This month’s issue journeys through Landscapes of the Soul, mapping our inner geographies.

The human soul is a landscape shaped by countless forces: the wounds we inherit, the loves we experience, the places we remember, the losses we endure, and the dreams that carry us forward. Like a physical landscape, the inner world contains mountains and valleys, storms and seasons, deserts of loneliness and gardens of renewal. The works in this collection explore these inner terrains, revealing the many ways people search for meaning, connection, healing, and transcendence.

First, some announcements. Contributor Peter Dellolio has a new poetry collection coming out from New Meridian Arts, Catch Of The Day.

CATCH OF THE DAY is a collection of surreal poems based on the concept of irrational collage or juxtaposition so often found in Surrealism, where totally unrelated and disconnected elements are combined. Each poem is a stanza of lines that are self-contained and bear no logical connection to one another. My hope is that this brings out some of the magical, incantatory powers of language.

If you’d like to order a copy, New Meridian Press invites you to contact them at newmeridianarts1@gmail.com for a discount.

Also, our regular contributor Rui Carvalho invites readers and contributors to submit poetry to the next annual Nature Writing Contest.

Our contest, Nature 2025-2026, is a new opportunity that we, as organizers, create to reach the rest of the world. Every Contest is a challenge for authors participating and to people that make it happen. This year we invite all authors to write poetry about:
(i) Flowers;
(ii) Trees and wind;
(iii) Water;
(iv) Nature Conservation;
(v) Turtles;
(vi) Love for people and nature;
(vii) Hope and Happiness.

Rules and submission information here.

Now for our second July issue, Landscapes of the Soul.

Every soul carries traces of the past, and several contributors look at the wounds we carry from the histories that have shaped us. Srijani Dutta’s poetry reminds us that struggle is an inescapable part of the human existence. Abigail George speaks to the inherited language of addiction, a shared, familial dialect of suffering. Adamu Muhammad Ja’agi suggests that forgiveness can be a powerful act of liberation, allowing a person who has been hurt to reclaim their identity beyond inherited pain. In Aleksandra Soltysiak’s poetry, translated by Olga Smolnytska, memory becomes a haunted and unreliable mirror where love, loss, and truth shimmer between revelation and illusion.

In Naim Al-Musafir’s Voices from There, translated from Arabic into English by Faleeha Hassan, landscapes themselves become keepers of memory. Through magic realism and social history, the story reveals how places preserve the stories of those who have suffered, departed, and returned. Cyril Erchev’s piece reflects the experience of diaspora: a woman out of place in her present world but spiritually still walking the fjords of her ancestors. Sayani Mukherjee explores the emotional geography of homeland, where beauty and trauma exist side by side. Mahesh Paudyal enters the darker regions of memory, examining how disturbing experiences linger within the human mind. Abigail George’s long meditative poem asks how a person survives when love, home, peace, and certainty disappear.

Within the landscapes of the soul, the gardens of love provide shelter and transformation. Türkan Ergör points out that love is an active choice, not just a state of being or a feeling. Chidimma Ewelukwa shows how daily acts of motherly care become expressions of profound emotional connection. David Kokoette similarly honors motherhood as a vocation, emphasizing the devotion, responsibility, and meaning found in nurturing another life. Berdinazarova Jasmina Mirshod qizi celebrates the continued love and care of her father. Bill Tope explores the uncertain landscape of adolescence, capturing the vulnerability of discovering oneself through relationships. The poetry of Barbaros İrdelmen travels through different seasons of human experience, reflecting on mortality, romantic love, and the dynamics of long-term relationships. Hassan Musa Dakasku reflects on the possibilities and responsibilities of friendship.

Eva Lianou Petropoulou celebrates love as essential to both self-understanding and connection with others, while Dr. Prasanna Kumar Dalai expands love into a force capable of reshaping identity, time, and existence itself. Graciela Noemi Villaverde reframes “saving” not as a onetime heroic act, but as a quiet, steady, loving presence that transforms what was dead or broken into something that can still grow. Reema Hamza’s poem highlights how love can transform longing, exile, and devastation into a sacred, defiant act of remaking the world. Kang Young-eun discovers holiness in everyday experiences, transforming bread, wine, evening light, loneliness, and memory into symbols of human connection and spiritual awareness.

