The road to silence

Through the back door, into the nothingness of the day,

With silent steps I lose myself in the semblance.

From the tumult of the world, I slowly detach myself,

And in the deep calm, I surprise myself.

In the arms of the wind, I listen to them as they return,

Lost thoughts, like a secret fortune.

The silence comes, like a sweet call,

An eternal moment of blessing.

In the shadow of the dawn, under the clear sky,

I search for myself, a liberated soul.

With time I learn that it is not a sin

To be closer to your true self.

Lidia Popa was born in Romania in the locality of Piatra Șoimului, in the county of Neamț, on 16th April, 1964. She finished her studies in Piatra Neamț, Romania with a high school diploma and other administrative courses, where she worked until she decided to emigrate to Italy.

She has been living for 23 years and worked in Rome as part of the wave of intellectual emigrants since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

She wrote her first poem at her age of seven. She is a poet, essayist, storyteller, recognized in Italy and in other countries for her literary activities. She collaborates with cultural associations, literary cenacles, literary magazines and paper and online publications of Romanian, Italian and international literature. She writes in Romanian, Italian and also in other languages as an exercise in knowledge.

BOOKS

She has published her poems in six books:

in Italy:

1. ” Point different ( to be ) ” – ed. Italian and

2.” In the den of my thoughts ( Dacia ) ” – ed. bilingual Romanian/ Italian AlettiEditore 2016,

3.“ Sky amphora ” – ed. bilingual Romanian/ Italian EdizioniDivinafollia 2017,

in Romania:

4. ” The soul of words” ed. bilingual Romanian/ Albanian Amanda Edit Verlag 2021,

5.” Syntagms with longing for clover ” ed. Romanian, EdituraMinela 2021.

6.” The Voice interior ” LidiaPopa and BakiYmeri ed. bilingual Romanian/Italian, Amanda Edit Verlag 2022.

Her poems featured in more than 50 literary anthologies and literary magazines on line from 2014 to 2023 in Italy, Romania, Spain, Canada, Serbia, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Liban,USA,etc.

Her poems are translated into Italian, French, English, Spanish, Arabic, German, Bangladesh, Portuguese, Serbian, Urdu, Dari, Tamil, etc.

Her writings are published regularly with some magazines in Romania, Italy and abroad.

She is a promoter of Romanian, Italian and international literature, and is part of the juries of the competitions.

She translates from classical or contemporary authors who strike for the refinement and quality of their verses in the languages: Italian, Romanian, English, Spanish, French, German, stating that “it is just a writing exercise to learn and evolve as a person with love for humanity, for art, poetry and literature “.

SHE IS

*Member of the Italian Federation of Writers (FUIS)

*Honorary member of the International Literary Society Casa PoeticaMagia y Plumas Republic of Colombia,

*Member of Hispanomundial Union of Writers (Union Hispanomundial de Escritores) (UHE) and Thousands Minds For Mexico (MMMEX)

*President UHE and MMMEX Romania, August 21, 2021

*She had come power of attorney Vice-president UHE Romania, Mars18, 2021- August 21, 2021

*President UHE and MMMEX Romania, August 21, 2021

*Counselor from Italy for Suryodaya Literary Foundation Odisha India,

*Director from Italy for Alìanza Cultural Universal (ACU) Argentina

*Member Motivational Strips Oman,a member of numerous other literary groups at the level internationally,

*Director of Poetry and Literature World Vision Board of Directors (PLWV) Bangladesh

*Membership of ANGEENA INTERNATIONAL NON PROFIT ORGANISATION of Canada

International Peace Ambassador of The Daily Global Nation International Independent Newspaper from Dhaka Bangladesh – 2023

*Founder literary group Lido dell’anima with LIDO DELL’ANIMA AWARDS

*Founder LIDO DELL’ANIMA Italian magazine

*Founder SILVAE VERBORUM INTERNATIONAL multilingual magazine

*Founder literary currently #homelesspoetry

etc.

Parents

There is no love that can compare to the love of your parents. Your parents raised you, clothed you, cared for you your whole life & never left you.

