The blood always stirs with this tune of the varieties of musical tastes
The nature itself a bond for love in every opposite the male – female
Everything sings together, sings for each other, the teaching of love
As the teacher always teaches us to be sympathized with the sorrowful
And be happy to see the other’s happiness
The eyes will come to close its sight
The world may say us ‘Good Bye’
We must smile over the last thought or sigh
The view may show the glory for both of us we live in love
In cry and laugh
What’s the most feature of the reality nowadays?
There is no water to play the boat
The view, not vivid can give us relief, the foggy night
The tigers do not the matter for eating their cubs
On the other hand the view of devouring humanity
What brings up the ending?
Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh
26 April, 2025.
Md. Mahbubul Alam is from Bangladesh. His writer name is Mahbub John in Bangladesh. He is a Senior Teacher (English) of Harimohan Government High School, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh. Chapainawabganj is a district town of Bangladesh. He is an MA in English Literature from Rajshahi College under National University. He has published three books of poems in Bangla. He writes mainly poems but other branches of literature such as prose, article, essay etc. also have been published in national and local newspapers, magazines, little magazines. He has achieved three times the Best Teacher Certificate and Crest in National Education Week in the District Wise Competition in Chapainawabganj District. He has gained many literary awards from home and abroad. His English writings have been published in Synchronized Chaos for seven years.
First of all, we wish everyone a very happy Earth Day! Here’s a picture from regular contributing artist Jacques Fleury.
Image c/o Jacques Fleury
Poet and essayist Abigail George, whom we’ve published many times, shares the fundraiser her book’s press has created for her. She’s seeking contributions for office supplies and resources to be able to serve as a speaker and advocate for others who have experienced trauma or deal with mental health issues.
Also, the Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem, a store that has the mission of peaceful dialogue and education, invites readers to donate new or gently used books (all genres) that have been meaningful to them, with a note enclosed for future readers about why the books were meaningful. (The books don’t have to be about peace or social justice or the Mideast, although they can be). Please send books here. US-based Interlink Publishing has also started a GoFundMe for the store.
We’re also having a presence at the Hayward Lit Hop festival this year, and we encourage everyone to attend this free, all-ages event! Many local writers will share their work and we will also host an open mic.
Image c/o Carl Gorringe
Passing along a message from someone who contacted us. If you’re interested, please email Mark directly at jennybridge45@gmail.com
Hi there, As a seasoned coordinator of educational events, this is my official introduction. Mark is my name. I hope our conversations won’t be hampered by my hearing loss. For an upcoming workshop, I’m searching for an illustrator, cartoonist, or artist to work with on a project. I’ll go over the project needs in detail and pay your fees in advance if you can assist. Once I indicate what has to be depicted or drawn, you can estimate the cost.
Mark Stewart from Ohio, USA.
This month’s theme is Lost and Found.
Photo c/o Brian Barbeito
Brian Barbeito shares a mindful reflection on walking a paved road, finding a human place in nature. Rustamova Asalay depicts a farmer in tune with the sun and the cycles of nature. Stephen Jarrell Williams contributes several different ways of looking at and interacting with a city plaza. David Woodward contemplates life and aging while observing his garden, yet to bloom. Sayani Mukherjee dreams of flowers, rivers and mortality, biological life undergirding a modern city. Grzegorz Wroblewski, in a second set of poetry translated by Peter Burzynski, probes the corporeal and how we nourish ourselves.
Maniq Chakraborty speaks to being a lost traveler on a psychological journey. David Sapp writes of ordinary people and the weight of regret for their past choices, whether justifiable or not. Mykyta Ryzhykh’s poetry portrays people trapped in memory or dreamtime. Graciela Noemi Villaverde laments our human limitations: mortality and fragmentary knowledge. Sheila Murphy addresses isolation, confusion, and the weakness of language when it comes to expressing inmost feelings.
Bokijonova Madinabonu Batirovna’s piece explores the universality of grief and how it fragments and hardens some people’s selves. Denis Emorine’s novella Broken Identities explores the weight of the past, even a past we didn’t live through, and how it affects our sense of self. Tamara Walker (T.A. Aehrens)explores the practical and psychological process of repentance and healing from cultural sins in her novel Leaves from the Vine in an interview with editor Cristina Deptula. Vo Thi Nhu Mai’s elegant, understated poems express the weight of memory and unanswered questions.
