Synchronized Chaos First November Issue: The Thin Fabric of Time

Blue and green view of the northern lights at night over a small river in a landscape with snow and conifer trees.
Image c/o Omar Sahel

First, here’s an announcement from contributor Frank Blackbourn, who asked us to share in our publication:

I hope this message finds you well. I’m reaching out on behalf of a woman in our community who urgently needs support to avoid eviction. She is a neurodivergent artist and mother who started a small Etsy shop to support her family by selling unique items that promote acceptance for the LGBTQ+ and ADHD communities.

Right now, she faces a critical challenge. Her only means of transportation—a van she relies on for her business and income—broke down, requiring $1,700 in repairs to fix both the suspension and antilock system. Without this van, she can’t attend events, make deliveries, or earn enough income to cover mounting bills. Every day the van sits unrepaired, her financial situation worsens, bringing her closer to eviction.

The impact of this breakdown has been devastating, and she now faces the immediate threat of losing her home if she can’t get back to work soon. By supporting her GoFundMe, you’re helping her cover these essential repairs, restoring her ability to work and allowing her to keep her family safe and housed.

Her GoFundMe link is: https://gofund.me/fec95926

Now, for this month’s issue, the Thin Fabric of Time. Many cultures mark a time to remember ancestors or deceased loved ones this time of year, believing the veil between life and death was thinnest at this time. Modern physics draws on fabric as a metaphor for space and time as fundamental dimensions of the universe.

This issue’s contributors address cultural memory, family heritage, grief, life and death, and the different generations.

Statue of a veiled woman in a dress with curly hair kneeling over a grave.
Image c/o Alice Kingsley

Federico Wardal describes a new museum of antique relics that will open up in Egypt.

Jeff Tobin evokes our inextricable human connection to the past and to personal and cultural memory. Terry Trowbridge recollects the strong and competent women of past Saturday morning cartoons while lamenting his own human weaknesses.

John Grey speaks to our human powerlessness in the face of our own natures as well as the external world. Yet, despite this, we can still believe we are the centers of our own universes.

Xavier Womack’s poetry advises a person to heal the generational wound of not loving oneself. Rubina Anis shares her paintings of women of varying ages standing together.

Dilnura Kurolova celebrates the treasure of friendship. Azemina Krehic draws on contradictions as a metaphor for the irrational beauty of romantic love. Mahbub Alam expresses how love can create its own likeness to heaven here on Earth. Stephen Jarrell Williams shares a simple but elegant poem on spiritual and divine love. Closer to Earth, Noah Berlatsky waxes clever about a clumsy but perfect love.

Artistic image of a woman's face painted in various colors with a pastel veil draped over her.
Image c/o Freddy Dendoktoor

Duane Vorhees presents near-operatic musical and poetic images of sensuality as Eric Mohrman gasps out miniature vignettes of romantic tension.

Janet McCann reviews Chuck Taylor’s new collection Fever, observing not just the sensuality of the work, but the many restrictions and ‘prisons’ in which the mostly male narrators find themselves and what that says about modern masculinity and men in love.

Philip Butera uses an unfinished painting as a metaphor for a fleeting love affair, highlighting the tragedy but also the inevitability of its bittersweet ending. Taylor Dibbert’s poetic speaker once again sets off on a jet plane after a harsh divorce.

Sabrina Moore reviews Brian Barbeito’s collection Still Some Crazy Summer Wind Coming Through, drawing out themes of nostalgia, grief, and the search for meaning.

Ozodbek Narzullayev reflects on a passing school year with nostalgia and wishes to stay in touch with classmates. Sevinch Shukurova outlines various types of sentence construction. Z.I. Mahmud churns Indian and Anglo-Saxon cultural iconography together in a cauldron of speculative fiction that ends in effusive praise of Shakespeare.

Image of a feathery pinwheel with white and blue and green strands with a variety of glittering yellow sequins of light in the background.
Image c/o Freddy Dendoktoor

Jeffrey Bernstein and Jeffrey Spahr-Summers collaborate on artwork surrounding themes of chance and gambling. Sarang Bhand, Marjorie Pezzoli, and Christina Chin present group collections of haiku and renga, three different takes on several themes.

