When I think of ages past That have floated down the stream Of life and love and death, I feel how free it makes us To pass away.

Rabindranath Tagore

Welcome, readers, to September’s first issue: The Stream of Life, Love, and Death.

Sayani Mukherjee speaks to the weight of the world’s grief, of millions of lost loves over historical time.

Ahmed Miqdad quests for love and peace in Gaza, all in vain. Yucheng Tao bears witness to genocide in Cambodia through his evocative poem where memory and grief echo off the rocks and pages of history. In his piece, self-declared pure idealism leads only to death.

Eva Petropoulou Lianou addresses the issue of domestic violence. Christopher Bernard reflects on humanity’s continual state of conflict among different groups as Patricia Doyne excoriates tolerance for school shootings and immigration enforcement violence in the United States.

Alex Johnson speaks to the need for radical creativity as resistance to the forces of death and authoritarianism. Mary Bone captures moments of human and animal growth and creation. Jacques Fleury discusses the need for humans to coexist equitably with each other and with the wide diversity of natural creatures who share our planet.

Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal speaks to energy, creativity, and the need to support young people. Xudoyqulova Shahzoda highlights Uzbekistan’s efforts to empower the young, the disabled, and women. Rayhona Sobirjonova expresses her gratitude for a caring teacher. John Sheirer’s short story depicts a boy learning a mixture of love and toughness from both a father and stepfather. Bill Tope presents the story of a mother determined to overcome obstacles and keep her family together. Muhammadjonova Muzayyana praises the love and care of her devoted mother. Judge Santiago Burdon’s video presents an ironically humorous tale of a man’s adult son coming out of the closet.

Otaboyeva Zuhra shares how education can transform a young woman’s life. Madina Furkatova highlights efforts to educate and empower young women in Uzbekistan. Muhammed Suhail reflects on the indispensable contributions of women to shaping the early days and teachings of Islam. Bhekisisa Mncube reviews Nthikeng Molele’s novel Breasts, etc, a feminist story of a group of women and a man who photographs them nude. Anna Keiko shares her determination to live out her calling as a poetess, in honor of the many female trailblazers throughout history.

Rahimova Dilfuza Abdinabiyevna shares ways to heighten students’ communication competence. Boboqulova Durdona outlines ways to engage students in active learning. Sevinch Mukhammadiyeva talks up a student leadership conference she attended, “Office of the Future.” Panoyeva Jasmina O’tkirovna highlights advantages of blended classrooms and self-study combined with instruction. Nafosat Jovliyeva discusses roles for technology in language learning. Dilshoda Jurayeva urges students to learn and adopt self-discipline as a study tool. Janna Hossam discusses the problem of burnout in gifted children.

Abigail George speaks to finding and claiming beauty and selfhood in the face of mental illness. Tursunbayeva Shohida Baxtiyor traces the history of diagnostic methods in psychiatry. Ana Petrovic speaks to the confluence of forces and emotions rising up in the human psyche. Brian Barbeito journeys through real and surreal worlds to tend and befriend the different and the marginalized. Hua Ai speaks to the wildness still inherent in our feelings and encounters with urban nature. Joan McNerney draws on elegant nature metaphors to describe love and the transitory states of life. Mark Young speaks to growth and transformation in our bodies and the natural world. Anakha S.J. compares maintaining feelings of love to tending a flower. Mahbub Alam presents a joyful couple forgetting themselves among the beauty of nature and their blossoming romance. Jerome Berglund and Christina Chin’s tan-renga present an adorable take on modern relationships. Mesfakus Salahin’s extensive nature metaphors speak to the psychology of a lover.

Brian Barbeito reflects on a random capricious day with various encounters, positive and negative, with people and nature. Chimezie Ihekuna expresses cynicism about the hypocrisy inherent in many relationships, Raisa Anan Mustakin laments people’s growing isolation and separation from each other, and Alan Catlin processes work anxiety through dreams while out in pastoral greenery. Nageh Ahmed evokes feelings of both love and loneliness under the moonlight as Wazed Abdullah finds inner peace in lunar light. Mykyta Ryzhykh evokes efforts of love in the face of the loss of innocence. Duane Vorhees speaks to the vulnerability and unpredictability inherent in love.

