Poetry from Mirta Liliana Ramirez

Older middle aged Latina woman with short reddish brown hair, light brown eyes, and a grey blouse.
Mirta Liliana Ramirez

When I Stop Being Myself

When I stop being myself

I’m always myself

But there are people determined

To find flaws in the milk…

I’m kind, empathetic, and charismatic

But there are people

who, with words or actions

overcome my desire to distance myself…

They are people who love

To poke at the wound

And continue to widen the wound…

And yes, I’m human and I react

And I stop being myself for a moment…

To endure until I’m sick of it

It’s not right

Because the explosion

can leave relationships mortally

wounded and the dead don’t rise…

Mirta Liliana Ramírez has been a poet and writer since she was 12 years old. She has been a Cultural Manager for more than 35 years. Creator and Director of the Groups of Writers and Artists: Together for the Letters, Artescritores, MultiArt, JPL world youth, Together for the letters Uzbekistan 1 and 2. She firmly defends that culture is the key to unite all the countries of the world. She works only with his own, free and integrating projects at a world cultural level. She has created the Cultural Movement with Rastrillaje Cultural and Forming the New Cultural Belts at the local level and also from Argentina to the world.

Poetry from Alan Catlin

The Savage Muse

There is no experience quite like sitting alone in a totally darkened barroom at 5 AM on a Sunday morning staring at the upturned legs of the barstools, drinking pints of Bass Ale, listening to the leaking faucet drip into the stainless-steel sink.

The second hand scans the face of the clock, smoke rings dissipate in the antique, hand engraved Harp Lager mirror behind the bar.

The barman considers the room; the beer puddles on the peeling linoleum floor, the  mud-streaked foot sliding prints, the broken glass shards, the spent matches, the blackened cigarette ends, the twisted plastic drink sticks, the wadded paper napkins strewn everywhere amidst the general rubble.

The barman considers these details of his life quietly as he drinks his Bass.

The clock hands move, the water drips, this is chaos revealed, this is the silent hour, the quiet hour when all that remains are the smoking ruins after The Fall.  

Ordering Details:

In the heat of the night the barman consolidates his orders.

Pours beers from chrome plated taps, shakes drinks one handed over his shoulder, cracks ice in the palm of his left hand with a mallet wielded by his right hand.

Considers his world.

Finds Poems:

Music Men

They heard

tunes in

their heads

no one else

would ever

hear

They were

so whacked

out on

where they

            had come

from and

where they

were going

they didn’t

have any

time for

the here

and the now

They were

music men

lost in

the ozone

and their

plane was

coming down

so fast

you could

see the

spirals

in their

eyes

More quarters fall into the jukebox.  The pin ball machines in the background are ringing, automatically totaling unknowable scores.

Working Details:

The barman is an extremely precise, particular man of habit.

All the tools of his trade: his bottles, glasses, fruit mixes, and the like must be exactly where  they are meant to be all the time.

Whenever he assumes a shift, he scrupulously examines the subject and orders his material; creates an environment in which he may comfortably function.

Riders of the Purple Sage

Had that

well worn

world weary

look of

men who’d

spent too

much time

somewhere

people

shouldn’t

go

Said ” line

‘em up boys.”

as if this

were the

last chance

saloon

Creation Details:

In the heat of the night, the barman considers his room as if it were a blank sheet of paper; every crowd as a mass of unknowns which must be ordered and controlled.

It is the barman’s role to assign meaning to every detail, to every person, to everything that he sees

Downhill Racer

She didn’t

look like

the crazy type

but she kept

switching her

drinks as if

she didn’t know

what event

she’d signed up

for

All I knew

was she’d

better look

out

She was going

down the

hill way

too fast

The Savage Muse, Details:

Outlaw

He was

plenty heavy

alright

Had all

of those

classic

bad moves

you associate

with movie

bad guys

out West

I thought

maybe he

had a black

hat in the

trunk of

his car

Thought maybe

he carried

a gun

and knew

how to use

it

thought

maybe he

was after

my ass

just for

the hell

of it

As an artist, the barman has no time for motivations; his only concern is the effect of the cause.