Maftuna Yusupboyeva celebrates the literary contributions of Karakalpak Uzbek poet Berdak and his place within Uzbek folk and working people’s culture. Marjonabonu Xushvaqtova rejoices in her love for books and reading. Aymatova Aziza celebrates the cultural treasures found within libraries.

Yolgoshova Sevinch offers her love and praise for her native Uzbekistan as she would to her parents.

Marvelous Monday expresses a cultural group’s proud resilience despite poverty and injustice. Komron Mirza laments social and moral decline around him, yet resolves that the world is not yet ending. Rasheed Olayemi Nojeem laments corruption in his country’s judicial system while Jake Cosmos Aller decries the cultural ugliness of hate and authoritarianism. Christopher Bernard highlights the difficulty of choosing among political leaders with imperfect agendas and ideas.

Faleeha Hassan’s short story highlights the strength of a couple keeping their dignity under grinding poverty. Howard Debs’ poem comments on the reality of food service and on those who see the work as a game or a photo-op.

Skeleton couple with the man in a wide brimmed hat and the woman with a bow on her head. He's in a suit and she's in a blouse.
Image c/o Circe Denyer

Dr. Jernail S. Anand reminds us that poets and cultural creators are as human as the rest of us, and urges people to be strong yet flexible, like water.

Doug Hawley relates his participation in a medical study on his capacity for balance. Cristina Deptula reviews Jennifer Lang’s new memoir Landed: a yogi’s memoir in pieces and poses, highlighting the quest for personal identity and space at the heart of the book.

Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa speaks to aging and learning from life as time passes. J.J. Campbell does the same, in his gruff and hardcore manner.

Giulia Mozzati-Zacco captures the scattered thoughts of a young woman nearing her death.

Mark Young conveys moments when the surreal enters our ordinary physical world. Maurizio Brancaleoni highlights humorous moments of life surrounding Halloween/Day of the Dead.

Abstract image of gauzy red, yellow, tan and white veils.
Image c/o Piotr Siedlecki

Patrick Sweeney proffers glimpses of the world and culture through sentence fragments. Texas Fontanella plays with words and syntax to craft prose. Saad Ali pairs original haiku with lesser-known historical paintings.

Later, Texas Fontanella plays with verbiage and syntax through disjointed text messages. J.D. Nelson highlights tiny bits of urban and wild life during fall. Rachel Bianca Barbeito crafts tender portraits of gentle puppies.

Turgunov Jonpolat outlines his volunteer work in climate ecology, made possible through an international educational collaboration. Muhammadjonova Farangizbegim Ma’mirjan discusses technology and gamification as ways to effectively teach the natural sciences, including ecology. Anna Keiko writes of psychological and ecological dreamtime and awakenings and the need to protect the environment.

Sayani Mukherjee recollects a languid and happy day in a small country village. Wazed Abdullah praises the steady presence of the stars. Maxliyo Axmatova reflects on the warmth, growth, and renewal brought by the sun.

Ahmad Al-Khatat speaks to the memories that live on in the minds of exiles from war, even on bright calm sunny days. Azemina Krehic reflects on the human cost of war and other violence to Bosnian women and girls.

Yosemite's Bridalveil Falls, water descending many hundreds of feet down a gray rocky cliff face.
Image c/o Linnaea Mallette

Maja Milojkovic shares her hopes for peace among the world’s nations and peoples. Eva Petropolou Lianou speaks to our universal human desire and need for love and mercy. Mesfakus Salahin describes the spiritual and human unity made possible through universal love.

Abigail George grieves over the loss of life in Palestine. Iduoze Abdulhafiz’ prose evokes the human trauma unfolding in Gaza. Jacques Fleury reviews Duane Vorhees’ poetry collection Between Holocausts, which grapples with that vast historical trauma. Daniel De Culla laments the grotesque tragedy of war on this Day of the Dead. Alexander Kabishev evokes the gross devastation of war through a tale of the death of a zoo elephant in Leningrad. Nuraini Mohammad Usman uses onomatopoeia to render digestion into poetry while urging world peace: making dinner, not war.

Ivan Pozzoni evokes the dark history among the beauty of his home Italian island. Alan Catlin describes varying levels of grief underlying a peaceful and beautiful place. Tuyet Van Do laments the human tragedies caused by recent hurricanes in the southeastern U.S.