The soul is also a place of questioning, conflict, and spiritual discovery. Duane Vorhees explores the self as an internal battlefield where instinct, conscience, and reason compete for control. Elmaya Jabbarova reminds us of the need to choose love and moral behavior and the ultimate folly of cruelty. Mesfakus Salahin presents existence as a pilgrimage guided by love, personal choice, and the search for ultimate truth. Wan Yilong presents a spiritual journey through combined metaphors from ancient Buddhist Pure Land teachings and modern cosmic space opera. Jack Phillips Lowe’s short story presents an everyday vignette in the life of a person who takes medicine for a mental health condition. Mark Young’s poetry explores how we assemble ourselves from the bricolage of our surroundings. Joe Couture’s pieces highlight selfhood built through physical work and wear and tear on the body over time. Sumana Bhattacharjee’s poetry points out how we can find meaning in life’s struggles when we follow our own consciences and trust our inner strength.

The internal battlefield metaphor applies to nations and political entities as much as to individuals, as they also struggle with identity and conscience. Jacques Fleury presents America as a nation continually struggling between its highest ideals and its darkest realities. Aminu Femi Jamiu mourns and marks the loss of young Esther Harrison, a schoolgirl murdered in Nigeria. Yeon Myung-ji’s poetry, narrated by the ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang (creator of the terracotta army found in his grave) highlights how even a person who held absolute power was humbled by death and the limits of his human knowledge. Alan Catlin’s poetic series depicts the waking nightmares of a civilization in decline, where the only honest witness knows they’re floating away from shore and still can’t stop watching. Bilal Al-Masri interviews author Dr. Jernail Singh about a variety of topics, including the moral and social responsibilities of authors in times of institutional injustice and suffering. Stephen Jarrell Williams points to a hinge moment in a civilization, when a society reaches a necessary collapse that leads to a more just rebirth.

Dr. Jernail S. Anand reflects on human weakness and limitation, arguing that imperfection is not something to overcome but something that gives life its depth and meaning. In conversation, Dr. Jernail Singh and Dr. Annie John describe poetry as a spiritual and ethical journey. The poet becomes both witness and seeker, exploring human suffering while reaching toward universal wisdom. J.J. Campbell becomes an observer in his own life, as apathy with wry humor is safer than grief. Priyanka Neogi points out that each of us have different layers and dimensions to our personalities. Nidia Amelia Garcia speculates on the life and wisdom of an old man by observing his photograph. Teresa de Lujan Safar’s piece celebrates the grace, strength, self-possession, and inner dignity of an older woman. With another human response, Thi Lan Anh Tran and Musharraf Hussain celebrate perseverance and inner strength, showing how resilience allows individuals to rise beyond adversity.

As we are part of nature, outdoor landscapes can mirror the landscapes of the soul. Shah Jehan Ashrafi views autumn as a profound metaphor for death, surrender, transformation, and rebirth. The falling leaves become symbols of necessary endings that make new beginnings possible. Mahbub Alam speaks to the cleansing and renewing energy of the Bangladeshi monsoon rains. O’ktamova Sabrina Mahmud qizi describes an ecological analysis of the health of Uzbek humus and soil. Dessy Tsvetskova’s Tree of Life portrays women as a source of creation, memory, resilience, and renewal. Rooted in the earth yet reaching toward the heavens, the tree represents continuity across generations.

Ananya Guha celebrates the beauty of dancing peacocks, offering a moment of wonder and connection with the natural world. Timothee Bordenave explores ideas that benefit both humanity and the environment, suggesting that the health of the planet is connected to the health of the human spirit. Brian Barbeito captures the quiet landscape of winter, reminding readers of the shared rhythms of nature and the reflective stillness that accompanies seasonal change. Dianne Reeves Angel reminisces about long stretches of teen summer fun in the pool and with friends.