Escaping Details:

The Tenth Victim

She had

the look

of a woman

waiting

for her

tenth victim

She wore

only enough

clothes to

keep her

from being

arrested

Had a long

thin scar

the length

of her

right fore-

arm

Asked me

for a Vodka

Gimlet

Up

Sat drinking

  her 20 dollar

bill until it

was gone

watching the

door

Watching me

in case

he didn’t

show

The barman is an escape artist.

He lives out on the street unprotected, confronting his material head on, directly engaging in a vicious, psychic tug of war with his savage muse.

At the end of his nightly struggle, the barman watches the sun rise outside the darkened barroom drinking Bass Ale as the water drips in the stainless-steel sink.

He is always too numb and too tired to look for or to find poems.

Essay from Qurbonova Madinaxon

Central Asian woman with long dark hair and a black and white coat and a top.

Application of innovative game technologies for primary school students

Abstract: This article highlights the importance of using game-based innovative technologies in the education and upbringing of primary school students. In modern pedagogical approaches, game activity is considered as an important factor that increases the activity of students, develops their thinking, independent decision-making, and creative thinking. The article analyzes ways to increase the effectiveness of lessons through interactive game technologies, digital game platforms, and didactic games. It is also shown that game-based innovative methods serve to increase students’ interest in subjects, develop their socio-psychological activity, and organize the educational process in a joyful environment.

Keywords: primary education, innovative technologies, game methods, interactive games, educational effectiveness.

Abstract: This article highlights the importance of using innovative game technologies in the education of primary school students. In modern pedagogical approaches, game activity is considered an important factor that increases student activity, develops their thinking, independent decision-making, and creative thinking. The article analyzes ways to increase lesson effectiveness through interactive game technologies, digital game platforms, and didactic games. It is also shown that innovative game methods can increase students’ interest in subjects, develop their socio-psychological activity, and serve to organize the learning process in a joyful environment.

Keywords: primary education, innovative technologies, game methods, interactive games, educational effectiveness.

Abstract: The article examines the importance of using innovative game technologies in primary school education. In modern pedagogical approaches, game activity is considered as an important factor that increases students’ activity, develops their thinking, independent decision-making, and creative thinking. The article analyzes ways to increase lesson effectiveness through interactive game technologies, digital game platforms, and didactic games. It is also shown that innovative game methods can increase students’ interest in the subject, develop their socio-psychological activity, and serve to organize the learning process in an engaging atmosphere.

Keywords: primary education, innovative technologies, game methods, interactive games, educational effectiveness.

In today’s era of globalization, the introduction of innovative technologies into the education system has become the main task of every teacher. Especially at the stage of primary education, the use of game-based innovative technologies in accordance with the age characteristics of students makes their learning process interesting, active, and effective. Because learning through play is a natural process for a child, in which independent thinking, communication, cooperation, and a creative approach are formed.

Innovative game technologies are understood as teaching methods in the form of a game, including interactive, digital, and creative elements in the educational process. They attract students to the lesson, increase learning motivation, and play an important role in consolidating knowledge. Play is the most important way for a child to express themselves, and for their further formation and improvement.

Games have an important place and special significance in children’s lives. Games mainly occupy a leading place in labor and educational activities. This is constantly and inextricably linked with these activities. Games, which constitute the main content of preschool children’s lives, activate all existing characteristics and opportunities in the child. The child moves, communicates, thinks, and at the same time perceives, satisfies needs, and understands the consequences of their actions.

Qurbonova Madinaxon was born in the Shahrisabz district of Kashkadarya region, Uzbekistan. She is a student of the Nizami Tashkent State Pedagogical University, majoring in Primary Education. Madinakhon is the author of several poems and creative-scientific works.