Eva Petropoulou Lianou’s poem, translated from Greek to English, and then to Bangla by Md. Sadiqur Rahman Rumen, expresses a warmer view of the past and nostalgia for the simple kindnesses of her childhood. Sterling Warner’s poetry revels in nostalgia, nature, and culture – from Silicon Valley to Oktoberfest. Mahbub Alam describes in great detail the Bangladeshi New Year celebration. Rashidova Shaxrizoda pays homage to her cultural past and the poetic heritage of Alisher Navoi. Kylian Cubilla Gomez looks at nature and culture with a whimsical and curious eye. Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa learns from the past while planning for the future and playfully musing about the present.
Nigar Nurulla Khalilova’s poetic speaker leaves a beloved to pursue artistic dreams in a journey that resembles a camel caravan. Lalezar Orinbayeva reflects on how her youthful dreams have changed over time, but she has not lost her optimism or determination. Ismailova Hilola outlines events that inspired her to become a teacher, how she found her life’s calling.
Eshboyev Oybek Davlat Oglu also speaks to education, highlighting potential roles for e-learning. Shahina Olimova researches the use of role-playing games in English language learning.
Chimezie Ihekuna shares his life’s purpose, asserting his artistic independence and desire to make the world a better place through writing and music. Biljana Letic of the Balkan Beats radio program interviews Maja Milojkovic about the spiritual, intercultural, and humane inspirations behind her writing. Shamsiya Khudoynazarova Turumovna’s poetry celebrates the beauty, grace, and discipline that goes into crafting haiku. Vernon Frazer positions words and shapes and fonts onto three pages with a loose theme of music. Rizal Tanjung explores the nuances and ambiguities within Anna Keiko’s abstract paintings. Jim Meirose’s piece mutates language into a mix of fonts and verbs and sounds, giving the sense of flying a plane.
Jacques Fleury also experiments with language as he reflects on learning to “go with the flow” of life, even when life’s “flow” is uneven, in a piece crafted during meditation. Gabriela Marin’s gentle poems evoke dreams, intimacy, and the imagination. Duane Vorhees’ pieces speak to attraction and intimacy, longing for human and poetic muses. Sam Hendrian explores moments of human connection and faux-connection.
Eva Petropoulou Lianou urges human solidarity and friendship: she wishes for women to stand together and befriend each other. Dr. Jernail S. Anand’s essay reminds us that society’s leaders should represent ethical values beyond money and power. Rahmat A. Muhammad expresses her hopes for international and domestic peace within her country. Ahmed Farooq Baidoon urges the world to become worthy of its children. Isabel Gomes de Diego’s photos celebrate new and burgeoning life in various forms. Isaac Aju’s short story challenges the Nigerian social taboo about middle-aged women remaining unmarried, celebrating a broader scope of people and lifestyles.
Even as we find some new joys and new lives, we sadly lose others. Ahmed Miqdad laments the destruction of Gaza and its ravages on both land and souls. Emran Emon decries the killing in Gaza and the U.N.’s lack of action. Daniel De Culla lampoons those who lead humanity while willfully ignoring climate change.
Sandro Piedrahita’s tale of conquest, tragedy, and some tiny justice finally served dramatizes the Spanish colonization of the Incas. Z.I. Mahmud explores dystopian elements within Margaret Atwood’s feminist classic The Handmaid’s Tale.
On a more personal level, Anna Keiko’s youthful-sounding poetry expresses tender lovesickness and fear of losing her beloved. Taylor Dibbert’s weary poetic speaker gives up on the dating world. Bill Tope’s short story presents a tragic interpersonal situation with tenderness, causing readers to think about the role of the justice system.
Christopher Bernard’s piece illustrates how humans can defend ourselves against all sorts of danger with calm, mindful preparedness. We hope that this issue will not only charm and entertain, but inspire and strengthen you to face the days ahead.