Art is one way humanity can join nature in the process of creation. Federico Wardal’s article notes the Egyptian government’s commitment to promoting and showcasing current and historical arts and culture. Andrena Zawinksi explores the artist’s search to create, be recognized, and remain alive through creative expression. Alex Johnson reflects on the relationship between life and art through his encounter with a publicist representing Philip Glass, revealing the irony that reality itself can sometimes imitate artistic structures. Tanja Ajtic’s poem threads watercolor’s quiet disciplines of washes, shades, making use of empty white space, into a metaphor for a life lived in silence, holding back opinions, feeling the world’s eruptions but never speaking of them. Christina Chin’s haiga and illustration create a unified moment of beauty, demonstrating how words and images can combine to form a single imaginative landscape. Cri8or’s vibrant digital artworks add splashes of color and intriguing shapes to the issue. Fhen M. uses ekphrastic poetry inspired by Priamo della Quercia’s Circle of the Falsifiers to explore the destruction caused by dishonesty and the moral landscapes created by truth and deception. Maria Barnes journeys into a darker psychological landscape, using unsettling imagery and music to symbolize the struggle between the conscious self and hidden fears.

The soul also grows through learning and discovery. Ismatova Dilnura emphasizes the importance of books in children’s education, illustrating reading as a gateway to imagination, knowledge, and possibility. Omonova Dinora Anvarjon qizi celebrates the many ideas and life lessons found within books. Navbaxar Mahmudjanovna Karimova points to ways to encourage the creation of new educational knowledge. Amonboyeva Shahnoza examines the changing landscape of education in the age of artificial intelligence. While technology may assist learning, she argues that creativity, imagination, and human connection remain uniquely human qualities. Although, as Ibroximova Hayitxon Mirzoxidjon qizi points out, artificial intelligence may take over in other human endeavors, including accounting. Maxliyo Alijonova highlights the educational work of Uzbekistan’s Ashurali Legacy Academy, demonstrating how institutions preserve knowledge, culture, and intellectual heritage. Akhmetova Nodira Po’lat qizi underscores the importance of digital literacy for modern Uzbek students. Jasmina Ismatullayeva relates the value of study-abroad experiences for students and why she wishes to travel.

Finally, a few works in this collection highlight the depths of truth within ordinary experiences. Travis Park’s brief, image-driven poems transform familiar places into reflections on uncertainty, memory, and human connection. Mykyta Ryzhykh uses the sea and the house as symbols of existence, showing humanity surrounded by immense forces while often feeling isolated and forgotten. Shlok Pandey’s coming-of-age story addresses loneliness, compassion, observation, and the discovery of beauty in everyday life. Naeem Aziz reminds readers that true value often exists beneath appearances, encouraging a deeper understanding of the gifts each person carries.

Together, these works create a map of the human soul. They travel through valleys of suffering, gardens of love, mountains of reflection, and seasons of transformation. They show that every person carries an inner landscape shaped by memory, relationships, struggles, dreams, and hopes.

“Landscapes of the Soul” reveals that humanity is defined not by avoiding hardship, but by transforming experience into wisdom, compassion, creativity, and renewal. Across cultures and voices, these writers remind us that the journey inward is also a journey toward one another. We hope that you enjoy hearing from each other throughout this issue!

The host 

Kang yeong eun  

When you call this bread is existence. 

Because of this to a falling-out with the yeast cells clog and close a cut. A Because of this, I tame mallang mallangha.High With a soft face. 

Blood, Yeonhapa Like wine gets hot inside me. 

​ Any defect is a huge diamond. Scratch Have lofty feelings that cut. Number Or chuka Pain Window Ha The persimmon.Jung of the existence of just a stone’s throw away reveals (咫尺).

​ The bread is like flour for existence prior to a *. This person because of this that can not be removed from bones.I The table of wheat fields. 

My Hunger is a On a wheat field Be a flock of birds to fly off. The organizations that fly in the sky in the sky.Willingness Che will be 

If this is being limited to, flour. On a tray. A glass of wine and a slice of bread is. Ceremony Tak This table We have probably only for dinner one meal. 