Nobody can ever replace that. They are the biggest & most precious blessing so whenever you look at them say Alhamdulillah.

Spend quality time with them, show them how much you love & respect them & cherish every moment you have with them.

This life is short so serve them as much as you can. May Allah (swt) grant our parents the highest in Jannah & protect them always, Ameen.

Makhmasalayeva Jasmina Makhmashukurovna is very creative and smart, an easy-going student of the 28th school in Mubarak, Kashkadarya, Uzbekistan.

On Umid Najjari’s Poetry

The Collection of Poems “PHOTO OF DARKNESS”

 “The sharpness of mind is never born in harmonious conditions” (Haruki Murakami).

If we look at the origin of someone’s poetry through that prism, then Umid Najjari would be its prominent representative. His literary description and narration confirm that he is a highly intellectual and artistically delicate poet. His poetry is not distant or alien and has no boundaries. His fragile written word has a mighty power of artistic creation, and this is exactly the impression given by the poems in his collection  Photo of Darkness.

Umid Najjari was born in 1989 in Tabriz – East Azerbaijan Province, in northwestern Iran. After completing his studies at Islamic Azad University of Tabriz (2016), he continued his postgraduate studies at Baku Eurasia University, Faculty of Philology in Azerbaijan. As a writer, journalist and translator, he published the books “The land of the birds” and “Beyond the walls”, which stand out in his work. His poems have been translated into many world languages and published in the USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Georgia and many other countries. He is the winner of “Samad Behrangi” Award (2016) and “Ali bey Hoseinzadeh” Award (2019). He was awarded the “Mihai Eminescu” Award in 2022. He was awarded the International Prize “Medal Alexandre The Great” in 2022. Najjari has also been elected Vice-President of the BOGDANI international writers’ association, with headquarters in Brussels and Pristina. And he is an active member of the Turkic World Young Authors Association.

By combining life and literary experience, Najjari writes poetry that evokes inviolable sense of depth with his readers. Sometimes pointless  and ungenerous descriptions reveal the essence and and let us travel from apparently meaningless to the deep meaningful, from abstraction to real stronghold of events, and by its authenticity they attract the reader to explore further through his poems and to return to them again and again.

A poet of the original style, deep in himself, does not divide the past and the present as the two different spheres, but perceives them as equally dominant and represented with the same intensity in his life.

 There is no harmony between them, expressing deep emptiness and loneliness in his life:

“everything seen in a mirror is loneliness…” (the poem “A homeland as big as umbrella”).

There are many and diverse relationships present in the poem, from immeasurable love to immeasurable nostalgia.

As the themes of Najjari’s poetry, besides longing and helplessness ‘the shadow of longing enters us….sometimes the laughter is the last breath of crying’ (The Shadow of Longing), the poets draws  hints of tragedy in his descriptions – ‘sad black stones in cemeteries’ (The Shadow of tree) that sometimes  even have apocalyptic tones.

Night pains…

Darkness shot into his lap….

So we cannot fly …” (,, I Fire a Match”)  

(implication of despair, variation of sorrow and suffering, a step curled up in despair)

…

 ‘a pile of fire on the cross…’

Rebellious, unstoppable restlessness of fire is a picture of eternal movement, a world full of opposites, the scene of the constant struggle of opposing forces of light and darkness….. Heraclitus)

The light is a reflection of hope, and the frequent return to a night in poems reminds us of torturous reality, and various sides of dark forces and evil fate of the centuries…

His poetry weeps over the fate of the world, over darkness, without a stronghold of posterity. In his poem The Symphony of Separation he tries to find an escape in oblivion. The lack is strong (Telegram), passing through an awareness of freedom of choice and the need to live.

The poem Absurd mentions Zarathustra, the ancient philosopher, underlining his idea of the essence of our existence represented by the constant struggle between light and darkness, good and evil.

The unequal verses and intermittent rhythm of his poetry remind us of Mayakovsky’s writing. He even mentions him in the same poem by saying: ,,The side of Mayakovsky in my body hurts’, emphasizing the lyrical creation of the suicidal instinct and near death….

