How delicate you look as you step on the pulse of my heart,
How sweetly woven of the loveliest silk,
Your eyes as blue as heaven reflected in a deep sea,
With waves forever folding over one another —
Let them drown me in their profound looks,
While I am taken away without the faintest resistance.
But alas, being too old for such young beauty,
I shall retreat into my silent grief,
Away from the music of your departing steps.
Pale with Clamping Hands
I see the pallor that you wear
like winter’s light late in the morning
A fracture hidden under calm,
a wound you’ve learned to fold and hide.
I will not blame you. No.
You carry what would break a lesser soul,
but softness is your brightest wear—
that gentle thing that keeps you there—
betrays you to my watching eyes,
spills through the quiet you maintain.
Your tenderness, try as you might,
refuses to pretend no pain.
So what is there to do
but witness, from this careful space,
the strength that holds itself together —
and love the light still in your face.
Hussein Nasser Jabr (Born 1964) holds a PhD in English Philology from the University of Craiova, Romania. He currently works as a faculty member at the College of Education, Imam Ja’afar Al Sadiq University in Iraq. An Iraqi poet and literary translator, he has translated numerous works between English and Arabic, including philosophy books, a study on sectarianism in Iraq, art monographs, and poetry collections by Faleeha Hassan and some other poets. His translations have appeared in Gilgamesh and Iraq Literary Review. He has published original Arabic poetry, critical studies, and articles on translation. A member of the Union of Writers in Iraq since 2002, he has participated in international conferences and poetry festivals.
Charlie Chaplin’s Reign in the Kingdom of Laughter,
The magic of laughter is age-old.
Making laughter a universal cinema industry,
Such a communication required no words,
A character that is a unique character,
At whose name the heart smiles, full of joy,
Which is the main character in social discussion.
People pleasing is a human figure,
In times of industrial change, change deepens inequality.
Reality can be revealed through laughter.
In the mechanized world of the individual,
Fragility is tenderly depicted.
The craft was in performing humor,
Invisible becomes visible, loneliness is removed,
Poverty is the redemption of poverty, the mind is the meaning of happiness.
A drama given with entertainment,
Explanations and questions in depth of that play,
Where historical context is relevant.
The smile on the face is Charlie Chaplin,
The medicine of laughter remains, and the happiness fades away.
Charlie Chaplin will be respected and loved.
Amb. Dr. Priyanka Neogi is from Coochbehar. She is an administrative controller of United Nations’ PAF, a librarian, a CEO of Lio Messi International Property & Land Consultancy, international literacy worker, sports & peace promoter, dancer, singer, reciter, live telecaster, writer, editor, researcher, literary journalist, host, beauty queen, international co-ordinator of the Vijay Mission of Community Welfare Foundation of India.
Rain draws up houses in the clouds, chairs made of light. Angels plow the night of happiness. They plant songs in the brass threshing-floors, beating the wheat of words.
On the House’s Hip
We write on the house’s hip: We are here. We chew on the street’s loneliness ’til the alley turns into a moon on the soul’s shoulder. The wind’s wound… you tell it like a secret. Lightning drinks its glass, and we drink down the question. Sparrows soften the bitter cold. What’s the point of staying…? The olive tree left it to the windows to tell what’s left of the shouting inside us, tossing it in the grinder.
Tightness
No sound strips me bare
but time’s handkerchiefs
wiping themselves,
and ruin is born
blooming tight little dreams.
Mohammed Al Gaddafi Masoud was born in 1978 in Gharyan, Libya, holds a theater diploma from Tripoli’s Jamal Al-Din Al-Miladi Institute (2000) and is the author of several collections, including lyrical poetry (We Woke Up to Joy, 2006) and journalistic dialogues (My Dialogues with Them, 2008). Widely published across the Arab world, his work has been translated into numerous languages—English, Chinese, Spanish, Polish, French, Italian, and Albanian—and appeared in international print and online journals from Spain to Argentina. In 2024, he was selected as one of 72 global poets for an Italian-language anthology curated by Angela Costa, reflecting his broadening transnational literary presence.
J.J. Campbell’s new collection To Live Your Dreams is a collection of raw, emotional, and often dark expressions of life, love, loneliness, and despair.
His speaker often feels disconnected and isolated, describing themselves as “broken” and struggling with feelings of loneliness. Many poems express a sense of disappointment and disillusionment with life, love, and relationships, which are often fleeting and precarious. In “the twilight,” “love is like juggling hand grenades…you hope the people are entertained and the pin never comes out.”
The speaker frequently uses self-deprecating humor and acknowledges their own flaws and shortcomings. The lack of capitals and punctuation in the poems, and the non-rhyming, understated, free-verse narrative help to convey the speaker’s raw pain and humility. They also frequently use dark humor and irony to cope with emotions and experiences, including trauma and abuse they have survived. In an attempt to snatch a smidgen of hope from a barren life, he fantasizes about “being shot while getting rejection letters in the mail,” and in “count the seconds,” he recollects “explaining being molested again/to a group of people who never wanted the truth.” Finally, in a moment perhaps familiar to many writers who mine the well of their own sufferings, he reflects, “she liked my poetry/which is a sign something was up.”
Despite the speaker’s struggles, they often express a deep and touching desire for human connection and understanding. In “the one,” he reflects on a tenuous long-distance romance, suggesting with a tinge of tragicomic hope that “maybe this silly thing called love/will take care of everything.” Hope can spring eternal in a person’s heart, and we hope that he finds his way to peace and connection, one way or another. The collection’s title itself can be taken in multiple ways: while he has not yet “lived his dreams,” the fact that he still has dreams, that he can still hope despite his past and present struggles, becomes poignant and beautiful in itself.
Community and love are two-way streets, though, and perhaps reaching out to others who are struggling in similar ways could help him to find purpose and friendship. It’s clear that he’s not the only one in his situation, as he mentions support groups, counseling, and encounters with others on dating sites who seem equally broken and lonely.
In to live your dreams, J.J. Campbell offers a glimpse into his speaker’s complex and often troubled inner world. Overall, these poems convey a sense of raw emotion, vulnerability, and introspection.