Anindya Paul harshly evokes the loss of innocence in his poetry. Rukhshona Toxirova outlines ways for physicians to show compassion for patients at a tender age.

Isabel Gomez de Diego crafts images of childhood: a visit to a maritime park, a family photo with a young brother, dressing up for Halloween. Kylian Cubilla Gomez presents photographic scenes of nurturance: squash cultivated in a garden, children’s toys, Russian nesting dolls.

Thin fabric veil over a stone statue head of a woman with open eyes. Like a ghost bride.
Image c/o Circe Denyer

Stephen House grieves over and remembers his deceased mother. Graciela Noemi Villaverde grieves for the loss of her mother’s gentle spirit. Lan Qyqualla draws on a variety of ancient Western myths to lament the loss of his wife.

Nurullayeva Mashhura’s tragic tale of a neglected grandmother reminds us to care for our elders. Rahmiddinova Mushtariy offers praise for the nurturance and teaching of her father. Ilhomova Mohichehra comes to realize how much she values and respects her father as she grows more mature.

Michael Robinson recollects the loving fatherhood he has found from God in a piece describing his Christian salvation and personal journey from wanting to die to having a fresh new life.

Fhen M. crafts a vignette on a comfortable porch, a liminal space between the interior and exterior, inspired by change and transition.

Brian Barbeito speaks to the poetic and mystical meanings he finds embedded in each season, with wisdom in autumn and winter.

Image of a small planet or moon embedded in a veil of hazy particles in space.
Image c/o Andrea Stockel

Chloe Schoenfeld captures the aftermath of a festive event, the small chaos after the elegance. Seasons change and time passes for us all, and no “mountaintop experience” can last forever.

Jacques Fleury shares wisdom from a teen dying of cancer to motivate us to live with passion and joy. Mashhura Ahmadjonova reflects on the whirlwind passage of time.

Mykyta Ryzhykh depicts a ghostly ship where all the mariners have turned skeletal, forgotten even by history. David Sapp also comments on our mortality and how others will eventually lose our memories in the swirling fog of time.

Before that happens, please take some time to savor this issue of Synchronized Chaos and honor each of the contributors by letting their voices be heard.

Poetry from Marvelous Monday

The same motherland that shaped me now seeks to break me,
A stranger hut where familiarity’s a distant memory.
Every step feels like a betrayal, choking my breath,
A reality that suffocates, leaving me gasping for air.
But we’re survivors, weathering hunger’s biting pangs,
Enduring bullets born of insecurity’s sting.
We stand tall, proud in our composure,
United in love for our country, despite its flaws.
My skin, richly pigmented, tells ancestors’ stories,
Resilience and triumphs are etched in every glory.
Like my father before and mother now,
We, the younger generation, face adversity with courage.
Though aspirations are restricted, dreams flourish hidden,
Wildflowers blooming secretly, unrelenting.
Rise, fellow countrymen, weary but united we stand,
Determined to reach great heights, despite soaring challenges.
Our fuel may be scarce, but perseverance is plentiful,
Our spirit is unbroken, like wildflowers that bloom.
Let us rise, and in our diversity, find strength,
For a brighter future, where dreams are free to length.

Marvelous Monday is a passionate writer with a published credit in Written Tales Magazine. His work explores themes of identity, resilience, and social justice.

Poetry from Xavier Womack

inheritance

i see you, my child

taking after your father.

the way he yearns

to care for everything

except his own mind.

all you wish is to 

be loved the way

that you love the world.

the way your heart moves

is a cry for help

i watch your eye twitch

just like your dad’s

when he is locking away

his own mind into his

own form of purgatory.

he is jailed, sealed

away from the warmth

he desperately needs.

i love you, my child.

let your soul roam

free into all the wonders

this world can offer.

Prose fragments from Texas Fontanella

Im poorly, here purely to supermax lit af pieces of dream boat first in class analysis. And so, this blustery but warm morning, wanting summat more dead, more despotically modern than Ginia Woolfy, i picked up

From my bookshelf, Luke Beesley’s Jam Sticky Visions. I didnt like it at the time i got it, but it met the criteria: prose poems. But it just seemed to glitch on the train thought he was real clever when not. For most, tho, thats just what, thats all poetry is. Pose poems.

