BUILDING PEACE 

How many great and small wars

does human history record!

So much bloodshed,

so much violence.

In the age of communication,

we live increasingly isolated,

and peace is a slogan

of advertising.

We have emptied the word of meaning,

and it is offered as a refuge

to the disoriented

of man

by drugs, sex, mysticism,

technology, or political ideology.

But true PEACE

that unites us in diversity,

that integrates us in solidarity,

that impels us

to understand and forgive,

and invites us to brotherhood,

is the peace that is built day by day

in the heart of the home,

in schools, at work,

in art and recreation.

Peace of joined hands.

Peace of love and truth.

Peace to choose freely.

Peace to grow old with dignity.

Let us pray for a humanity at peace.

Born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, she is a National Normal Teacher. Professor of Literature and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Arts at the University of Rosario, Argentina. Writer: narrator, poet, and essayist. She has participated in numerous national and international anthologies. She belongs to the cultural collectives Juntos por las Letras (Together for Letters), chaired by Mirta Ramírez (Chaco, Argentina); Puente de Palabras del Mercosur (Bridge of Words of Mercosur), directed by Gladys López Pianesi (Rosario, Argentina); Mosaicos y Letras (Mosaics and Letters), directed by Teresa Ávila (Córdoba, Argentina); and Cien poetas por la Paz (One Hundred Poets for Peace), whose mentor, Verónica Bianchi, resides in Córdoba, Argentina. She has received national and international awards for her work and career: Estrella del SUR (Uruguay), Gaviota de Plata (Silver Seagull), and Obelisco de Oro (Alexandra Foundation, Buenos Aires). First Prize for Fiction. Ediciones Anka, Buenos Aires 2024. Alfonsina Storni Award for her novel RUFINA by Mercedes SADE, Buenos Aires. She participated in all the virtual book fairs with various national and international cultural groups, presenting books, reading her own poems, and giving presentations on authors from each region. And she participated in person at the Book Fairs of Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Córdoba. Her poems were included in all the LIBROS INMORTALES (Immortal Books) published by Mirta Ramírez, which feature national and international poetry and visual artists, as well as in the magazine published by Juntos por las Letras: TOTHEM. She has published: A TIME TO LIVE (short stories and poems) RUFINA (novel), now in its second edition. Selected by the Córdoba Legislature for its 2025 Reading Plan LIKE WATER (poetry collection)

Lament of the Clown 

On the stage of the hushed night, 

The spotlight of the stars, 

I’ll sing my song for you 

My mandolin in hand 

But the wind builds a barrier between our breaths The breeze guides my voice away from yours I bathe in my dream of us together 

Alas, I am buried within my self-inflicted misery Sleeping soundly in self-absorption 

while the world carelessly moves forward 

Deaf to the conversations of others.

Nikolina Hua’s Echo IV: Free Nations in C Minor is a richly allusive and labyrinthine poem that navigates the psychological depths of a mind deeply attuned to the inner soul and wider society. Its verses move like whispered confessions, cloaked in clever ambiguity and metaphors. 

At first glance, the poem seems abstract—perhaps deliberately so. But beneath its surface lies a disquieting echo of societal upheaval, rendered not through direct reference, but via dreamlike symbolism. The lines ‘hair tangles with phosphorus’ and ‘cherry trees beneath imperial drones’ hint of gentle vulnerability in the midst of wider violence, although inflicted by whom, it is deliberately obscure and therefore readers can universally sympathize with the emotions evoked. 

The musical motifs are particularly evocative to me as a composer, the term ‘C Minor’ harmonizes with the tension ubiquitous across the entire poem. The work is also terse, the stanzas are short and each line pauses frequently, almost in doubt. Apart from sounds, the poem is also deeply colourful in its imagery, such as ‘black ribbons freeze on unnamed streets’, or ‘fists gripping blue’, each colour a metaphor, yet of what? 

The influence from Russian literature can be sensed from the psychological undercurrents: an obsession with guilt, a longing for seeking meaning onto a world that resists coherence.  These themes are Dostoyevskian in texture—one can almost feel the spectral presence of Notes from Underground in the speaker’s intellectual and affective isolation. Yet, despite the linguistic artistry being of specific provenance, its message speaks universally to the human condition. 

The choice for obscurity instead of clarity is in itself a strength. By being a cryptic mirror, it invites the readers to find their own struggles within the poem’s ambiguous torment. By being obscure, Echo IV: Free Nations in C Minor ends up revealing so much more about ourselves.

Full poem can be found here

FREE NATIONS IN C MINOR

Orcs gnawed the capital’s door,

cherry trees scream beneath imperial drones.

Existence is a slit throat.

Hair tangles with phosphorus,

ghost hymns ride through occupied smoke.

Speech chokes on its own tongue.

Black ribbons freeze on unnamed streets.

Bones in gloves, fists gripping blue,

nails scrape through basement rust.

Hands remember what mouths can’t speak.

A million fingers pull the tyrant down.

This is how I claw myself free:

Change this. Change that. Never turn back

or the money drags you down

ankle-first into wolves’ den.

Beating grief against their ribs,

free nations sing in C minor.

The dark sea holds its breath.

Ng Yu Hng is an award-winning composer whose works explore musical time, liturgy, and intertextual dialogue. He holds a Master’s from the Royal Academy of Music (Countess of Munster scholar) and a King’s College London alum, winning the Purcell Prize. His music has been performed across 15 countries and published internationally, with commissions from ensembles worldwide.