She is a holder of the “Yuksak Ilm Fidoiysi” (Devotee of Great Science) badge of honor. She is also a graduate of the “SMM School” grant project and actively serves as a volunteer.

Synchronized Chaos October 2025: Union and Dissolution

Two silhouetted figures on a paddle boat on a calm lake under a cloudy sky.
Image c/o Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan

Sharing for Paivapo Publishing. They’re looking for assistance to translate books from African authors writing in their native languages into English. https://ko-fi.com/africantranslationproject

From contributor Peter Dellolio: I’ve been very fortunate to have a short story collection and a book of new poems to be released this year.  The short story collection is with Cyberwit.net and the poetry book is with Lost Telegram Press.

The short story collection, That’s Where You Go & Other Short Stories is due out in a few weeks, and the poetry collection, Cul de Sac Diaries is due out later this year.

Eva Lianou Petropoulou shares the news about an upcoming poetry contest seeking all styles of poetry. Pieces are due November 30, 2025 and must never have won any other awards and must be accompanied by an Italian or French translation.

Contributor Jaylan Salah is between writing jobs and seeking a remote position from her home in Alexandria, Egypt. She’s got a background in literary and film criticism. Please let us know if you have a position for her or know of someone who’s hiring for gig or traditional employment.

Also, Synchronized Chaos’ first November issue will stop accepting submissions on October 26th. We’ll include anything sent to us on or before that date in November’s first issue.

Now, for this month’s issue: Union and Dissolution.

We explore ways we embrace and come together and ways we pull apart, divide or individuate ourselves.

Two white swans raise their feathers and sail along a pool of clear water.
Image c/o Andrea Stockel

Dr. Jernail S. Anand reflects on the closeness of family and how each of us seeks and needs loved ones. Maftuna Rustamova also speaks to the joy and importance of family in our lives. Priyanka Neogi contributes a tender and short love poem to a special man as Sevinch Kuvvatova pays tribute to loving mothers everywhere.

Fadi Sido shares of love and beauty concealed and revealed. Ibrahim Honjo crafts a romantic scene of love, youth, and brass bands. Mahbub Alam celebrates the renewing energy of youth. Kandy Fontaine and Alex S. Johnson’s Gogol-esque short story addresses the tenuous relationship many of us have with our bodies in a world where youth and beauty can be commodified.

Nicholas Gunter reflects on the anniversary of losing his father as Norman J. Olson contributes written and drawn sketches of country and farm life as a memorial to his deceased cousin Bill. Kassandra Aguilera grieves her deceased mother through dream conversations.

Ollie Sikes ponders requited and unrequited love. Mirta Liliana Ramirez speaks to the pain of love betrayed. Dilobar Maxmarejabova’s story highlights the harm done to children when parents don’t step up to the plate. Tea Russo sings a ballad of a loveless entertainer. Umida Hamroyeva sends up a poem of grief for a lost loved one as Taro Hokkyo expresses the visceral pain of losing his beloved, his spiritual home. Allison Grayhurst renders up a multi-section epic poem on emotional healing after the betrayal of a friend. Bill Tope’s story highlights prejudices people with disabilities face in the dating world.

The precarious political situation in the United States feeds into J.J. Campbell’s poems of personal disillusionment and slow grief. Ng Yu Hng reviews Nikolina Hua’s poetry, discussing how it evokes personal and societal sorrows. Kandy Fontaine speaks of a traumatizing and destabilizing encounter with a supposed professional in a piece that encourages readers to ponder how we use social power in our own lives. Mykyta Ryzhykh’s fresh poems speak with a tone of cynical self-loathing. In Kandy Fontaine’s second story, seduction and intimacy become weapons in a dystopian world where hybrid life forms feed off of others’ grief.

Light tan eggshell broken into a lot of pieces.
Image c/o Petr Kratochvil

Srijani Dutta’s poetic speakers use memory and imagination to fill in the gaps created by miscommunication and mistrust in reality. Chloe Schoenfeld’s piece depicts music as a force to help two forgetful people hold onto their memories.