Drawing on the tray of fish. I don’t know why you are full and eat one’s knuckles and blue. Ha Is all the time The Shemiramoth, 

A chunk of space, is only water and air. A piece of sacred pieces of bread honorable’is mixed. ​

​My God there is (神) because of this

​

* ereulleu pongti <symbols in >

 성체聖體 

강영은

빵이라 부를 때 이것은 존재 한다 

누룩과 불화하는 이것 때문에 상처가 아문다 상처를 길들이는 이것 때문에 나는 말랑말랑하고 부드러운 표정을 지닌다 

피와 연합하는 포도주처럼 나의 내면이 뜨거워진다 

​커다란 다이아몬드의 흠집은 흠집을 깎는 고귀한 감정을 지니게 된다 수축하거나 팽창하는 감정은 존재의 지척(咫尺)을 드러낸다

​ 빵이 되기 위한 밀가루처럼 존재에 선행하는 존재* 뼈에서 떼어낼 수 없는 이것 때문에 나의 식탁은 밀밭이다 

나의 굶주림은 밀밭 위로 날아오르는 새떼가 된다 이 하늘에서 저 하늘로 날아다니는 조직의 지체가 된다 

만일 이것이 밀가루에 국한된 존재라면 쟁반 위에 놓인 한 잔의 포도주와 한 조각 빵은 식탁이 차려준 한 끼니 식사에 불과했으리라 

쟁반 위에 물고기 그림을 그린다 먹고 배부른 까닭을 알지 못 하나 손가락 마디에 푸른 하늘이 스민다 

물과 불과 공기가 관계한 한 덩어리 우주, 한 점의 빵 조각을 성스럽게 받든다 ​

이것 때문에 나의 신(神)이 존재 한다

​*에를르 퐁티<기호들>에서

 Romance with the Evening

Kang young eun  

– <Translation by Ko Chang-soo>

In the evening’s expression,

An emotion with a differing color of blood blooms and fades.

Like jasmine that shifts the color towards violet, soft violet, white,

In those moments the evening takes on an expression that most resembles solitude.

Thus I forget for a moment that my limbs have become awkward,

And my ears, neck, mouth and nose have bloomed.

Though several people walk together, the evening touches one eyeball.

Like a corridor that gets increasingly calm each time light deflects,

In those moments the evening becomes a lover;

I become friendly with death like a child roaming in a maze.

And I witness the alleys lengthen out gradually.

While waiting for a call-taxi before a florist where pollen scatters,

I think of you

Like a memo paper that will be forgotten tomorrow,

Like the slight fever of bored time.

In those moments the evening is lost in a love affair.

So I, blooming under an old window-frame,

Become unfamiliar.

On some evenings I’m absent;

So, if the landscape has disappeared into my inside,

I’m absent, that is, in the place left behind by the evening.

In those moments, the evening, not knowing it is evening,

Seeps into the window.

The consolation of being alone suddenly comes in hundreds of faces 

In that very moment.