Abstract: This article describes the opinions on the teaching profession and the inner experiences of the 1st-year student who has just entered the university. The article focuses on glorifying teachers and the fact that this profession is an honorable profession.
Key words: New Uzbekistan, teacher, sweet memories, teacher, profession, knowledge, dedication, speech, skillful pedagogue, top class, selector, selfless student, president.
“New Uzbekistan – from the threshold of the
school, begins with the education system”
Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev
When I remember that the President did not say the above sentence in vain and that only individuals lie at the bottom of it, my hands tremble and a strange feeling appears in my heart. The role of our respected teachers who gave their whole lives to work in such a blessed position is incomparable in educating honorable people. In this place, our respected teachers are accepted and honored with kindness and great fame among the people. Of course, I think this is true. It is natural for the people to be happy to see that he gives equal love to all his students with his selflessness, sincerity, and kindness in the path of his profession. I still remember the day I first stepped into my school. I was a naive girl who didn’t know who I was, cried like a newborn baby and was capricious, who didn’t know what life was all about. When I remember the day I first saw my teacher, I think that he is the second reason for the results I am achieving now. My first teacher was my grandmother, because before I went to school, she took me to kindergarten, taught me how to count, and raised all my joy.
When I remember the first pen I held in my hand on the first day of school, my respect for the teachers swells. One day, my teacher wrote the letter “A” on the blackboard and asked me to write according to this pattern. That was the first letter I wrote then. Do you believe? It turned out so ugly. When my teacher saw what I wrote, he stared blankly. I was very afraid then. I was afraid that they will fight now. No, my teacher didn’t. He came to me and said: “You are such a beautiful girl, why don’t your letters be so ugly, in case you become a bad-tempered girl in the future?” “If you don’t write well, if you don’t learn to speak fluently, you won’t have a place in life.” I was ashamed and almost crying. I stared at my writing while blushing, and I couldn’t bring myself to write back, so I couldn’t pick up the pen. At that moment, my love and interest in the mother tongue faded. My teacher noticed this quickly. I can’t forget one piece of advice he gave me the day he started working with me individually. “Don’t stop fighting, but also get strength from fighting. Do not forget that no matter how many attempts are made, they will not be useless. “If you don’t stop moving until you get out of your grip without success, you have lost your life today,” he said. After that, he sowed the seed of knowledge in my heart and became a person of great value to me. I was young at that time, I did not know the meaning of such words, what kind of concept they mean. After that, I confidently continued to write the letter “A” again and again. Yes, I tried a lot. It is not the same in one, but it is the same in the other. The same thing happened to me. The result of my efforts was not ineffective. When I remember such sweet memories, every moment I spent with my teacher is vivid in my eyes. I think that whether a great person or an ordinary person remembers his first day at school, he feels a special impression and happy mood. They yearn to return to that era, sometimes crying. So, what do you think is the reason for his longing? Of course, in the people who left sweet memories along the way with us as we come to life. The reason why we remember that time and miss it is because of our teacher’s love.
My grandmother is currently working as a skilled pedagogue, a high-class primary education specialist. I envied my grandmother when she taught, and I also considered the profession of a teacher worthy of me. But my grandmother told me that it is not easy. I used to think about the difficulties in the difficult profession of teaching. However, if you want to achieve this from the bottom of your heart, no one and nothing can stand in your way. See, my intention is devoid of truth. I am a student of the Faculty of Primary Education of Jizzakh State Pedagogical University named after Abdulla Qadiri, which has a great history of 50 years, is powerful and has good results in our country.
It is an honor for me to become a teacher. Think for yourself, from the janitor to the president, from the builder to the businessman, from the driver to the pilot, from the marketer to the breeder, from the specialist to the lawyer, there are all professions behind which lies the result of our teacher. Our teacher will be our guide who will help us understand our past, understand ourselves, and know our abilities. They do everything seriously. In fact, both the scientist and the worker come from the same teacher and the same classroom.
It is clear that mature and great people will emerge only from a teacher who can awaken love for his profession. No matter how difficult it is, my passion for my profession does not fade. I want to remember these professionals with a sweet memory for a lifetime. Besides, justifying the knowledge they have given me, I will continue to achieve great results. I need to find the right way to do this. The main thing is that I should instill in myself the feeling of loyalty and dedication to my profession. Along the way, I was accompanied by a team of teachers from the Faculty of Primary Education of Jizzakh State Pedagogical University.