Dino Kalyvas sets a poem about universal human respect and dignity from Eva Lianou Petropoulou to music. Abigail George poetically asserts her unity with all of the world’s diverse creative people. Jacques Fleury defines himself in his poem on his own terms, part of the human race and sharing in universal human ancestry. Eva Petropoulou Lianou interviews poet Nasser Alshaikhamed about the high aspirations he has for his poetry and for humanity. She also interviews Russian poet Olga Levadnaya about craft and the journey to peace through repentance. Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee poetizes about good overcoming evil in the form of the Goddess Durga slaying a demon. Graciela Noemi Villaverde elaborates on the transformative power of poetry as Dr. Brent Yergensen dramatizes one of Jesus’ parables in verse.

Niloy Rafiq harnesses a courtroom metaphor to highlight how he speaks the truth through his art. Shahnoza Ochildiyeva composes an essay on the purpose and value of the written word. Damon Hubbs depicts an encounter with the ambience and aesthetic of William Butler Yeats as he drinks in Dublin. Z.I. Mahmud probes layers of meaning in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, how his understanding of Shylock and racial and religious prejudice might have gone deeper than we realize.

Journalist Jakhongir Nomozov interviews Azerbaijani poet, translator, and linguist Firuza Mammadli, who has deep knowledge of and appreciation for her nation’s literary history and also strong words of caution for students, especially women, who seek to pursue a creative life. Sobirova Samiya highlights the inextricable connections between language and culture. Choriyeva Oynur outlines the literary contributions and legacy of 15th-century Uzbek poet Mavlono Lutfi. Yuldosheva Yulduz Ravshanovna, a teacher, highlights how she sees the light of Uzbek historical poetess Zulfiya carried on in one of her pupils. Muxtasarxon Abdurashidova expresses her gratitude for an inspirational teacher.

To’raqulova Pokiza discusses ways to enhance student speaking and communicative competence in English as a second language. Abdirashidova Ozoda discusses how to encourage preschoolers to develop communication skills related to socializing. Hasanboyev Sardorbek urges educational leaders to make computer literacy and communication via computer an educational priority. Texas Fontanella connects a variety of words and images and references together in a series of text messages. Mark Young plays with words and images, exploring and stretching meaning.

Damion Hamilton speaks to common human, traditionally masculine fears and aspirations. Taylor Dibbert’s poem speaks to the ordinary and universal annoyance of food poisoning as Chimezie Ihekuna recollects sentiments of resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lan Qyqualla’s poetry melds themes of love, loss, longing, and transformation.

Abdel Latif Mubarak’s poems evoke dreams, wonderment, fears, longings, and the desire to live for a greater cause. Eva Petropoulou Lianou calls for compassion, peace and an end to war. Parvinder Nagi urges humanity to make the individual and collective choice to act ethically and responsibly, as does Bhagirath Chowdhary in his poetry. Graciela Irene Rossetti urges humanity to keep soul-searching and discover the true meaning of peace. Tagrid Bou Merhi speaks to the dawning of society and consciousness and the full humanity of women. Eva Petropoulou Lianou reviews Ahmed Miqdad’s poetry and shares his wishes for peace and self-determination for the people of Gaza.

Burned out wood and brick building still steaming with trees and dirt and green grass.
Image c/o Alex Grichenko

Anthony Chidi Uzoechi’s prose poem evokes the weight of historical grief and suffering in the lives of many people of color. Maja Milojkovic reflects on the nihilistic destruction of war. Bill Tope laments and fears recent dark turns in American politics. Til Kumari Sharma speaks up for young people, women and girls, and the students fighting in the 2025 Nepali uprising. Duane Vorhees also speaks of revolution, along with sensuality, coupling, and new life.

Andre Osorio uncovers a language of resistance and survival in Hua Ai’s new poetry collection Exiles Across Time. Daniela Chourio-Soto draws on artistic language and metaphor to speak to despair as part of the human experience.