Its not to this’n. But if it was, well, his pieces arent good enough for my reply. Beesley’s collection meets the bin back at home, a brown paper Woolworths bag you out of ideas welcome homeland security. And then, i bellyflop that trash onto the stale, malodorous front yard-birds-pecking-through-it dumpster like a babushka against a big, bad bag snatcher. To put a lid on it

Life is too shot – big bang, ‘member? – out the canon to fuck around with global village idiot, middle class pretensions who cant match magnifying glass flints. Stones have better ideals than the fish that pass degrees for and about poets here, their tree. Sun up, sun down voted, they did, for their mess escape to Plato’s outermost caves. Not thermonuclear to them yet over lap it up tick exiled you bygones can each buy a gun safe houses the generic in form elation of the errorist cellular phone it in to my hallowed lover hands it to the red hot LED scope aimed at my chest rattles and cuff links expired here to fore ground like yr ilks circuit elephants run, run, run, run, run, take a dragon, too. Run, run, run, run, run, Gypsy death and – who?

JammStixy Fission

*

Butt how at that egg sack kodak moment cd he know to send the beer reviewed psychological realty paper on the ocean thru to our minds kelly later fund wanting a big mac buy the bodies had some errands to at temp t r ee ho uses s of horror show meat the  “©” sidle up2 you heave at least a litre of water work out even in yr sleep cycle thru cr ash in g cold wars stolen by cut thr oat suns screen for viral infections like you rodeo on aviary fast chance zoom deleted by the belligerent hike up that zucchini lord lands yr skirt in g bored a farce round wheezes pest con trolleys w and er out of stock take it from me, you dont wanna drop the soap opera s hard b oiled defect IFs stoned as gargoyles mauve to purloin carnal knowledges my throw off’s the purr suit you to lie down panting our supple mental state’s alchemical question murks demand thy origin and tonic water down the cunning linguist falconry standby the : ph: ill lips blue bury their distinguished faculty for telling pokie towers over kill you all dis appoint me dog

*

So sLane it herds m’dear widdershins in to con sitter up grate to the verse cloud gathering like a gathering in formation dawn be Lowes haul my cheese deportment of tome travellers form a hoSPITal orderly racing to morn (!) our own Deaths wade like tables off in to the doowopping end ear ring night mayor of this new town square circle the Bast answers back to your no future

*

a neutron star let out its steam roller blind ed by your head light up a joint venture capital city gone to the doggerels of raw shucks

*

Get down stars spin around my hood lights up like mention of a crush garlic to keep the stoker doesnt seam to be any weigh here the bats the baller is knocked up to date the titanic sank out of bounds along the rolex watch tower attack gundagai slimmin’ on dust stacks cant afford the opportunity cost price of winning art disses my pure blood whine of the month this combing harvest cow and

moon you

[Ps cow and moon is a famous ice cream place in sydneys iner west]

*

Get out of my way, or no way at all. Selling sunny days, surreal estate, are you? His face jiggles like a constellation in the wind

ow, a mouth where the fireplace should be, tongue lolling out like an animal onto the floorboards, which are, by the looks of it, solid timber

pine gap.. wtf am i doing back here, your queen dragging this insipid spectacle, this treasure chest of our society behind us, its constant hacking cough

syrup me only d rink g rip tape?

*

even doors stick to the souls of my chews a quiet residential area 51 of then again I saw the planet coming apart at the sentence them to knife in prism effect the Hollywood end launch your self sacrifice Alice to the dragging on a joint venture capitalism is good shit hole in my shoes flutter as I stroke your facebook gives me a psychic shucks

*

I shoot straight as bam boo yr dead head has its lid taken off a coco nut empty as the bar rel of a border disp ute swerves up dust once we’re still the most realpolitik

TOC.. Pluto will wanna gain cointreau of this terminal illness. Our expedition need return like a king to the exposition. In the meantime, en joy ride a Grif ter’s in fern al pil sen er

*

Poetry from Chloe Schoenfeld

Daisies

I lean against the window

And tune in to the frequency of the potholes in the road

The glass is cold and suspiciously sticky

The flower falls apart in my hands

Covering the skin in pollen

Grass tickles my sides

I sneeze and almost hit my head on the dinner table

My napkin falls off my lap and onto the carpeted floor

My reflection stares at me from the swirling glass of red wine

A car honks at the empty red light

The stoplight tells me to wait

My alarm sounds and I roll out of bed onto the floor

The sweat on my skin sticks to the wood

I lift my head up and look at the pile of flower petals

Overflowing in the trash can

Poetry from Anna Keiko

East Asian woman with long straight dark hair, hoop earrings, and lipstick. She's wearing a white ruffled blouse and a green lanyard.