After all, even though it has been less than a month since I came to the faculty, I was very happy to see the opinion and trust of our teachers during the introduction process. Our teachers, who spoke, explained to us that we will join the ranks of talented students, and at the same time, that our state has created many opportunities for talented students, and listed the talented students of the previous academic years by name. The university has a website “Akademiya.uz” for the promotion of talented students, and the articles and published works of all talented students are evaluated on this website. I thought about all the ideas and carefully weighed them. Our teachers are truly showing us the true path. Besides, the trips we made around the university with our teacher were very enjoyable and interesting. During such an intense trip, we also visited the palace of culture of our university. Our team liked the equipment there. Students interested in guitar, piano, flute and trumpet are spending their free time here today. In particular, we were convinced that the presence of books in the library in both paper and electronic form is a comfortable environment for any student. I believed that it was a library full of books, so that we could not look for a lecture on any topic. Seeing that our university is currently working on the “Hemis platform”, I thought that this was the first example of efforts to ensure transparency in education. Strict action will also be taken against those who stay in class. A credit module system has been launched for each subject. Our teachers called us to be vigilant by telling such warning deeds.
Indeed, after hearing about the opportunities available to talented young people in our Republic, I felt a desire to join the ranks of talented students. The number of our students using this opportunity is unlimited. I can emphasize that Aziza Amonova, a graduate of the Faculty of Elementary Education of Jizzakh State Pedagogical University named after Abdulla Kadiri, received the Navoi scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year, Umid Kadirov “Mard” boy. Ergasheva Mehriniso, who is one of the proud students, is the owner of the scholarship named after Navoi. Fingers are not enough to count our proud young people. It was the team of our university that made several of our students achieve great success in their personal lives. As a result of their success, they were admitted to the master’s degree as a student on a preferential basis. We are currently monitoring the results together.
Look, let’s think about it. If you ask such people the reason why they achieve great results, they will point to their teacher without hesitation. Sometimes there are those who show their parents. Now I will turn to the question why there are students who show their parents. Let me give an example of this question. My dad is a hero to me. Because he was able to restore everything from scratch, he ensured that we grow without discrimination among our friends. Currently, I am far from my parents, but I did not refrain from money or sweet words. For me, he is my teacher who has an incomparable place in life. The way they brought up my mother with sweet words and taught me what life is is still ringing in my ears. Both of these people are my wings, my first teacher and people who have reached the level of being my whole body for me. I am proud to say that all the people who are fighting shoulder to shoulder with me in my life path are my teachers. In particular, I set myself the goal of joining the ranks of exemplary and selfless students at the university. My teacher Shukurova Halima Sunnatullayevna, who understood this goal and helped me earnestly, became a teacher. Many students ask, why did you choose this teacher? Have you thought about whether he will be strong enough to work with you when he is older? they say. But Ustazim’s many experiences, his motherly way of delivering his thoughts, and his kind eyes drew people to him. I have witnessed many times that my teacher also has intuitive abilities.
In conclusion, I can say that receiving the status of a teacher and working faithfully to it is an honorable task only for patient, persistent and proud people. In particular, teachers of primary education should not have such a difficult profession as teaching students from zero, bringing them to the level of a great person, and supporting the student to reach perfection in any situation. A doctor’s mistake kills a patient, a teacher’s mistake kills the whole world. As I grow up to be a teacher, I think that the opinion of my teachers, my grandmother’s trust in me, and the attention of my family members are behind me.
References:
Sh.M. Mirziyoyev “We will continue our path of national development and raise it to a new level.” TASHKENT “UZBEKISTAN” 2017.
Abdullayeva N. “Kasbim-fakhrim” “Mannaviyat” newspaper 2021.
Ulug’bekova O. “I bow to my teacher” “Jizzakh Haqikatii” newspaper 2023 year
Ismailova Hilola is the daughter of Alimardon. She was born in Urganch district of Khorezm region. Currently, she is a 1st-year student at Jizzakh State Pedagogical University named after Abdulla Kadyrov. She has a national certificate of the Uzbek language and is a proud student of Academic Lyceum, holder of a red diploma.
