflects now forever
the light of a zillion suns in my third eye
emanating from my heart of faith….

Poem by
Prof (Dr) Laksmísree Banerjee
India

About the Poet

Prof. Dr Laksmisree Banerjee is an Award-Winning Globally well-known Poet, Litterateur, Editor, Writer, Vocalist, Ex Vice Chancellor and University Professor of English and Cultural Studies. She is a Sr. Fulbright, Commonwealth and National Scholar of the University of Calcutta. Widely published and anthologised, she has Nine Books of Poetry to her credit and One Hundred Research / Academic Publications including Books. She is the Recipient of the International Reuel Lifetime Achievement Award, Literoma Laureate Lifetime Achievement Award for Art and Literature, the UGC Grants Postdoctoral Research Award for her groundbreaking Work on World Women Poetry, the Kala Ratnam Award, Two Women Achievers Awards, Honour of Connoisseur of the Literary Arts (Tunisian Asian Society) and many more. She is a Sr. Rotarian, Multiple Paul Harris Fellow, and the Indian President’s Nominee on Boards of Central Universities. Dr Banerjee believes in using her Pen and Voice for Social Justice, Transformation and International Goodwill.

En este viaje de reencuentro y verdad,
Es tú amor mi experiencia y libertad,
Sumergiéndote en mi profundidad,
Soy polvo de arena de este universo en unidad.

Rió de amor y agua viva,
Estas destinado a fluir y llegar al mar de la vida,
Profunda tu mirada, vasto océano y llegada,
Quietud y viento de plenitud manifestada.

Me sumerjo y encuentro, vacío y silencio,
Dónde todo surge de nuestro encuentro,
En el rojizo cielo cansado del atardecer,
Te sumerges en mi humeda piel hasta el amanecer.

Libre cielo azul… Eres tú,
Impregnando mi cuerpo,
Con tu entrega y plenitud,
Nuestro es el mar, el viento y el tiempo.

********

On this journey of reunion and truth,
Your love is my experience and freedom,
Submerging you in my depth,
I am sand dust of this universe in unity.

River of love and living water,
You are destined to flow and reach the sea of ​​life,
Deep your gaze, vast ocean and
Stillness and wind of fullness manifested.

I submerge and find, emptiness and silence,
Where everything arises from our meeting,
In the reddish tired evening sky,
You immerse yourself in my humid skin until dawn.

Free blue sky… It’s you,
permeating my body
With your dedication and fullness,
Ours is the sea, the wind and the weather.

Poem by
Montzerrat Licona
Painting Courtesy: Amal Augustine 

About the Author

Montzerrat Licona is a Mexican Neuropsychologist, Researcher, and Writer, born in Jalisco, Mexico. She holds a master’s degree in Cognitive Behavioral Neuropsychology of Neurodevelopment. Montzerrat is the author of the Best Seller “Being, love and conscious sexuality; 7 arts of your mind” and “The voice of the wind in silence,” in addition to contributing to various anthologies and literary magazines. She is the Director and founder of the Conscious Neuropsychological Center in Human Development and an active member of the Royal International Academy and the National and International Institute of the Society of Arts. Montzerrat also serves as the Head of Communications and Coordinator in Mexico of the Writers Capital Foundation.