Preface

underneath the profoundly asleep earth,

among illusory constructions of reality

in the heavy rhythm that knocks at the gate of history

time dissipates darkness, the dawn breaks

fragments of memories unite into one image

portraying the people from thousands of years ago

they had never seen before

the soul rising from the ruins

lightning stimulates the sleep hormone

the words sprout from the roots of the trees

the branches raise their eyes to the sky

the tears from above soothe the dry throat

insomnia brings about disorder

sleepwalk spreads like clouds

on the edge, people seek faith,

the swan isolates, the sea roars.

the wheel of time loses direction

fierce winds swirl the calm waves

the dark flow of purple rain floods the newly sprouted flowers

the dike is no longer on the shore

the sea is no longer in the sea

the pleasures of life create wings of light

lush branches and leaves grow from rotten logs

postmodernism indicates a bright period

the white sheet inscribed with yellow and red symbols

like barren lands sprinkled with saliva and salt

millennial expressions permeate ink and paper

the profound words awake from the drawers on the walls

the eyes in the tombs frightfully stare

the trembling hand reaches into the library in the afternoon sun

dusk and dawn go on

Profound words asleep

(Unsolved)

the sea removes its veil

mountain ridges create new settlements

humanity is torn apart

the celestial vault is unclear

creation and destruction became fine arts

when humans evolved, the Ice Age was forgotten

people’s desires are infinitely greater

faith and contradiction are overlapping

only the poet’s soul sees the tree flowers

my nostrils perceive the smell of old books.

morning glow covered by clouds and fog

alien guests appear in the magical sky

brains exterminating amongst each other

religion is not a true spiritual devotion

monks’ love affairs give birth to children

Buddhist nuns give birth in misery

nature undergoes a destruction process

discoveries accelerate people’s panic

but you keep your faith that death

brings rebirth,

a bird looking for the forest

June 23, 2017

Profound words asleep

Reading

the scent of ink passes from hand to heart

burning desire stimulates the senses

veins beat inside the rolled sleeves

the solution to this state is like a dream wind that smacks the flesh

I hope that fireflies jump into written words

meditating, we travel through the cosmos

an ark heading to infinity

when the morning light removes the veil

the world shows its true face

hidden dreams pass through the time tunnel

directed to the hut of steel and cement

they run back and forth through the underground

at the spring in the forest, the bone whistle whispers

my dream lifts the billows

Utopia

Foreword: If people continue to destroy the environment,

what will happen to the Earth?

the world evolves continuously, even before our era

the monkey thinks of the empty forest

the sky protests crying

his tears roll down to the ground

making the savages appear

the sun like a magic mirror,

mercury – destructive ultraviolet rays

the constellation is no longer fascinating

it sinks into the sea

the air blooms, the waters rise muttering,

ants dance inside the shells

animals discuss livelihoods

the dinosaur and the elephant sweat working in agriculture

the lion and the tiger are eager to get married and have offspring

the leaves of the trees are like the palms of the sky

butterflies and dragonflies cannot be seen under the sun

thick smoke floats above the clouds

the mountain range is like an infinite fence

we were born in the air

hands raised to the olive tree, interpret the verses of the oracle

the beast is banished to slavery

trees abound in fruits

birds and insects take care of the harvest

stones discuss how to rewrite history

the fish are guarding the corrupt officials

rain and dew create eternal life

the Earth gave life to the Earth.

Rivers

desire – a river

springing from the blood of our ancestors

civilized and primitive behaviors interchange

war, murder, and redemption

genetic mutation

in the Neolithic,

stone and fire offered wisdom

most people lived like puppets

nobody knows if there was a god

men and women crossed the rivers of the high mountains

driven by the flames of desire

their union gave birth to the seas and the land.