In a world haunted by the echoes of what was lost, presence lingers in absence and memory is etched into every stillness. Shadows speak louder than voices, and silence becomes a vessel for all the questions too heavy to ask. Time stutters through forgotten wars and empty rooms, while fragile gestures—watering a barren plant, floating a paper name—reveal the quiet ache of endurance. Nothing shatters outright; instead, things unravel—light, language, even the self—until what remains is the soft breath before a storm, the quiet no one names, but everyone carries.
WHAT THE SILENCE HOLDS
<Vo Thi Nhu Mai>
1/
A bird circles above the ruins
as if sketching a name, it once knew
but cannot pronounce.
The wind holds the walls upright
only long enough
for a child to pass through.
The silence is not absence
It is the weight of unasked questions
left at the door of every house.
Someone or no one
has taken the weapons
and buried them in a field
where no one remembers to search.
Before the first word
a shadow knelt.
It did not pray
It did not ask to stay
It simply pressed
its whole being
into the space
between heartbeats.
2/
The window was not broken
It just forgot
how to hold the light.
You asked me a question
with your back turned
something about staying
Or maybe abandon.
The clock kept time for a war
no one remembered starting.
And still you kept watering
a plant that never grew.
I folded my name into a paper shape
and set it afloat on the floorboards.
Somewhere under the house
a slow leak was learning
how to become a river.
There were footsteps upstairs
No one was home
Only the dust, and a song
that wouldn’t stop
forgetting its own melody.
If a silence opens its mouth, who listens?
If you survive, but your shadow doesn’t
what walks beside you?
There is no anthem for the unbroken
Only this: the hush before thunder
that no one calls a promise.
VO THI NHU MAI
http/vietnampoetry.wordpress.com
– Date of Birth: March 18, 1976
– Hometown: Quảng Trị, Vietnam
– Current Residence: Dianella, Western Australia, Australia
– Occupation: Primary school teacher in the public education system of Western Australia
– Education: Master’s in Education, Master Degree in Literature
– Roles: Poet, translator
– Work History:
– 1998-2003: English teacher at Ngô Quyền High School, Châu Đức, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu
– 2003-2010: postgraduate studies at Edith Cowan University (ECU), WA
– 2006-2016: Taught at Dryandra Primary School, WA
– 2016-present: Teaching at Maylands Primary School, WA
– 2015-2022: Volunteered at Hùng Vương Vietnamese School on weekends and successfully secured government funding for school activities twice.
teacher, poet, translator
As a primary school teacher with over twenty years of full-time teaching experience in Western Australia, following five years of teaching at a high school in Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu.
In addition to being a poet with numerous published works, my poetry was selected for inclusion in a book as part of a 2023 English poetry competition in Western Australia, organized and curated by WAPOET.
Several of my poems have been set to music and performed across various districts within the country.
I am also an advocate for promoting the works of fellow artists, often designing, presenting, and writing prefaces for their literary collections.
I frequently present bilingual poetry readings at cultural festivals organized by the Vietnamese Women’s Association in Western Australia.
Poetry Collections:
Reflections on Poetry (Poetry, Women’s Publishing House, 2010)
Beyond the Vast Ocean (Poetry, Literature Publishing House, 2011)
The Fairy Tale Garden (Poetry, Writers’ Association Publishing House, 2015)
Let the Day Be Short (Poetry, Thuận Hóa Publishing House, 2022)
Oh, that’s true, I am waiting (Poetry, upcoming publication)
Vietnamese-English Translated Works Published in Recent Years:
Bilingual Poetry of Võ Quê
Bilingual Poetry of Nguyễn Thanh Kim (published in Romania)
Bilingual Poetry of Nguyễn Quốc Học
Bilingual Poetry of Vũ Thụy Nhung
Bilingual Poetry of Trần Quang Đạo (published in Canada)
Nhịp Điệu Việt The Rhythm of Vietnam, Bilingual Edition (Anthology of 307 poets from Vietnam and abroad)
Because it’s the only way to come into “the flow” …
Jacques Fleury
Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured Haitian American Poet, Educator, Author of four books and a literary arts student at Harvard University online. His latest publication “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self” & other titles are available at all Boston Public Libraries, the University of Massachusetts Healey Library, University of Wyoming, Askews and Holts Library Services in the United Kingdom, The Harvard Book Store, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Amazon etc… He has been published in prestigious publications such as Wilderness House Literary Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Litterateur Redefining World anthologies out of India, Poets Reading the News, the Cornell University Press anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene among others…Visit him at: http://www.authorsden.com/jacquesfleury.–
Jacques Fleury’s book You Are Enough: The Journey Towards Understanding Your Authentic Self
Examine close reading of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale with critical perspectives and textual references.