​​저녁과의 연애

강영은

저녁의 표정 속에 피 색깔이 다른 감정이 피었다 진다 

보라 연보라 흰색으로 빛깔을 이동시키는 브룬스팰지어자스민처럼 

그럴 때 저녁은 고독과 가장 닮은 표정을 짓는 것이어서 

팔다리가 서먹해지고 이목구비가 피었다는 사실을 잠시 잊는다

여럿이 걸어가도 저녁은 하나의 눈동자에 닿는다 

빛이 굴절될 때마다 점점 그윽해져가는 회랑처럼 

그럴 때 저녁은 연인이 되는 것이어서 

미로 속을 헤매는 아이처럼 죽음과 다정해지고 

골목이 점점 길어지는 것을 목격하기도 한다

화분이 나뒹구는 꽃집 앞에서 콜택시를 기다리는 동안 

당신이 생각나기도 한다 

내일이면 잊혀 질 메모지처럼 지루한 시간의 미열처럼 

그럴 때 저녁은 연애에 골몰하는 것이어서

낡은 창틀 아래 피어 있는 내가 낯설어진다

어느 저녁에는 내가 없다

이내 속으로 풍경이 사라진 것처럼

저녁이 남기고 간 자리에 나는 없더라는 말 

그럴 때 저녁은 제가 저녁인 줄 모르고 유리창 속으로 스며든다 

혼자라는 위로는 불현듯 그때 수백 개의 얼굴로 찾아온다

 Profile

Poet Kang Young-eun was born on Jeju Island and earned a Master’s degree in Literature from the Graduate School of Culture and Arts at Kookje University. She made her literary debut in 2000 through the quarterly literary magazine Minerva. Since then, she has published the poetry collections The Green Silk Python, Floating Reef, the Back of the Sea, Mago’s Jar, A Gentle Poetics, The Bird Beyond, and Longing Gravity. She has also published the selected poems Poems Dedicated to the Japanese Nutmeg Yew, the essay collection Letters from the Mountain Hydrangea, the collaborative travel poetry collections The Crescent Moon of Tibet, Mingalaba, Myanmar, and Nazar Boncu, as well as the anthology of poems in English, Faces of the Festival, featuring twelve poets.

Kang Young-eun’s poetic world is deeply rooted in the landscape of Jeju, where the vitality of nature, the sense of loss, and the solitude of writing converge. She has described writing poetry as “the loneliest and freest way to embrace time and space,” revealing an attitude that accepts even her own transience and futility as an inevitable part of existence. Her essay collection Letters from the Mountain Hydrangea, which combines poetry, photography, and reflective prose, demonstrates how her creative practice extends beyond lyrical poetry into visual imagery and contemplative essays. By interweaving images of nature with profound inner sorrow, she has developed a distinctive poetic voice that has been consistently recognized across multiple collections rather than at a single moment in her career.

Her honors include the Excellence Award of the Siyesul Poetry Prize (2006), the Korean Poetry Literature Award (2012), the Arts Council Korea (ARKO) Literary Creation Grant (2014), selection as a Sejong Outstanding Book (2015), the Writers Association of Korea Author Award (2016), the Literary Youth Award and recognition as an Outstanding Content publication by the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency (2018), the Seogwipo Literary Award (2023), and selection for the Literature Sharing Program (2024).

She previously served as an instructor of creative writing at the Lifelong Education Center of Seoul National University of Science and Technology and as Chair of the Organizing Committee for the Seogwipo Chilsimni Literary Award. She currently serves as a Board Member of the Korean Poets’ Association and an Editorial Board Member of Literary Youth.

AI in the Classroom: Are We Upgrading Education or Downgrading the Human Touch?

Not long ago, a university laboratory was a place defined by the smell of chemical reagents, the scratch of pens on notebooks, and hours spent looking through optical microscopes. Today, a student can walk into that same lab, open a laptop, and let an Artificial Intelligence algorithm simulate the entire experiment in three seconds.

Technology has moved from the margins of our lives right into the center of our classrooms. For the current generation of university students, AI is no longer a futuristic concept—it is a daily study partner. We use it to debug our Python code, translate complex foreign texts, and organize messy research data. On paper, this is the ultimate democratization of knowledge. But on the ground, the reality feels a bit more complicated. The biggest promise of AI in education is efficiency. In scientific research and laboratory settings, digitalization has broken down massive barriers. Algorithms can analyze thousands of data sets in real-time, helping young researchers spot patterns that would otherwise take months to find. It acts like a super-powered assistant, handling the repetitive, time-consuming parts of science so that human minds can focus on actual creativity and big-picture questions. However, this rapid transition hides a subtle trap. When an AI tool can write a flawless essay, solve a complex higher-mathematics integral, or predict a physics simulation instantly, the human brain gets lazy. The critical muscle of “struggling” with a problem is being bypassed. True learning rarely happens when the answer is delivered instantly on a screen; it happens in the frustrating, messy process of trial and error. Furthermore, there is an invisible element that no language model can replicate: the human connection. A screen cannot replace a professor who notices a student’s hidden potential during a rough lecture. It cannot replicate the late-night debates between roommates trying to crack a logic puzzle together, or the shared joy when a peer finally passes a difficult national certification exam. These deeply human interactions are what actually shape an academic journey. Technology should serve as a bridge, not a substitute. The goal of integrating AI into our universities should not be to turn students into passive consumers of machine-generated data, but to empower them to become sharper thinkers. We must treat AI like a high-tech microscope: a tool that helps us see the world more clearly, but never a replacement for the human eyes doing the looking. As we reshape education for the digital era, the challenge is not just teaching students how to code or use prompts. The real challenge is ensuring that as our technology becomes smarter, we do not lose the raw curiosity, persistence, and human empathy that made us want to learn in the first place.