Vohidova Ruxshona discusses the internal composition of Saturn and the wonder of the far-off universe. Don Bormon expresses his fascination with a constantly changing cloudy sky. Abdurrahim Is’haq’s artwork of a door shrouded in shadow and sunlight evokes mystery and wonder.

Abdulboqiyev Muhammadali turns to medicine as a subject, sharing some of the warning signs of a stroke. Eshmurodova Sevinch discusses how modern financial technology can improve the functioning of global economic systems.

Mathematics is also part of our physical universe, and Mamadaliyeva Durdona shares methods for solving systems of linear equations. Mardonova Marjona finds the beauty in each season, in change, as David Sapp revels in “relentless” natural elegance. Nikhita Nithin sways with the wind during a neighborhood festival. Nilufar Mo’ydinova offers suggestions on how to live sustainably with nature, suggesting improved environmental practices for the publishing industry.

Sushant Thapa writes of finding happiness wherever he can in life as Stephen Jarrell Williams enjoys a tender moment with his wife and Mahbub Alam loses himself in the joy of nature and love. Maja Milojkovic speaks to a transcendent love, present even when the couple is apart, echoed in endless mirrorings on water’s surface. Summer Kim takes joy in transitory childhood moments and memories. Su Yun’s Chinese bilingual elementary students write joyfully about nature and play. Sharifova Saidaxon reminisces about her happy childhood as Xo’jamiyorova Gulmira remembers her elementary school days and classmates.

Dilnoza Bekmurodova reflects on how she will always hear the unmistakable call of her home. O’g’iloy Bunyodbekovna Muhammadjonova sings the praises of her radiant Uzbek homeland. Maftuna Rustamova finds comfort and peace in her heritage as Ozodbek Narzullayev joins in the reflections on Uzbekistan. Nomozaliyeva Hilolaxon analyzes how the film “Suv Yoqalab” reflects Uzbek cultural values. Maxmudjonova Begoyim considers the weight and grace of her Turkish heritage as Dr. Priyanka Neogi shares a poetically beautiful tale of the Indian flag. Eva Petropoulou interviews Greek sculptor and painter Konstantinos Fais, who is examining the myth of Hercules to revive classical civic virtue for modern Greeks.

Uzbekistan’s writers go beyond heritage to relate how the nation is currently a source of pride, as Jumaniyozova Nazokat discusses the potential for wellness tourism in Uzbekistan. Madinabonu Mamatxonova describes rapid Uzbek economic growth driven by entrepreneurship. Xurshida Abdisattorova highlights the accomplishments of an Uzbek mixed martial arts coach. Meanwhile, Shahnoza Ochildiyeva outlines what Central Asian countries, and the rest of the world, can learn from Finland.

J.J. Campbell explores different sides of memories: nostalgia, loss and mourning, and the quest to separate oneself from toxic or false aspects of the past. Brooks Lindberg laments the death of glaciers through a poem that grants nature a measure of agency even in melting. Jake Cosmos Aller reflects on historical revision at the Smithsonian Museum.

Grzegorz Wroblewski’s fresh installment of asemic poems evoke the aesthetic of language as a part of human culture. Ken Gosse’s ars poetica defends the power of rhyme and meter in a world of free verse. Graciela Noemi Villaverde celebrates the mysterious and poetic works of Jorge Luis Borges. Dr. Jernail S. Anand argues for the primacy of literature as a study and discipline to help us return to our humanity as Mirta Liliana Ramirez does something similar, depicting dance as an act of love to add beauty to life.

Michael Robinson shares, in his final piece after ten years of writing for Synchronized Chaos Magazine, the family and sanctuary he has found through his faith.