Margaret Atwood’s masterpiece “The Handmaid’s Tale” is a phenomenal dystopian speculative fiction of contemporary totalitarianism and authoritarianism “within Western society and within Christian tradition itself”. Old Testamentary militarized hierarchy disempowers women’s emancipation and dismantles womanhood into the closetted fetters of patriarchalism and misogyny as encountered by the tragic handmaids Offred and Ofglen. The worldview of casually held attitudes about women is a real life problem exposition of social commentary critiquing antifeminism and gender treachery, ecological disasters like nuclear radiation and chemical pollution, civil war and political turmoil, widespread sterility/ infertility and sexually transmitted diseases (HIVs and AIDs) contagion. New England Puritanism of Gileadean microcosm is a metafictional epilogue of post futuristic dystopian society purporting to be the premise of international historical association conference 2195. “Loving neighbours while harbouring animosity for the arbitrary adversaries reflect stranding of beleaguered populace within the communion and community. Offred is otherized as a concubine and wanton woman of the preGileadean regime. Offred’s reproductive machinery emblematically symbolizes sacrificial offering as a two legged womb fertility and/or surrogacy despite her malicious victimhood vulnerable to the vicious status quo as adulteress and strumpet. Mooning and Juneing of the coterie damsels and brothel courtesans reflect the objectification of commodified property of male gaze as extrapolated by the novelist. Gileadean feminization refrain and restrain from womanizing creatures of male power fantasies. Sexuality and gender stereotyping apartheid of womanhood is subversively challenged by subalterns and marthas, Rita and Nick, harbouring solidarity with the Mayday Resistance movement. Nick is hired by Serena Joy to cuckold Offred in return of heir to eclipse sexual impotency and emasculative effeminacy of her masterly lord husband, the commandant. However, Nick embodies humanness and philanthropism through espousal of escapade for the entrapped maiden’s absconsion to Canada.
Atwood’s feminist utopian idealism pontificates that masculine system is the major cause of social and political problems and showcases women as not only as the least equals of men but also as the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions. The novel is detrimental to Christian tradition because of being sexually explicit, violently graphic and morally corrupt. Anti Biblical teachings pertaining to sexuality and gender education are preached within the domain of The Handmaid’s Tale. However, the novel is a masterpiece of dystopian speculative fiction that espouses the exploration of “the most insidious and violent manifestations of power in Western history”. Jezebels and handmaids are iconoclastic milestones and cornerstones of enforced sexual captivity sanctioned by the Gileadean regime. Furthermore allegorical satire of the en masse non white African Americans rehabilitation and/or en route of Jewish diasporic exodus community repatriation to New Jerusalem have been depicted by the novelist. This dystopian nightmarish speculative fiction anchors barren wives of the elite class as royalists and depersonalizes the subjectivity of the subaltern other gender as fertility machines in accord with their reproductive agencies. Moreover, segregationist and separatist abortion rights and declining birth rates in Romanian and Canadian territorial context are allegorized. The universalistically spectacular appeal of the novel distinctively intertwines interlacing of feminist survivor characters’ destinies with ideological absolutism of the tyrannical apartheid. Racial persecution and ethnic cleansing cast vulnerable survivalists as prey into the cascade of fanaticism, extremism and fundamentalism.
