The Great Divide Excessive burning of fossil fuels, coal, gas and oil, green house gases blanketing our world. Entire forests, the lungs of our earth, being cut down and burned. Rising sea levels, wild fires, barren soil, extreme weather adding to the turmoil. Animals of all species struggling to adapt to these rapidly changing conditions, wild fires, melting glaciers or dry lakes, forcing them into extinction. Entire peoples with no resources are forced out of their land, their lives shattered, seeking refuge, fleeing flooding, fleeing drought. Getting as far as neighboring nations, not much better than their own, devastated with such scarcity, quickly losing hope. The rich have raised their land retrofitted, erected walls, the water, having no where else to go, ends up with the poor. We import food, which we then waste, our luxurious lives take a toll, with no regard to those displaced, we lounge care-free in air conditioned homes. Impoverished nations are suffering today, and the rich will suffer tomorrow. Will we take action then, change our ways? Will it be too late? By: Gloria E. Lopez
Category Archives: CHAOS
Synchronized Chaos Ides of March: Taking Your Place
Welcome to the experimental semi-monthly issue of Synchronized Chaos.
First of all, we stand with the people affected by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, as well as in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and everywhere else people are placed in harm’s way.
We encourage the readers and writers who enjoy our publication to write letters of support to be included in care packages to be delivered to refugees around the world by the nonprofit New Beginnings. Click here to write a letter online (anonymously if you wish) that will support and encourage a refugee family in their new home.
Also, PEN America campaigns on behalf of writers facing persecution for their nonviolent work. Click here to read and sign online petitions for different writers at risk. Also, the organization Free Women Writers is looking for volunteer editors for pieces they are collecting and publishing from women and girls in Afghanistan.
All are welcome to attend the Hayward Lit Hop, a multi-venue literary reading at 3pm Saturday April 30th, coinciding with and continuing after Hayward’s first youth poet laureate award ceremony. Several Synchronized Chaos contributors will read from their work.
Also please join us for the Audible Browsing Experience in Philadelphia March 24th at 6pm at Head House Books (our Association of Writing Programs (AWP) offsite event).
This month we reflect on our place within the larger forces that shape the world around us, but also our willingness to live as if our personal thoughts and creativity matter.
Elizabeth Hughes’ Book Periscope review covers Cheryl Wade’s The Luminous Child, a tale of the creation of the entire universe. Hongri Yuan’s work, translated by Yuanbing Zhang, focuses on stepping outside one’s own life and imagining oneself farther in time or space.
J.K. Durick writes of the tedium of suffering: war, death, disease, and taxes.
Doug Jacquier contributes travel vignettes focused on social and legal norms and the aftermath of transgressions.
J.J. Campbell observes the inevitability of various forms of everyday death and decay. Keith Hoerner conjures up images of remnants of people and places, probing the psychological effects of loss.
Ivan Jenson sends us humorous poems of star-studded dreams and downgraded expectations.
Aviva Derenowski references the pressure of too much familiarity, too much hardening of perspectives, that she found in her home country of Israel.
Lynn White reflects on what, and who, we choose to keep and toss aside, while Michael Lee Johnson explores aspects of the bittersweet life of a poet. Inseo Yang reflects upon the demise of an autumnal love.
Chimezie Ihekuna offers up advice for those who seek to become published authors. Santiago Burdon contributes a wry vignette about rendering one’s actual journey towards creative writing craft into actionable advice for teens. J.D. Nelson mixes up syllables into a technical concoction.
Jelvin S. Gibson rages at corruption and social injustice yet sings the praises of sunsets and poetic love. Mahbub also finds love in the gentle beauty of nature as well as in romance. His work acknowledges our human vulnerability and need to make the most of each moment.
John Culp experiences love as a pleasant distraction, something that makes each day smoother, while Aminanta Talawally captures the humble thoughts of a young woman whose first crush has inspired her to put her pen to paper.
Diah Youlo declares love for Black women, honoring their strength and courage and nurturing compassion. George S.K. Boakai, writing under the pen name ‘Compoze’, encourages us to embrace and express our feelings.
Jelvin S. Gibson shares a story of life change through faith, recovery from addiction. Michael Robinson’s work also touches on spiritual themes of salvation and redemption, and Arsi Rauf relates his reverent quest for the Almighty. Maid Corbic relates a fable of small-town justice, where even the darkest villain is not beyond redemption.
Poetry from Aminata Talawally
Confession Lines In this poem I’m just a shy girl Trying to say stuffs That has never parted My lips before So sorry if my words Are blushing like how My face blushes Every time I see you I know you don’t see it But my eyes wander Around with eagerness At the sound of your name And the sweetest worst Part of it all is my heart Skips a beat every time Your hand lands on mine Just this one touch from you My body trembles and yearns That you do it all over again That’s why I’m letting my feelings Flow freely like how the river Flows in to the ocean But I hope mine flows Down the walls of your heart After all the heart understands The language of the heart
Aminata Talawally is an emerging writer from Liberia. She is a secondary student. Her ambition is to become a software engineer and also a great writer. Most of her poems surround love, life, pain, etc..