March 16, 2017

微信图片_20241028140554

Anna Keiko (original name: Wang Xianglian) is an internationally renowned poet, writer, editor and painter living in Shanghai. Graduated from East China University of Political Science and Law. The founder, President and editor-in-chief of ACC Shanghai Huifen International Literary Association, the World Poetry promoter, the International Peace Ambassador Outstanding Contribution Award winner. Chinese young literary director. Her poems have been translated into more than 30 languages and published more than 2,000 in more than 500 newspapers and magazines in more than 50 countries. Published 11 books of poetry, (waiting for the bus) poems by the famous composer Tu Bahai into songs. She has been invited to participate in international poetry festivals in more than a dozen countries, Yale University invited her to participate in the International Poetry Symposium for three consecutive years, and Salem University invited her as an international poet’s personal poetry seminar program. She has won 33 International poetry prizes and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020.

Essay from Federico Wardal

IMG_5514.jpg

(Older white man with a wide brim hat standing in a museum in front of a tan Egyptian statue. He’s got a gray sport coat and blue button down collared shirt).


“Le Grand Musée de Giza” opening of the world’s largest museum last October 16th 

by Federico Wardal 

——-

The cities of NYC and SF are intimately linked to major events on Egyptian antiquities. News such as the 2023 exhibition on Pharaoh Ramses at the SF De Young Museum curated by the celebrity of the most important exhibitions on ancient civilizations Hon. Renée Dreyfus, an exhibition desired by the legendary archaeologist Prof. Zahi Hawass, have been published in this magazine. 

In 1995 I was the protagonist of the theatrical show : “Garibaldi and Anita: peacemakers without frontiers” at the Cairo Opera House for the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre and after the show I went to visit the famous set designer architect Hussein El-Ezabi in his villa at the pyramids where I met the Arab Global Star Mohammed Sobhi and we talked about the project of Le Grand Musée de Giza.

On 5 January 2002, then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak laid the foundation stone of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

In 2006, the 3,200 years old Statue of Ramesses II was relocated from Ramses Square in Cairo to the Grand Egyptian Museum site, near that Giza Plateau. It was moved to the atrium of the museum in January 2018 .

In late August 2008, the design team submitted over 5,000 drawings to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. Following this, the construction tende was announced in October 2008. Earthmoving has begun to excavate the site for the building. Tendering was due in September 2009, with an estimated completion date of 2013.[15]

On 11 January 2012, a joint venture between Egypt’s Orascom Construction (OC) belongs to Sawiris brothers and the Belgian BESIX was awarded the contract for phase three of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

In January 2018, Besix and Orascom brought in and installed an 82-ton, 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II in the Grand Egyptian Museum. It was the first artefact to be installed in the Museum, during construction, due to its size.

On 29 April 2018, a fire broke out near the entrance of the GEM but artifacts were not damaged and the cause of the fire was unknown.

In May 2018, the last of King Tutankhamun‘s chariots was moved to GEM.

In November 2018, the estimate for a full opening was pushed back to last quarter of 2020, according to Tarek Tawfik, GEM’s director.[20] In April 2020, the planned opening of the museum was pushed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August 2020, two colossal statues discovered in the sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion by the IEASM were set up in the entrance hall of the GEM.

As of May 2024, the museum is scheduled to open “later this year” and Gihan Zaki was appointed head of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

As of 16 October, 2024 the Grand Hall, Grand Staircase, commercial area, 12 public galleries and the exterior gardens are open for tours, while the Tutankhamun gallery and Solar Boat Museum are not yet open to the public.

Soon the entire huge museum will be open to the public. 

Meanwhile, new archaeological discoveries are proceeding intensely under the care of Prof. Zahi Hawass, especially in the Luxor area that will contribute to the GEM while new large exhibitions on the Egypt of the Pharaohs are scheduled in the USA in 2025 with conferences by Prof. Zahi Hawass.

Extremely tall tan Egyptian statue inside a museum with a few visitors looking up at it.
Older white man with curly gray hair, Hussein El Ezaby
The ceiling of the museum with sunlight streaming down to the museum floor.
Face, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and headdress of an Egyptian statue.