Regressive and repressive state policies of conservative Gilead disfavours women’s rights movement including sapphic individuals, abortionists, abolitionists, religious sects and banishing Jews, elderly females and non white populace to the territorial outskirts of radioactive fallout colonies. As a feminist activist Margaret Atwood voices for women’s education and property power of attorney as manifested through the caricature of Mayday Resistance. Mayday Resistance is bolstered by radical feminist activist Ofglen to overthrow the republic of Gilead. However, the antifeminist traits of the novel marginalizes and otherizes handmaids as mere breeders of reproductive machinery and /or reproductive agencies. These womenfolk relegates themselves as inferior and subservient to social, religious and cosmic roles, duties, obligations and errands sanctified and decreed by state sponsored right wing fundamentalism, rigid dogmas and misogynistic theosophies. Atwood’s Aunt Lydia is a depiction of church-state sponsored staunchest pacifists passive to the women’s resistance and rebellion; vicious preachers casting as spokesperson for antifeminism and urges handmaids to metamorphose themselves in the crux of de-sexuality, impersonality, disfiguration, disembodiment and dehumanization. In contrast, Nick is a renegade mutineering legacy of handmaids through underground networking channels resulting in rescue operations of entrapped maidens. However, the novel’s mimetic impulse of the commander appears more pathetic than sinister, baffled than manipulative and almost at all times a fool personae, thus condoning antifeminism. The narrator-protagonist of Handmaid’s Tale coping, endurance and survival quest after all, transmits translucent beacon of hope and humility for the oppressed minority amidst chilling and depressive uprooted soulless existence of a misogynous regime. Atwood’s subtle transfiguration to heroic feminist survivor sly subversive and determined daring conniver overthrow coercive dungeons of the pervasive canons of Gilead’s ruthlessly dystopian tyrannical nature. “Dark realm within’, ‘cellar’ and ‘attic hiding place’ connote ubiquitous nightmarish envisionings colonizing powers imposed upon handmaid-slave dynamic identity beyond exemplar premises of pervasive canons of Gilead frontiers. Offred’s solicitous gratification with hiraeth is a phantasmal escapism from absurdity and futility and/or defeatism and paralysis of the obsolete frozen barren wasteland. The mind style narrator-protagonist voice and perception is symptomatic of traumatic events and of excluded experiences that exemplifies discourse of a socially marginalized individual more than a woman’s language. Afterall, Eurydice, the Creation- death goddess whose self-expression and self-affirmation epiphanies emerges as evanescently and enigmatically in the resurrected tomb of the buried earthy womb epitomizes Offred’s repressive state of affairs.
Further Reading, References, Endnotes and Podcasts
Donna J. Haraway’s, 35. Introduction: A Cyborg Manifesto, Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century, Routledge New York pp. 149-181
A woman’s place is in the resistance: self, narrative and performative femininity as subversion and weapon in the Handmaid’s Tale by Courtney Landis, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Repository and Digital Archive pp. 1-70
The New York Times Margaret Atwood on ‘What The Handmaid’s Tale Means in the Age of Trump?’ Book Review Essays March 10, 2017
Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale and the Dystopian Tradition’ Amin Malak, Canadian Literature Review, pp. 1-8
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale: Resistance Through Narrating, Hilde Staels, 1995, English Studies, 76:5, pp. 455-467
‘Just a Backlash’: Margaret Atwood, Feminism and The Handmaid’s Tale, Shirley Neuman, pp. 1-12, University of Toronto Quarterly, Volume 75, No. 3, Summer 2006.
Anna Keiko’s Painting in the Map of Contemporary Art
By: Rizal Tanjung
In the realm of contemporary visual art, Anna Keiko may not yet be a household name among the giants of the global art scene, but her work holds a narrative potential and visual expression that should not be underestimated. One of her notable pieces is a 50×60 cm painting that, at first glance, suggests gestural freedom and the power of color. Yet, behind that freedom lies structure, silent narrative, and deep cultural resonance.
The painting presents three compositional clusters—two vertical figures and one group in the lower right—composed of rough brushstrokes, contrasting colors, and strong textures. Dominated by black, red, yellow, and green, these form ambiguous figurative shadows: are they humans, masks, or cultural silhouettes?