Poetry from Ivan Jenson
One-percenter Let me decide for myself if success is as empty as they say and I will let you know if dating a Swedish model in the French Riviera is vapid and will rapidly lead to my soul's decay and when my pretty bank teller sees my current balance and her pupils start dilating don't tell me this won't feel like a spiritual awakening because I have been chasing that star-studded gold-leafed, sugar-coated gift-wrapped, jackpot since I was old enough to watch the Beverly Hillbillies on TV so don't you even try to stop me from sipping on some good ol' Texas tea Lonesome Dove I don't share my life with one particular person in the traditional sense instead I have built an amazingly effective invisible fence that keeps my dogged pride from running away from this private property and possibly getting run over and once in a great while I let in the unexpected visitor who happens to be in the area and just thought they'd stop on by and we have cookies and coffee and when they leave I wave goodbye as their car pulls out of the drive while holding my caged heart yet it somehow escapes like a parakeet into the skies and that's when I remember that time flies Spring Cleaning I still saved everything you gave me and I have stored all that nothingness in an empty room in the attic of my consciousness next to undeveloped negatives of what could have been positive if only you could have lived up to the hype of being what I wanted so much but can now live without I guess that is what dandruff and dust is all about Hook Up It's official this whole thing is superficial and based solely on mutual distraction from emotional depth or even worse spiritual meaning because sometimes it's fun to downgrade expectations and indulge in soft-core consensual conversation consisting of nonintellectual innuendo and zero love so tomorrow don't even wait for my text instead when you think of me just whisper the word "next" The Big Comeback I was once beautiful respected far and wide the toast of the town considered the next big thing expected to stay on top traveled first class pursued by women and the press mentioned in the tabloids paid handsomely young as roses in bloom whispered about in certain circles the life of parties uptown and down loved to the moon and back dressed in Versace with both parents alive and proud now I'm living in a modest home walking like a zombie at a local Mall disappearing into a crowd learning old friends have become somebody driving while listening to 80s music lost in fantasy at the pharmacy a has-been who would-be if could-be and yet just offered a major new contract given a new lease on hope checking with a lawyer if this is too-good-to-be-true assured this is a legitimate opportunity pinching myself to make sure it isn't just a dream not even worried if this time it will or will not last just ready to once again kick fame and fortune's ass
Ivan Jenson is a fine artist, novelist and popular contemporary poet. His artwork was featured in Art in America, Art News, and Interview Magazine and has sold at auction at Christie’s. Ivan was commissioned by Absolut Vodka to make a painting titled Absolut Jenson for the brand’s national ad campaign. His Absolut paintings are in the collection of the Spirit Museum, the museum of spirits in Stockholm, Sweden.
Jenson’s painting of the “Marlboro Man” was collected by the Philip Morris corporation. Ivan was commissioned to paint the final portrait of the late Malcolm Forbes. Ivan has written two novels, Dead Artist and Seeing Soriah, both of which illustrate the creative and often dramatic lives of artists. Jenson’s poetry is widely published (with over 600 poems published in the US, UK and Europe) in a variety of literary media. A book of Ivan Jenson’s poetry was recently published by Hen House Press titled Media Child and Other Poems, which can be acquired on Amazon. Two novels by Ivan Jenson entitled, Marketing Mia and Erotic Rights have been published hardcover. His website is: http://www.ivanjenson.com
Ivan Jenson’s thriller “The Murderess” is now available hardcover and as an eBook on Amazon. Ivan Jenson’s new thriller, “The Widow” will be released in March 2022.