AMONBOYEVA SHAHNOZA, UZBEKISTAN
FACULTY OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING IN URGENCH STATE UNIVERSITY

Coating

How many layers are flying and everything is lifting on the rainbow,

Exciting joy, developing new talents.

What a great feeling coated in receiving,

As soon as the coating is applied, the color blue wave is vivid.

There is a way to measure the depth of coating,

It is understood that sour sweet fruit is too much.

Date: 30.06.2026

Omonova Dinora Anvarjon qizi
Samarqand viloyati Narpay tumani beklar mahallasi nurli tong koʻchasi

Life Lessons Hidden Between the Pages

Life is the greatest teacher. However, it often takes years to teach us its most valuable lessons. A book, on the other hand, has the remarkable ability to gather those lessons within a few hundred pages. Every book is a priceless treasure that preserves humanity’s experiences, dreams, joys, and sorrows. When we open a book, we do more than read words—we step into different lives, understand different cultures, and discover new truths about ourselves and the world.

To me, a book is far more than paper and ink. It is a silent teacher, a faithful friend, and a lifelong companion. Every page I turn reveals another lesson about life. Sometimes a single story teaches me the value of patience; sometimes one sentence inspires me to become a better person. It is in these quiet moments that I realize the true power of books.

Reading broadens our minds and deepens our understanding of the world. It teaches us not only to gain knowledge but also to think critically. People who read learn to see situations from different perspectives, respect the opinions of others, learn from mistakes, and remain compassionate even in difficult times. These qualities are the foundation of a strong and successful society.

The characters in every story have something meaningful to teach us. Some inspire us with their courage, others remind us of the importance of kindness, honesty, and integrity. Their happiness makes us smile, while their struggles touch our hearts. Through their journeys, books awaken empathy, compassion, and humanity within us. These are among the greatest lessons life can offer.

Today, technology has become an inseparable part of our daily lives. Information is available everywhere, yet people often have little time to think deeply. Books encourage us to slow down, reflect, analyze ideas, and search for truth. That is why reading remains just as valuable today as it has always been—perhaps even more so.

Books have taught me that true wealth is not measured by material possessions but by knowledge, wisdom, and character. An educated person has the ability not only to improve their own life but also to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Every book we read brings us one step closer to becoming wiser, kinder, and more responsible human beings.

I firmly believe that the life lessons hidden between the pages of books never grow old. Time passes, generations change, and technology continues to advance, but the influence of books on the human heart remains timeless. Books help us discover who we are, inspire us to pursue goodness, and give us the courage to follow our dreams.

Whenever I close a book, I realize that I am no longer the same person who opened it. I carry with me new ideas, deeper understanding, and stronger determination. That is the greatest miracle of reading—it transforms people. And people who transform themselves have the power to transform society and shape a brighter future. For this reason, I believe that every page is a lesson in the school of life, and every book is a priceless treasure that illuminates our hearts and minds.

Snow Meadow and Wagon

Tree and field, the wild snow calmed by stillness and just waiting. Crystals. Shining. Millions. The outskirts on one side have birch, hundreds of them. The other?- sumac that remains red always save for a few that just become like some skeletal flowers and how strange they seem. The birds of the sky, sometimes, such as they are and be and go. In the summers a swath cuts through making a pathway around and through the pastoral settings. 