Above all the poet glorifies love, in various relations, as the most important and motivating thought in the essence of our being:

‘Open your hands, protect me from the winds, keep me from drying out my eyes….’ (‘They are all excuse’).

This is just one of the possible interpretations of Umid Najjari’s individual and extraordinary poetry.

                                      Andrejana Dvornić, professor and writer

                                      Belgrade, Serbia

Haruki Murakami* – 1Q84 (Book 1)

An Ottoman label for Cleansing (1915-1923)

An Ottoman label

An Ottoman branding.

To uproot my human development.

A human development of two millennia 

once flourishing in Anatolia.

I was labelled Armenian! 

I was branded Armenian!

By whom?

by merciless Ottomans!

I took a long hike to my own graveyard,

accompanied by the Ottoman funeral cortege.

They played the dead march for my own interment.

My interment in the Syrian desert.

My offence was my identity, and 

a global conflict and its attendant heavy losses.

A conflict I knew little or nothing about.

I was preyed upon by men of beastly testestorone.

Coercively I became a sunni proselyte,

and I was dispossessed of everything vital.

Terribly weakened by an inflicted famished state, I was laid to rest in the Syrian desert.

The Heart is Where We Belong.
– Author Haroon Rashid

We always feel that life is there,
Somewhere, where we want to search for.
But why do we forget that life is within,
The Peace is within, the charm, the spark,
The light and the dark, everything is within.

What do we search outside for?
What is beyond our horizons? Nothing.
There’s nothingness in the air,
There is no flair in the hair.
Everything is in the heart,
And heart is where we belong.
And the heart is with you.
Yes, with you.

And with you, this spark, this light,
This charm, this life, everything comes out.
So live your best life,
Give your heart where it belongs,
And live the life, love the life, and feel alive.
—Written by Author Haroon Rashid

Author Haroon Rashid – Biography

Haroon Rashid is an internationally celebrated author, poet, and scholar renowned for his profound literary works and contributions to global peace and education. He gained worldwide recognition for his poetry book We Fell Asleep in One World and Woke Up in Another, which deeply resonated with readers across cultures and was later translated by Nobel Prize Laureate 2024 Eva Petropoulou Lianou. His book Author Haroon Rashid Quotes further solidified his reputation as a writer who masterfully blends wisdom, spirituality, and human emotions into his work.

Haroon’s literary achievements have earned him numerous accolades, including the United Nations Karmaveer Chakra Award and the Global Peace Award from the Mother Teresa International Foundation. His influence extends beyond literature, as he has been honored with an Honorary Degree in Humanity from La Haye, France, and the Golden Eagle Award for Literary Excellence. He has proudly represented India at various international literary and peace events, including the Paper Fiber Fest and the International Congress of Education in Mexico.

Beyond writing, Haroon Rashid is an advocate for sustainable development, serving as an ambassador for SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG13 (Climate Action). His works emphasize themes of peace, cultural harmony, and personal transformation through enriching humanity. As the National Vice Chairman of Youth India at the Mother Teresa International Foundation, he actively promotes youth engagement in education and humanitarian efforts.

Haroon Rashid’s influence has reached global platforms, with invitations to speak at prestigious events in Mexico and Greece, and features in O, The Oprah Magazine and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Through his writing and activism, he continues to inspire millions, leaving an indelible mark on literature and global consciousness.

Ignorance’s Bliss

Have I not seen the beauty of dawn

I’d be contented of midnight lawn

Yet the pains of desire is sown

Hopeless pains of once numbed pawn

Have I not seen the field of star

I’d be blinded by neons lights afar

Yet not even diamonds come on par

The hope of peace in midst of war

Would it have been better to be ignorant

Following the instincts of an ant

From the sea of norm be deviant

Would satisfaction be a blessed grant?

Why must my eyes be opened wide

To the vastness of truth can’t hide

Confusion of uncertainty to confide

White, black, red or blue, gown of bride

Knowledge is power and poison of peace

When certainty knows not of wisdom’s ease

How much rain can be contained by fleece

Doubts and fears even sage’s soul tease.