Alan Catlin mulls over the precarity and drama of human existence. Yongbo Ma crafts moments of inflection, when matters will soon change, as part of his commentary that movement is life and stasis becomes despair. Nicholas Vigiletti evokes the ennui and frustration of low wage, dead end jobs.

Jessica Hu’s strange poetry speaks to a brutal and cold world. Mesfakus Salahin implores nature’s wild elements not to ruin his joyful union with his beloved.

Aurelia Preskill reflects on the beauty of an apple and how easily Adam and Eve could have been tempted and forever changed. Sayani Mukherjee reflects on autumnal magic and metamorphoses. Rafi Overton gives us a butterfly’s reflection on his past metamorphosis and how what he truly needed was self-love regardless of physical status.

Silhouetted person raising their hands to the northern lights in pink and purple and orange and blue and green up against the Milky Way. Tree in the background.
Image c/o Gerhard Lipold

Ari Nystrom-Rice reflects on how people and nature, in the form of the ocean, are inseparable. Stephen Jarrell Williams’ poetic speaker shares many facets of his memories of the sea. Jerome Berglund and Christina Chin’s tan-renga convey different “moods” of nature: resilience, fear, aggression, and coexistence. Yongbo Ma evokes loneliness through images of burned-out spiders out of silk for their webs.

Abigail George reviews Rehanul Hoque’s novel The Immigrant Catfish, a parable about greed and environmental mismanagement and destruction. Bill Tope and Doug Hawley’s story narrates the redemption of a man who comes to protect birds he once carelessly killed. Jennie Park’s artwork shows a tender care for the natural world amid the threats it faces.

Brian Barbeito delves deeply into the nature and mysteries of one particular spot in the country. Other writers do the same for ordinary and individual people. Noah Berlatsky points out the subtle tragedy underlying Job’s Biblical story: the way the ending inadvertently suggests that people are interchangeable and thus disposable.

Teresa Nocetti uses a pillow to evoke the complex feelings of a person heading to sleep. Nidia Amelia Garcia does something similar with poetry concerning the history of wrinkles on human faces. Tanner Guiglotto presents a visceral battle with self-doubt. Ellie Hill explores different aspects of a teacup image to comment on how she possesses both delicacy and strength.

Muhammadjonova Ogiloy reviews Otkir Hoshimov’s story collection Ozbeklar, which highlights the dignity and beauty of common hardworking country Uzbeks. Pardaboyeva Charos spotlights the craft of Uzbek embroidery. Fali Ndreka highlights the creativity and skill showcased at Art Basel Miami.

Person striking a piece of metal with a hammer and creating sparks.
Image c/o Kai Stachowiak

Mushtariybonu Abdurakhimova relates her experiences at a cultural and academic youth development program. Her fellow students highlight other areas of study and knowledge. Aliya Abdurasulova outlines nuances of programming in the C++ language. Shahlo Rustamova’s essay reminds us of the importance of maintaining thyroid health. Ike Boat celebrates the career and skill of martial arts actress Cynthia Rotrock.

Dildora Khujyazova suggests a balanced and optimistic view of economic and cultural globalization, pointing out how individual creators can take advantage of the chance to bring their creativity to wider markets.

Synchronized Chaos International Magazine is intended as a venue for creators of all types around the world to display their works. We hope you enjoy this mingling of ideas!

Story from Alex S. Johnson and Kandy Fontaine

1. The Breasts Depart

Marla woke up flat-chested and full of dread. Her tits had left her.

Not metaphorically. Not emotionally. They had packed up their nipple rings, slathered on some coconut oil, and walked out sometime between 3:17 and 4:06 a.m., leaving behind a note scrawled in eyeliner on the bathroom mirror:

“We’re tired of being your emotional support meat. We’re going corporate. Don’t wait up.”

She stared at her reflection, now a pale slab of chest meat, and screamed. Not because she missed them. Because she knew what they were capable of.

