~ When I See Death ~



When we cross paths

I won't even be scared

Rolling up my sleeves

And preparing my fist

I'll join him into a fight



When death comes for me

I won't beg on my knees

Crying for a chance

For a life he didn't give

But hit him in the face



For the hurt that he caused me

Taking my loved ones from me

Emptying my house of family

Leaving my life lonely

And ending all my gravy



I'm gonna unleash my anger against him

Knowing fully well I will not win

But for him to taste small pain

That is experienced by mortal beings

Before taking me with him

My Sun Kissed Brother


I used to be told that my brother stepped one foot too close to the sun

He shone, my brother

glass speckled sunlight 

was the embodiment of living 

as he used to say

before he stepped one foot to close to the sun


He would stretch one tawny golden arm behind himself 

at the beach

flipped shades onto his eyes

as if that were his one Achilles' heel

his one vulnerability 

but the rest of his body soaked sunlight 

as if it were water


He survived off of golden 

drank shimmery liquid 

and prayed to the sun god

He always carried a fascination 

that wrapped itself around his mind

squeezing closer and closer

pressing the movement of 

hurry 

you don’t want to miss it

deeper and deeper 

until it was all he could think about


He awoke with the sun

and died when it came down

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

Life In Me

A piece of life 
I always carry in me,
it's not difficult 
besides making me slightly broody,
but it's a feathery 
heavy unbearable load
that changes it's the onus 
depending on mood.

Mood like 
Venice's anachronistic 
charm,
or like seasons 
at places closer 
to equator's arm,
varies 
with astonishing recurrence
or just changes 
with unbelievable 
happenstance.

The mood is a significant part 
of my mundane life
which controls my life 
in every felicity and strife
I coaxed and cajoled 
my life to control mood
nothing worthwhile happened, 
never for good.

But then... 
that's life which I carry in me,
A faded memory 
or a blushing smiley,
A wailing 
of heartbreaking grief
and a collage of various moments.
..... very very brief.

Mamadee is a student, youth leader, activist, an entrepreneur, community organizer, a writer and above all a philanthropist residing in Voinjama City, Republic of Liberia. Who captures emotions and loves to paint work like pictures. Writing for him has become an undying passion and hobby. He enjoyed a bilingual emotion- mixed childhood, in a society where everything was lively with daily scenes caught the eye, so well that he writes on many themes. He finds solace in writing what surrounds him, such as the daily scenes from society, both positive and negative. He loves to capture the life of Liberia, Africa and the world at large. Mamadee is currently a student at the Lofa County Community College, reading accounting. His passion for self sustanance in food production led him to volunteer at Agrolite.

I AM A SNOWMAN

I am a snowman built from winter snow 
My eyes are large and round 
I like to look around 
I like to play with the people 
Who built me from the ground

I am a Snowman
Each year a new Snowman stands here,
Wide eyed at the earth 
Looking at the people who 
Made them from the snow

A new Snowman I am   
Standing tall and strong

Watery Winter Sunshine 
No! Not that, 
I feel! 

The climate change, I feel 
Standing less round and 
Closer to the ground
I yell to the children, 
Who built me from the ground 
Can I have another day? 
Can you save your Earth, 
Don’t let us melt away 

By Linda Hibbard
Previously published by Synchronized Chaos, December 2021

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.

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.