Susie Gharib draws on historical mythology to explore our place in the world and our vulnerabilities as humans. Patrick Sweeney’s tiny vignettes capture distinct moments in human life: wonder, confusion, humor, or just us pondering being alive. Taylor Dibbert relates the paradox of what happens when we care too much – or too little – about money. Santiago Burdon explores human nature in his tale of a chance encounter on an airplane.

Finally, Sarvinoz Orifova reflects on the nature of hope and the power of holding on to it during challenging times.

Joan McNerney

Butterfly

Wrapped in ashen clouds

pale shrouds of sadness.

Retracing each dimension of

my heart yet finding no refuge.

My head bent recounting

all the days of my life.

Lost in this blur, this landscape.

Where am I? Where can I go?

Wanting only one fine thought to

fill this empty haze of hours.

One fine contour, touch, color,

one fine tone to breach the silence.

Who stole my sparkling sky

leaving only memories?

What remains is only minute after

minute of more and more loss.

Always searching to find harbor in

oceans where waves rise to heaven.

Within deep quiet, small awakenings begin.

Fragile butterfly…radiant blue winging up up.

Live Oak Boughs

Boughs build archways as tips
of trees touch each other. What
was shaded green becomes
nocturnal shadow. A crescent moon
hangs from heaven. Light tracing
foliage falls dropping
dusty deep upon ground.

Secrets lie inside edged shadows.
Animals hide under darkness
resounding through night
as leaves rustle. All changing
except this pattern of what
is now formed.

When The Moon Is New

Groping through darkness

knocking everything down.

Down into enormous night

where thoughts unravel.

Memories moan past us as

shadows quiver across walls.

We lie pinned to bed sheets

like captive butterflies.

Dry butterflies, our throats

are brittle, eyes turning

from light. Sore arms reach

for anything soft to hold.

Remembering seasons gone by.

So many lost promises.

This huge moment surrounding us.

Wide awake we wait for the new day.

Nightscape

Fog horns sound though

air soaked in blackness.

All evening long listening

to hiss of trucks, cars.

Shadows brush across walls

as trees trace their branches.

Gathering and waving

together then swaying apart.

While I sleep, stars glide

through heaven making

their appointed rounds in

ancient sacred procession.

Dreams as smooth as rose

petals spill into my mind

growing wild patches in

this dark garden of night.

Almost Asleep

Curling into a question mark

eyes shuttered

lips pursed

hands empty.

Dropping through

long dusty shafts

down into dank cellars.

Leaving behind faded day.

That last cup of sunlight

pouring from fingertips.

Lulled by rattling trains,

sighs of motors.

Bringing nothing but

memory into night.

Now I will untie knots

tear off wrappings opening

wide bundles of dreams.

My Dear Mother

In the sky, you are my shining bright sun,

At night, you are the moon that smiles on everyone.

In the garden, you are the fairest blooming flower,

My paradise, my mother — your love is my power.

You are the light and warmth of our home’s embrace,

The pride of our family, with kindness and grace.

The purest heart in the world, gentle and true,

My one and only mother — my life is you.

Even if I call you the world’s most fair, it’s still not enough,

You never tire of hard work, you always stay tough.

May your smile shine forever, like the morning dew,

My innocent, gentle mother — my heart belongs to you.

Your smile brightens the dawn’s gentle light,

When you laugh, the sun joins in with delight.

When you speak, your words are pearls from above,

For me, you are the one — my mother, my love.

You watch the roads, your eyes filled with care,

Waiting for me to return from the school there.

For me, you are a teacher, a guide, and a friend,

My paradise, my one and only mother — till the end.

In this world, my dearest one, my love will never bend.

Money

The trouble with 

Choosing a life

Where you don’t 

Care about money

Is that you’re sometimes

Worried about money

Because there’s so little of it.

Taylor Dibbert is a poet in Washington, DC. He’s author of, most recently, “On the Rocks.”

Speaking My Mind

(+)

Time is not moving very fast tonight.

So I write the inbetweens and see what I have….

(+)

There’s much more in the seeing and feeling of life.

A moment can keep me and free me….

(+)

All the songs I have listened to

tune my heart.