War is Inevitable

In the middle of big powerful guns playing game

Neutrality is seen as a safe and wiser gamble

A treaty forced with one is historically lame

But dropping the ball will give us fatal shame

Four big guns on hands-off checkered board

Pawns to push, where no one wins, but the lord

Four chips are not placed, to protect their gourd

Secretly waiting for spoils to divide and hoard

Truces do not shield one from adventurism

Just a buffer for growing, survival mechanism

Until one is called by players for ‘altruism’.

A normal game for big players of empiralism

A call to see whether one of the four is weakening

They need to know who gets the most in harvesting

Though they are strong and science is advancing

Power growth development and resource producing

Both at same time is too much for maintaining

Supply and demand defeats technology source

Deficit in alternative energy and resource

Science has not yet advanced sufficiency

To the stage of not needing natural resources,

Be it in agricultural or mineral produce

Time, of course, comes when one cannot hide

Where small allies will need to choose a side.

Not from two but actually four stong fiery tide

But now’s time to juggle, paint over national pride

Neighbor in friendly alliances for mutual benefits

Symbiotic relationship for opportunity and profits

But all must be careful not get so much credits

Big Four shall check if we reached the limits

Hounds shall come for potential threats to diffuse

Tribal wars, distrust, gossips , rebels to confuse

Chiefs to change if interference foolishly refuse

Convenience of profit to harvest where they choose

Nation have agricultural, sea or mineral treasure

People have technical, medical, skills to measure

Be productive and generous, no alien pressure

Peaceful farms in long protected tenure

Free trade and cordiality as an allied gesture.

Yet I see non political people speaking

Unity in diversity everyone is learning. Resistant to racism and discrimination

Probe the manipulations and misinformation

People blending colors of the rainbows

Harmonious arc of peace everyone knows

I wonder how my friends see the world?

Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa was born January 14, 1965, in Manila Philippines. She has worked as a retired Language Instructor, interpreter, caregiver, secretary, product promotion employee, and private therapeutic masseur. Her works have been published as poems and short story anthologies in several language translations for e-magazines, monthly magazines, and books; poems for cause anthologies in a Zimbabwean newspaper; a feature article in a Philippine newspaper; and had her works posted on different poetry web and blog sites. She has been writing poems since childhood but started on Facebook only in 2014. For her, Poetry is life and life is poetry.

Lilian Kunimasa considers herself a student/teacher with the duty to learn, inspire, guide, and motivate others to contribute to changing what is seen as normal into a better world than when she steps into it. She has always considered life as an endless journey, searching for new goals, and challenges and how she can in small ways make a difference in every path she takes. She sees humanity as one family where each one must support the other and considers poets as a voice for Truth in pursuit of Equality and proper Stewardship of nature despite the hindrances of distorted information and traditions.

Her words paint the world

Rainbow colors,

It fascinates everyone,

The poet comes to inspiration,

She draws colors into words.

Every color has a meaning,

The poet sees harmony,

Her imagination is very rich,

She hears, writes from feelings.

She calls people,

She wants peace for the world,

She feeds a white dove,

Between the lines.

Every word, every song,

The composition of his heart.

The voice of the heart is sung,

In the rhythm of a double heart.

She praises the good,

She suffers the bad,

She loves his friend, brother,

Against the backdrop of justice.

She has a wish in the world,

There should be no war,

Adults and children

May they always live happily!

The poet’s word box,

It is like a paint bucket,

Like a painter, a word brush,

 Look, She paints the world!

Elmaya Jabbarova was born in Azerbaijan. She is a poet, writer, reciter, and translator. Her poems were published in the regional newspapers «Sharginsesi», «Ziya», «Hekari», literary collections «Turan», «Karabakh is Azerbaijan!», «Zafar», «Buta», foreign Anthologies «Silk Road Arabian Nights», «Nano poem for Africa», «JuntosporlasLetras 1;2», «Kafiye.net» in Turkey, in the African’s CAJ magazine, Bangladesh’s Red Times magazine, «Prodigy Published» magazine. She performed her poems live on Bangladesh Uddan TV, at the II Spain Book Fair 1ra Feria Virtual del Libro Panama, Bolivia, Uruguay, France, Portugal, USA.