This essay aims to unpack the work from various perspectives: the history of painting, relevant art movements, aesthetic theory, symbolic approaches, and the broader global context in which it resides.
—
1. Gestural Aesthetics and the Legacy of Abstract Expressionism
If we trace the history, Keiko’s spontaneous, dynamic, and emotionally charged brushstrokes have strong roots in Abstract Expressionism. This movement emerged in post-WWII America, led by figures such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. They rejected representational forms in favor of gesture and abstraction as a means to express the soul and existential condition.
Anna Keiko, though living in a different era and cultural context, seems to inherit this spirit. Her use of impasto (thick paint application) invites a sensory perception of texture and depth, making the painting seem alive and in motion. In her hands, paint becomes more than a medium—it becomes a “body language” that speaks directly to the viewer’s senses and emotions.
—
2. Figurative Ambiguity: Between Representation and Imagination
Unlike pure Abstract Expressionism, which often forgoes representation altogether, Keiko’s work offers shadowy but distinct silhouettes. We see “figures”—perhaps human, divine, or cultural icons—yet without clear detail. This situates her work within the spectrum of Neo-Expressionism, a movement that re-emerged in the 1980s as a critique of minimal and conceptual art.
Neo-Expressionism revived the human form in raw, expressive, and sometimes brutal ways. Keiko reflects this through a subtler, more contemplative approach. She doesn’t simply paint humans; rather, she suggests their presence through shadows and fragmented forms. As if inviting us to see humanity not through physical form, but through its traces and lingering energy.
—
3. Color Symbolism and Visual Tension
The color palette Keiko employs is far from arbitrary. Black dominates as background and contour, red evokes emotional intensity, yellow brings light and vitality, while green resonates with nature. These hues are not smoothly blended but rather “clashed,” creating strong visual tension.
In expressionist color theory, each color carries an emotional and symbolic charge. Kandinsky, a pioneer of abstraction, once wrote that color is a “psychic instrument.” In this context, Keiko’s colors are not decorative, but symbolic—conveying an unspoken narrative beyond words.
—
4. Eastern Touch: Zen, Emptiness, and the Meaning Within Silence
The name “Keiko” carries a Japanese nuance, and the minimalist tendencies in her composition suggest the influence of Eastern aesthetics. Traditional Chinese and Japanese ink painting, such as sumi-e, emphasizes the importance of emptiness, space, and brush movement as core aesthetic elements.
In Zen philosophy, perfection is found within imperfection. Keiko’s painting, with its rough, unfinished forms that seem to “pause mid-thought,” invites contemplation. It speaks through silence—eschewing literal narrative in favor of a personal, introspective experience. In this way, Keiko unites the duality of East and West: the expressive freedom of the West with the meditative depth of Zen visual tradition.
—
5. Art as a Cross-Cultural Space
In an increasingly fluid global art landscape, works like Anna Keiko’s serve as vital cultural bridges. Her work does not align itself with a single tradition—not strictly Western, nor purely Eastern. Instead, it embodies the global artist of today—working across geographic, historical, and artistic boundaries.
Her painting demonstrates that art need not choose between abstraction and figuration, between the personal and the universal, or between emotion and concept. All can coexist within the same canvas, just as our world moves in ever-growing complexity.
—
6. Positioning the Work within the Contemporary Art Map
In the midst of conceptual, digital, and interactive installation art, gestural painting like Keiko’s remains relevant. Arguably, it is becoming even more vital as a form of resistance to the sterile nature of digitization. The human touch, the brush’s trace, and visual irregularity become the “honesty” sought in an era of visual simulation.
Keiko’s painting stands as proof that “painting” is far from obsolete. It is not merely a traditional medium, but a transformative one—capable of fostering contemplation, self-expression, and cross-cultural reflection.
What may appear to be a modest-sized painting holds layers of thought and complex visual intensity. It stands as evidence that abstract art is not an escape from reality, but rather a quest for meaning beyond surface representation.
Within a single canvas, Anna Keiko invites us to explore art history, dive into inner depth, reflect on color symbolism, and ultimately—meet ourselves. She is not merely an artist who paints forms, but one who transforms visual experience into spiritual and cultural resonance.