But in winter then, everything looks and is pretty level. The wagon with its sturdy wheels and faded red paint upon wooden slats, is just stationed there like something from a painting. Old branches of trees in the back. It waits. Maybe forever, but certainly for now. All this under the skies tall and ancient, capricious clouds, the vagaries of landscape life,- sun moon wind silence rains hail or nothing at all…just the calm quietude of stillness for a while. 

Brian Michael Barbeito is a Canadian poet, writer, and photographer. 

Still Feelin’ It for B-Bluzee

He sauntered into the classroom, nose in the air, bobbing his head, eyes gazing over other students, expecting me to sign an add slip, which I did since it was a small class I feared might be cancelled. As a writer, I needed the work as an adjunct instructor.

He didn’t seem a hipster per se, although he did sport a bleached dreadlock bun, oversized square glasses, drooping pants. I figured him for one of the theater majors who often enrolled in the course attracted by dramatic monologues and performance as part of the syllabus. Budding poetry and prose writers alike were drawn to the Asian and European forms of poetry, sudden fiction, and memoir.

Just as I was passing out the day’s activity sheet and about to introduce the process of peer review, the students were all abuzz, so much so that I turned to one and quietly asked: “What’s up with all the fuss?”

She whispered back: “He’s a local rapper. He’s even been part of the lineup at Paramount Theatre for Oakland’s Hip HopAthon.”  

That’s when I instead distributed the survey, “My Expectations for This Class” to be filled out, shared, discussed.

 During discussion, theater folk predictably revealed they wanted to be performative in class and that this and their other classes could enrich each other. The emerging poets B-Bluzee were open to just about everything as were the storytellers. 

He called himself B-Bluzee or something like that I couldn’t wrap my head around, probably because I’d grown uninterested in rappers, having been outspoken against rap lyrics demeaning women. This rapper, I came to call Blue, announced he enrolled to practice his act and make new rhymes, punctuated by “You feelin’ me?” as he looked past me and to the class as if an audience.

Some students chimed in with “Yas. aight, feelin’ you,” as if looking forward to, I imagined, a poppin’ class with some free entertainment.

Determined not to let Blue run the room, after class I handed him the syllabus and some rules of order: “Your assignments are nearly overdue having entered late, and your allowable absences for the term are practically used up.” Following his deadpan stare, I went on: “You, like everyone else, are expected to participate in aspects of creative writing meant not so much for the stage but more for the page, including being open to the work of established writers as well as to other students’ work.”  

Blue said little, or maybe said nothing. What I remember best are the wings on his jacket, back to me, as he drifted out of the room. I figured he would not return.

Return he did, but at his leisure. After I said: “Blue,” to get his attention, he corrected in a snappy head turn: “B-Bluzee.”  “Blue,” I continued, “your signature on the attendance sheet is artistic,” and continued with the off-the-cuff remark of “Just like tags on the campus pedestrian tunnel wall sprayed in silver huffer paint.”

He never turned in assignments or responded in workshops after that. Even the MMA fighter never missed a day despite late nights, black eyes, split lips. Nor did the single mother struggling with childcare, or others facing life’s unsung but ongoing challenges.

And then came time for final presentations of what students chose as their best writing to present as their portfolio in self-published chapbooks to exchange with each other and to turn in for a grade. This time I hoped Blue would finally participate, come to the front of the class and perform as others had, performance supposedly being his thing. I coaxed him: “C’mon Blue. Your’ve got a captive audience here.” 

He just shook it off with a shoulder shrug, pulling his hoodie up over his head and down past his eyes, slouching at his desk. At the end of that last class, I distributed a final survey titled “The Grade I Deserve and Why” students could pick up at my office for my written response.

As I read them at home later that night, I was touched by the thoughtfulness in their narratives about their own work and working with others. Then came B-Bluzee’s, an unexpected reply written in graffiti style lettering with a thick silver marker: “Fuck It. Gimme an F.” 

And at that, really feelin’ blue, I wrote heavy-handedly in blood red: “OK—you got it.”