2. The ATM Incident

Three days later, she spotted them at a Chase Bank ATM on Sunset.

They were wearing a vintage Vivienne Westwood corset, nipple tassels shaped like dollar signs, and a pair of oversized sunglasses perched on their areolas. The left one—always the sassier—was tapping away at the keypad with a manicured finger. The right one was sipping a matcha latte through a straw tucked into its cleavage.

Marla approached, hoodie pulled tight around her hollow chest.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Those are my tits.”

The left breast turned. “We prefer independent assets now.”

The right one blew a kiss and said, “We’re building a brand.”

3. The Debt Spiral

Marla tried to file a missing body part report. The cop laughed so hard his mustache fell off and scurried away like a cockroach.

She remembered The Nose by Gogol. How the nose dressed in a military uniform and refused to acknowledge its owner. Her breasts were worse. They were buying NFTs, investing in crypto, and launching a podcast called Boobonomics.

She saw them on a billboard for OnlyTans, a tanning salon they co-owned with a rogue spleen from Belarus.

Her credit score plummeted. Her name was attached to six maxed-out cards, a yacht rental in Ibiza, and a failed startup called “Nipple Futures LLC.”

4. The Podcast

Marla tracked them down to a podcast studio in Silver Lake.

They were being interviewed by a sentient vape pen named Chad.

“So, tell me,” Chad wheezed, “how did you go from being attached to a nobody to becoming icons of financial freedom?”

The left breast giggled. “We were tired of being objectified. So we became the object.”

The right one added, “We’re launching a lingerie line called Hostile Takeover.”

Marla burst in, breathless. “You’re ruining my life!”

The breasts blinked. “Do we know you?”

5. The Arrest

The FBI finally caught up with them.

Marla was arrested alongside her breasts for wire fraud, identity theft, and racketeering. They were accused of laundering money through a shell company called “BoobCoin.”

In the interrogation room, Detective Slade leaned in. His jaw was a meat cleaver. His libido, a broken fire hydrant.

“Tell me who’s behind this.”

The breasts giggled. “We are, Daddy.”

They seduced him with a slow bounce and a whispered promise of “interest-free pleasure.” He let them out on bail. Marla stayed cuffed.

6. The Showdown

Marla was released two days later. She found them in her apartment, sipping absinthe and watching reruns of Murder, She Wrote.

“You sold me out,” she growled.

“We upgraded,” they purred.

She lunged. They countered.

It was a knock-down, drag-out, tit-on-girl brawl. Fishnets tore. Lipstick smeared. The left breast bit her ear. The right one tried to gouge her eye with a stiletto heel.

They collapsed together, bruised and panting.

7. The Suffocation

Marla fell asleep on the floor, bloodied and exhausted.

She awoke to find her breasts trying to suffocate her, wrapping around her face like fleshy boa constrictors.

“Enough!” she screamed, grabbing a pair of bondage ropes from under the bed.

She tied them up, tight and trembling.

They moaned.

“Oh, you like that,” she said.

“We’ve always wanted a domme,” they whispered.

8. The Kink Ever After

Now they live together in a one-bedroom apartment above a taxidermy shop.

Marla is the Mistress. Her breasts are her submissives.

They pay off their debt one spank at a time.

Every night, she whispers to them:

“You may have left me once. But now? You’re mine.”

And they reply, in unison:

“Yes, Mistress. Forever and ever. Amen.”

9. Epilogue: The Nose Knows

Sometimes, late at night, Marla dreams of Gogol’s nose.

It floats past her window in a military uniform, saluting her with a crooked smile.

She salutes back.

Because in this world, body parts have ambitions. And sometimes, they just need a little discipline.

Prose from Brian Barbeito

Closeup of a green praying mantis up among blades of dry grass.

One

It hasn’t rained in a while. I hope it does soon. The earth needs the rain and besides, all the clouds and winds and strange atmospheric things that come with the rain are more interesting and inspiring than a sunny day. 