The Center, or: The One in Which I Get Drunk

with William Butler Yeats —Temple Bar, Dublin once famous for friars and printers and clockmakers now in its yellow dressing gown, intoning: a river of vomit, a run of stags, hens, the final whistle, a moon like a sack of flour garrisons the sky, Bill picking up those Derry Girls at The Old Storehouse the bend between breath and silence like the shoulder of an Armalite O they sang American Pie while we drank and watched some troubled fool equine in length take a piss from atop a phone booth on Dame Street I couldn’t get the song out of my head for days Bill kept turning and turning the poem in his like Wilde’s address to Liberty naked I saw thee Shay and your slow thighs and skin like fine bone china the night a revelation or bad news on the doorstep.

What holds the poem together

fuck

all

gossip, sex, imperial measures.

No, I’ve never eaten Crab Louis.

God, you know everybody

in the world.

Jennie Park is a high school student at an international school in Seoul, South Korea.  She is inspired by the layered textures of city life and the quiet details of everyday moments. When she’s not painting or sketching, she enjoys reading, writing, and discovering new artists.

THE BLEND OF ATTITUDE

Captivating the heavenly moments

with attitude and grace

Adorning the most precious

gifts of life

Orchestrated on the canvas

of life so beautifully

Unwavering support and non-judgmental attitude makes the bonds more precious

Positive attitude with good mindset

is a boon with grace and respect

Nonchalant attitude destroying

imbalances of minds calling for

disrespect, harassment and rapes

also lapses in moral decadences

Attitude in itself is a superpower

It’s based on the way how you’re being treated

Let there be voice and not merely an echo to fade

The positive attitude brings accolades to lasting success

Keep up your attitude in grace as you’re born to express yourself

A fundamental force influencing your actions

Bearing a strong ethical values

Unconsciously cultivated prelude to action

Reflections of our inner self through challenges of daily life

We are responsible for shaping our own lives with a blend of attitude.

————

ELEGANCE OF LOVE

Dancing through the moonbeams

so enchanting

Under the twinkling stars in the amidst of challenges

Yet keeping us connected

with firm determination in mind

Waiting with patience and perseverance for your kisses so warm and sweet

I decorate each ray so magical

Crafted every verse I write

Unparalleled embodiment

weaving tapestry of dreams

soaked in the elegance of love

Unravelling the deepest mysteries

Transporting down the abyss of heart

Awakening the soul from slumber’s deep

Unfolding the stories untold

Drifting my thoughts where dreams reside

Through the night so inviting

I paint the canvas besides

the vistas unknown

Embracing one another

We renew our bond of love

Knitting the web of trust

We mingle in the breathes so warm

Never to let you go

For I live in the sheets

of crumpled linen

Wrapped in the scents of your body

Where I hear the echoes

of your silence

lying under the twinkling stars.

Parvinder was born and brought up in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, East Africa. Having dedicated her career to shaping the minds of future generations, she served as a principal from the distinguished senior secondary schools in India and also served as charity in the British schools in UK.

      Parvinder is a national award winner from NCERT, New Delhi, for making teaching and learning processes easier through classroom aids for both teachers and pupils. One of the defining moments of her poetic journey occurred during a visit to Dove Cottage and the museum dedicated to the venerable poet, William Wordsworth, nestled in the enchanting landscape of Grasmere, Lake District, UK.

In the hallowed halls of this literary sanctuary, standing amidst the profound legacy of Wordsworth, Parvinder found herself immersed in the timeless essence of poetry, a force capable of transcending the boundaries of time and place.   Her passion for poetry found recognition when she was bestowed with the prestigious accolades in a national poetry contest in 2022, orchestrated among a gathering of over 2000 poets from across India on the national level.

      Parvinder is a recipient of many literary awards in poetry….

– An Ambassador for peace in the World Poetic Fraternity

– The Global Peace Ambassador Awards

– Literary Ambassador Awards

– Honorary Doctorate Award

– An Ambassador for Indian culture for Insight Magazine (USA)

– Membership card from ICAL and felicitations of appreciation and excellence,  joining the bridges across the world through her literary work!

Parvinder is the author of the poetry collection, “UNFATHOMED SECRETS”, a heartfelt collection of 100 poems from the abyss of her heart. Parvinder’s poems are translated into various languages across the globe. She is honoured to be one of the 58 selected poets, whose poems are translated into Turkish and published in Turkey in the anthology book, “ Poets From The World”

Her poems are also published among 231 great noble world poets, in the book “ WORLD CONTEMPORARY POETS VOLUME 2.” A book, “ The Women – Global Poetic Gems” is the Collection of Lyrical Poems By 35 International Poets. Parvinder is proud to be featured among one of these world renowned poets. Her poems are reviewed by eminent writers, authors and also reviewers from Harvard University. From time to time her poems are featured in various journals, newspapers and magazines across the globe. She has collaborated in poetic duets with poets across the globe.

      She has also participated in live poetry recitation among global poets on Google Meet and won accolades! Parvinder has translated a historical chronological book, from Kosovo, written by Dibran Fylli “Prekazi Brezni Trimash-HE IS ALIVE“.

        Parvinder’s poems are music to the heart that express different aspects of life, conjuring up emotions from happiness to sadness using different styles and themes giving pleasure to the readers.