(+)

The lips of my wife soften me….

I see her in my thoughts.

(+)

Flesh magnified

touching of the living.

(+)

Playing my guitar of words

she dances.

(+)

God watching over us.

Clouds of tears and forever cheers.

(+)

The whirl of the world

just a splinter of time.

The Age of War

For most of a life now long enough 
to be half buried in history,
the country, half-despairingly,
I call my own—
half-decadent, half-barbarian,
and wholly crass—
has been, above all things, at war.

Not only the kind that bleeds headlines.

A frigid civil war, scar 
of a hot one long ago,
between a party drunk on virtue
and another, aggrieved and vengeful.

A war between races,
nations, tribes,
for which will tyrannize
the seven continents.

A war between generations
as callous adulthood sends its children
to the slow death of lack of enough
money, or drones and killing.

A war of the rich on the rest of us,
rooted as old as time
now a monstrosity
beyond obscenity.

A war between the sexes
whipped into a frenzy;
a war man and woman refuse
either truce or loss.

War on war on war across
decades I do not wish to count—

at times almost about to gamble 
a cagey ceasefire,
only to be pulled underground
in cunning retreat,

like a wild fire that forever burns,
threatening at points that cannot be known
to claw and tongue into the air again
and sweep away to ashes 
the wilderness of mankind.

I do not see an end to them.
Perhaps they cannot end:
perhaps they are as old
as mad, foolish humankind,
and so they will end only
with the last human sigh.

And so they are tearing us to pieces.

_____

Christopher Bernard’s book The Socialist’s Garden of Verses won a PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was named one of the “Top 100 Indie Books of 2021” by Kirkus Reviews. His latest book of poetry, appearing in the fall of 2025, is The Beauty of Matter.

The coach behind MMA’s determination and victories

Many people have different opinions about MMA. Some consider it a bloody fight, a competition without rules. Some even criticize it as a “game of street thugs.” In fact, MMA is a mixed martial arts, which also has strict rules and regulations. People who know this sport well understand that skill, discipline, and hard work are in the first place.

In 2018, the MMA Federation was established in our country, opening the doors to the international arena for our athletes. After that, MMA quickly became popular in Andijan, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, Samarkand, and Fergana regions. Today, Chiraqchi district is also becoming one of the leading regions in this regard.

Bahrom Haydarov’s role in this development is incomparable. He is a 10-time Uzbek champion, 2-time Asian champion, and world champion in MMA. He has also achieved many victories in professional MMA. Today, he is sharing his experience with young athletes.

Bahrom Haydarov’s training is a school of its own. He trains his students as if they were fighting in the octagon. The requirements are strict: an athlete who is late for training will not be allowed to compete. Of course, where there is order, there will be progress. Although the coach is very strict, it is a good experience for his students. “Where there is no discipline, there will be no progress,” he says. The strict coach teaches his students not only the secrets of fighting, but also life lessons.

Our hero is training more than 100 athletes. About 20 of them have already won championships in our country and international competitions. Students such as Anvar Pardayev, Mirjalol Yusupov, Aziz Nurjonov, Jasmina Abdumoʻminova and Shahboz Ortikov are his pride. They are flying the flag of the country high and introducing the younger generation to MMA.

Bahrom Haydarov’s work proves another thing: true heroism is not in the ring, but in teaching others his knowledge, inspiring young people. Today, young people who train under the guidance of their teacher have big dreams and are working tirelessly to achieve them.

Therefore, the young champions emerging from the Chiraqchi MMA School are becoming the pride of our tomorrow.

Abdisattorova Khurshida Suvon qizi was born on November 9, 1997 in the village of Almazar, Chiroqchi district, Kashkadarya region. She is a 3rd-year student of the Sports Journalism Department of the University of Journalism and Mass Communications. Currently, her articles have been published in the newspapers “Hurriyat”, “Vaziyat” and on the websites “Olamsport” and “Ishonch”. She is a participant in the international scientific and practical conference “Future Scientist _ 2025”.