Poetry from Hongri Yuan, translated by Yuanbing Zhang
By Chinese Poet Yuan Hongri Translated by Yuanbing Zhang Every Giant Looks Like Another Me There is a colossal ship in my golden state from outer space, sometimes it visit me in dreams, take me to the interstellar city of giants. Where there is my tomorrow's new home– the streets are covered with multicoloured gems, the words of giants sounds like the music; the gigantic buildings are the works of the Gods, let you forget yesterday's self in an instant. The whole giant city is your own garden, and every giant looks like another me. 07.10.2020 每一个巨人仿佛另一个自己 我天外的黄金之国有一艘巨轮 有时在梦境把我访问 载我去星际的巨人之城 那儿是我明天的新的家园 街道上铺满了五色的宝石 巨人们的话语仿佛乐曲 一座一座巨厦是天神的作品 让你刹那间忘了昨日的自己 那整座巨城是你自己的花园 而每一个巨人仿佛另一个自己 2020.07.10 The Paradises From Outside Time The heavenly flower from paradise on my palm make the wine of time twinkle with a smile of dawn. When the ancient in your bones play Guqin leisurely, you will see the prehistoric self, who riding like the wind– the mountains will be transparent and greet you , the rivers will be mellow, as if they are surrouned with the jade belts. There are a great many golden palaces on the clouds, where there are your paradises from outside time. 07.10.2020 时光之外的乐园 我手掌上这朵天国之仙葩 让时光之酒闪烁黎明之笑容 当你骨骼里的古人丁丁而弹琴 你看到了乘风而行的史前的自己 群山透明向你致意 河流芳醇如玉带萦绕 在云朵之上有巨多的金殿 那儿是你时光之外的乐园 2020.07.10 There's A Much Larger World in The Body There's a much larger world in the body this is the secret that the ancient sages has told you. Listen to the light pass through your body and play Guqin in your bones noticed an old man, who was 30000 years old ,sitting in a palace on the mountains top. There is an island in the depths of the ocean, the goddess was so brilliant before the world had been born. Her eyes will make you to forget the sadness, for an instant, take you through those free and unfettered days outside. 05.12.2020 在身体里有一个更大的世界 在身体里有一个更大的世界 这就是古代圣人告诉你的秘密 倾听光线穿过你的身体在骨骼里弹琴 看到一个老人三万岁了坐在山巅的一座宫殿 在海洋的深处有一座小岛 那位女神在世界诞生之前就如此灿烂 她的两只眼睛会让你忘了忧伤 一瞬间带你穿越那天外逍遥的日子 2020.05.12 The World is just A Lie The world is just a lie, truth is on the other side of the world. We can neither see the light of time nor know that everything is a shadow on the running water. There is another me on another planet, you have never been born or died. When the maze becomes transparent, the door of time-space opens, you will shake hands and smile with the giant in the heavens. The words are both music and the epic of the soul, Telling you that the palaces of outer space are incomparably lofty, as if they are as endless as the mountains of gold. 03.17.2020 世界只是一个谎言 世界只是一个谎言 真理在世界的另一面 我们看不到时间之光 不知道一切只是流水之上的影子 另外的星球上有另外的自己 你不曾出生也不曾死去 当迷宫透明时空之门敞开 你将和那天上的巨人握手微笑 那词语是乐曲也是灵魂之史诗 告诉你天外的宫殿无比的巍峨 如黄金之山岳连绵而无际 2020.03.17 Bio: Yuan Hongri (born 1962) is a renowned Chinese mystic, poet, and philosopher. His work has been published in the UK, USA, India, New Zealand, Canada, and Nigeria; his poems have appeared in Poet's Espresso Review, Orbis, Tipton Poetry Journal, Harbinger Asylum, The Stray Branch, Pinyon Review, Taj Mahal Review, Madswirl, Shot Glass Journal, Amethyst Review, The Poetry Village, and other e-zines, anthologies, and journals. His best known works are Platinum City and Golden Giant. His works explore themes of prehistoric and future civilization. Its content is to show the solemnity, sacredness and greatness of human soul through the exploration of soul. Yuanbing Zhang (b. 1974), who is a Chinese poet and translator, works in a Middle School, Yanzhou District , Jining City, Shandong Province, China. He can be contacted through his email- 3112362909@qq.com. Phone:+86 15263747339 Email:3112362909@qq.com Address:No.18 middle school Yanzhou District ,Jining City, Shandong Province, China Yuan Hongri
Poetry from J.J. Campbell
settle in for a long ride a sunny cold day the day before the first day of winter the day before the holiday blues settle in for a long ride now as i grow older i know that ride will get as close to death as possible at times you learn not to fear it enjoy the tension the pensive delight of closing the circle the only thing that is truly guaranteed --------------------------------------------------------- still with her mask on listening to a conversation in the waiting room while staring at this beautiful black woman wondering what she looks like naked of course, my imagination does that but still with her mask on you know, safety first and all ----------------------------------------------------- having never learned the lessons the relentless agony of the end of life holding on for a few moments the last laugh the last kiss the last nibble of glory having never learned the lessons of all those wise fucks that came before the urgency of now is fleeting taking advantage of every second is nearly impossible in this world where you are bombarded with an endless onslaught of shit disposable, as is everything --------------------------------------------------------- anxiety and dread just enough snow to fill the old ladies with anxiety and dread i'm the asshole that wishes for enough to make driving an adventure such is life no one is ever really happy ------------------------------------------------------- that whiff of death i remember cutting through the woods on this old trail i remember learning to ride a bicycle and suddenly taking advantage of that freedom i remember finding this old trash bag one day in the woods it smelled my friend and i told his father about it he went over with us to open it up a dead dog that whiff of death still sits in the front of my brain all these years later i know one thing though it made life on the farm pretty easy my nose could smell a surprise long before my eyes could be shocked
J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is old enough to know better. He’s been widely published over the last quarter century, most recently at The Black Shamrock, Terror House Magazine, Cajun Mutt Press, Beatnik Cowboy and Horror Sleaze Trash. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)
Elizabeth Hughes’ Book Periscope
The Luminous Child by Cheryl D. Wade M.D. is a fantasy account of how the universe and earth were created. A lot of the pictures throughout the book are from the Hubble Telescope. They are absolutely breathtaking. A very enlightening book for mythology and fantasy lovers.