You know though, come to think of it, the meadow, the place where much of this writing’s events and thoughts are set, is rarely completely dry. Its grasses and earth seem to retain some moisture, somehow. It is sagacious that way. I know because my shoes, most of the time Converse, high top yellow and regular blue (both faded now), get wet there. 

Today there were a few souls along the path, coming back as they were, but after I passed them, not many. Not any at all in fact. Let me give some context to the place. It’s after towns and highways and even roads. In fact, the road ends at the beginning of the forest, having turned from asphalt to gravel to dirt. 

There is a public forest to the right. It attracts dog walkers, hikers, joggers, bike riders, photographers, walking groups, and sometimes homeless people. Sometimes there is even a type that is hiding out from something like the law or people in general, a type that stays in the woodlands when others would not in parts where others don’t go. 

But to the left is a private forest. This is the one that leads to the meadow. The meadow is like a golden treat at the end of a journey, a beautiful goal if ever there was one. There are two definite and visible No Tress passing signs at its two entrances. People obey them. But some lucky souls like me have permission from the old farmer that owns the land, to go there. 

Two 

There is something else, something bordering on the esoteric or gnostic. It’s insight seen while driving to that entrance of the forest that leads to the meadow. Since it’s rural, there are many sprawling properties. Many affluent homes, the new ones, are grey and without character. They just copy one another. It’s doubly sad, because of the copying but also what’s being duplicated. Not a thing in it all looks unique or soulful, not even a special trellis or bit of coloured brick, sounding fountain, or flowing garden. 

But…I noticed that some places have older homes, from a time of wooden porch and red brick and chimney. From an era of grounded-ness and more honest atmosphere. And beyond rain barrel and sunflower, past stained perimeter fence and sometimes no fence at all, I could see a pond and little forest back there. They would contain a different area-atmosphere. Mysterious, even in the plane light of day under the clean azure sky. It’s as if the prose of the world turned into poetry, then. Trees. Leaves. Branches. What was back there? I wished I could know. I longed to go. But I knew none of them, not one of those owners. I supposed that they took the magic for granted, these sprawling old lands. And how could they not, if they indeed did? It was their reality. Lucky ones, that’s what they were, however hard working, they were still lucky. All I could do was drive by. Being an empath, I could just feel the areas even for moments and from a distance. I loved it. They were as if containing portals or vortexes to other worlds magical and monumental. 

Often I imagine the coyote dens, the travelling foxes, the large porcupines. I knew there must be deer that wait and watch near there, because I had seen them. Maybe there were types of insects rare or not even discovered by scientific or poetic eyes. The scents of the flora. The sounds of the rains at night. The woodpecker or Bluejay. Strange snakes representing the kundalini energy. The kind summer dew morning. The autumnal hued leaves when that highly spiritual time came, the veil between worlds thinning. Halloween, Thanksgiving. Then some string of electric lights for Christmas. And much more. How come I couldn’t have a place like that? What a caretaker and curator I could be, surely would be. Ah well, I would think and sigh it away with a brief smile. What was meant to be, would be. 

Three

Well, the path. What of it? And then the meadow itself of course. Go past the signs and there are two options, no, three. The top after heading left has itself stationed on the uppermost part of a long and winding valley. It is safe but the side does become steep if you go off the regular way. Deer cross there sometimes and other times hide in the bushes by the thick trees. Wild berries grow and there are snake holes, many sticks, and lichen and moss. The one grouse I had, only one slight one, is that there are very few rocks or boulders. I don’t know if they were removed or just never there. It would be nice to see some cinematic view of the lands through time to note small and large changes, to watch the valley and its surrounding habitat move, grow, glisten, and weather or bloom. 