The Naked Couple at the Window

The complimentary champagne cocktail couldn’t begin to take the edge of things, leaving me feeling downhearted and disenchanted by the whole arts scene in the city where The Woman I Love and I had relocated. What a night at Bazaar Cafe on the outskirts of San Francisco, feeling like quite the wallflower. Who wouldn’t, as the other three poets featured sequestered in a corner reminiscing college days and amusing current students there to perhaps get a bit of extra credit.

“Stop beating yourself up,” The Woman I Love insisted. “Your stuff is better than all of theirs,” she reassured; but it didn’t help much as I carped on about having sold only one book and to the owner who liked that we both had roots back East. 

As if this wasn’t enough, The Woman I Love decided to take one of her disastrous shortcuts through a neighborhood where we’d never been with its plethora of older highrises. Stuck in traffic, the light on the fritz, people were not playing well with everyone off to somewhere to do something that must have been terribly important made clear from the incessant bleating of horns and finger flying birds at windows.

Slumped riding shotgun, no radio station could drown out the self-obsessed clamor of thoughts in my head or cacophony of the street. It was then I looked upward toward the stars, perhaps for a bit of hope or calm; but there was not a one to be seen under the umbrella of city glow from ambient light. There was, however, something else that caught my eye—a second story apartment with blaring wall-to-wall and ceiling-to-floor lighting that seemed so barely furnished I wondered whether anyone lived there. Just then up from the couch, backs to the window, two figures rose, a fit and trim man and woman likely in their early twenties—both stark naked.

They stood there for a time. No hand holding, hugging, kissing. Then they moved in sync in glissades like practiced performers, one sliding along from the right, the other from the left until meeting center stage in front of the window where they did not touch, arms dangling at their sides, but only stared  into the sea of cars below. The Naked Couple at the Window stood for a few mesmerizing minutes doing absolutely nothing, until they slid back to their original position in front of the couch before moving effortlessly en pointe toward a darkened room across the open space, turned back around, dipped in ballet révérence, then switched off the lights.

“Did you see that? I asked The Woman I Love.

“Did I see what? Those damn robo-taxis jammed up in the next lane?” 

“No. Did you see The Naked Couple in the Window?” 

“Are you being a Peeping Tomacita again?” was her only response as she released her white knuckle grip from the steering wheel to applaud traffic lights finally functional.

“C’mon, you really didn’t see that?”

The Woman I Love took my hand in hers and answered, almost in a condescending whisper: “Time to go home and maybe write one of your more wacky poems or wild tales about being stuck in traffic and gawking at The Naked Couple at the Window.”

People’s Drug

Melody took her usual seat at the counter near the prescription window of People’s Drugstore in Washington D. C.’s Georgetown neighborhood for her Sunday morning order of rye toast and black tea.

Saturday nights, the People’s corner was a hot spot she sometimes visited to get psychedelics from kooky weekend dealers. In those days she fit in with the eccentric cast of characters, smoking her Virginia Slims, sporting a boyish pixie, wearing false eyelashes, mod dresses, colored tights in chunky heeled ankle boots. Like most young people then, she was open to new experiences, especially if a bit taboo.

The waitress, always in uniform with her enamel name tag as Alice, knew just when to offer her more hot water for her teabag, never commenting on anything. Until one day, nodding toward a man on the opposite side of the oval counter, Alice questioned with an air of suspicion: “Are you okay with that guy taking pictures of you?”

At first Melody shrugged it off, since she never paid attention to or spoke to other patrons, not even regulars and certainly not this gawky and ill-kempt man, but then some huff washed over her. She slid off her stool, circled over to him, taking him by surprise as he looked longingly into her eyes behind muted shades. Then in a snit she snatched his camera, pulled out the ribbon of film, took it back to her seat, stubbed out her cigarette on it before dropping it into the teacup Alice instantly filled with hot water.

Melody doubled Alice’s tab to make an appreciative tip for her and made her way out as Alice played a song of the times on the countertop juke box, “These Boots are Made for Walking.” That was Melody’s cue to point back at the guy clasping his camera to his chest as she chimed in on the song: “and they just walked all over you.”

xxx