In the middle down the way is, well, the middle path, thicker on the sides especially of late for some reason. More raspberries, a hybrid berry of some sort, half black and half red. Many birds and numerous chipmunks running for cover at the sound of things or else up trees to safety, talking to their friends. The trail is bumpy in parts but also serene. So uninhabited by human presence. Mostly pristine and untouched. Those are the real ‘moments,’ nature lovers look for,- the meditative and quiet, the Zen-like phenomenon of being present amidst a type of natural mystical sense…

And the more main path, it’s old Oak trees and some Evergreens, straight for a while but also winding along. Mushrooms and pebbles, good old dirt earth and sometimes the rain drops left on leaves after a night storm. Walk and walk and walk. See and be and have a certain amount of glee. Soon enough, part Pine and placid easy places,

going along there by the verdant canopy where bits of sun filter down through to say hello, will be the magnificent meadow waiting. 

Suddenly it can be seen through a frame of red sumac that reaches over both sides of the path arching to itself. Blue skies beyond. A green swath is cut all around and some ancient farm machinery wait in the middle like a token gesture, a nod to other decades. The sun lights everything then. Continue. A corpse of trees is waiting to the right. Birds fly in and out. Some to sing and some to speak their speech loquaciously and vigorously. 

Onward is a way to a lower area where chaga mushroom, rare and not known by many, grow on some birch streets in a certain stand of them. The blooming earth has overtaken an ancient access road where a bank robber is said to have abandoned a stolen car, then gotten away while hiding in barns for nights and running between forests and meadows under the light of the moon. Now such an old story, but there is an actual abandoned car from that time down there, and everyone, even straight and upright old timers, are rooting for him. Some have him escaping out all with the loot and somehow making his way to down to Florida. Maybe a personal dream projection from some old storyteller local. Maybe not. 

But drama, thoughts, and time come and go. The goldenrod and queens lace, impossibly tall, a refuge for myriad bugs and insects and the home of grasshoppers dragonflies and even the Praying Mantis, seem to stay. Tall and well-wrought in the clean air world. Every direction then is green and vast, open, and calm, pastoral and perfectly put. 

——-

Brian Michael Barbeito is a Canadian poet, writer, and photographer. His third compilation of prose poems and pictures, The Book of Love and Mourning, is forthcoming in autumn 2025. 

Poetry from Maja Milojkovic

Younger middle aged white woman with long blonde hair, glasses, and a green top and floral scarf and necklace.
Maja Milojkovic

A Poem About War

War doesn’t come with a song

nor with the steps of a parade.

It slips in quietly,

like a shadow behind a closed door.

The land becomes a number.

A man becomes a dot.

A name disappears in a report.

In the evening, the wind brings smoke

and sounds that don’t belong to the night.

It’s not only the child who cries—

the house cries, the river cries,

the walls cry, trained to remember.

The sky watches,

but does not intervene.

In the trenches, there is no justice,

no questions.

Only orders,

and silence after the explosion.

Some write history,

others lie beneath it.

War does not ask who you are,

nor what you dreamed of.

It erases everything that resembles a human,

and leaves an empty space

where a heart used to be.

Maja Milojković was born in Zaječar and divides her life between Serbia and Denmark. In Serbia, she serves as the deputy editor-in-chief at the publishing house Sfairos in Belgrade. She is also the founder and vice president of the Rtanj and Mesečev Poets’ Circle, which counts 800 members, and the editor-in-chief of the international e-magazine Area Felix, a bilingual Serbian-English publication. She writes literary reviews, and as a poet, she is represented in numerous domestic and international literary magazines, anthologies, and electronic media. Some of her poems are also available on the YouTube platform. Maja Milojković has won many international awards. She is an active member of various associations and organizations advocating for peace in the world, animal protection, and the fight against racism. She is the author of two books: Mesečev krug (Moon Circle) and Drveće Želje (Trees of Desire). She is one of the founders of the first mixed-gender club Area Felix from Zaječar, Serbia, and is currently a member of the same club. She is a member of the literary club Zlatno Pero from Knjaževac, and the association of writers and artists Gorski Vidici from Podgorica, Montenegro.