Mother tongue

You lie
You cheat

There are maps
of open sores on your face that refuse to heal
They’re as red as an ambulance

They’re like a pot of rice
left too long on the stove
that threatens to boil over

And then boils over
Your wounds, brother, have become my own
I encourage you

I pray for you
Still, it is not enough

I don’t know what you want from me
What do you want me to do for you?

There are days and nights, hours 
that I just can’t cope

I just lie there 
in the dark, staring at the ceiling

I wear the light like a mask
God is my constant companion

You steal
You curse

You smoke 
like a house on fire

And turn the muscles of your lungs 
into two orange flames

that dissolves into blackness
in the sea of your chest

That is your mother tongue
The language of addiction

Your crime?
In the sprawling desert of your hands

In the tragedy of your yellow fingers
your slender frame

I search your face
for the signs of addiction

Marijuana
Tik

All I find 
are signs of addiction

Instead, I find 
your children, walking in your shadow

Two miracles
Two candles

Two burning effigies
like lanterns in the dark

Guiding you, guiding you
It shouldn’t be a teenager’s responsibility, but it is

Your daughter, a rose
Your son, a giant

I think, their love isn’t enough
It isn’t enough to save you

The moon 
witnesses my despair

It also witnesses 
your own hardship

I thought by now that you’d change
There you are 

in the study rolling a joint
The rose standing next to you

Watching you
She is watching you

She is studying your every move
The giant discovers your drug paraphernalia

He continues to play computer games
So, now I pray for them

That a rose will always be a rose
That a giant will always be a giant

That they will be concerned
for the welfare of the children 

that they will have one day
That they will be the sun and the moon

in their children’s lives
And I pray

That they won’t 
resort to keeping

drugs 
and drug paraphernalia 

in full view 
of their children

I cry everyday, because of you
because of you

Sometimes I look at the rose
and I cry some more

I hide my tears in the garden
in cups of coffee

I want to be brave
like Linda, Charles Bukowski’s wife

I want to be brave
like Charles Bukowski


and Anderson Cooper
who lost a brother and a father

I am only a sister
who doesn’t know who she must blame

I don’t know how to get you 
out of this situation

I don’t know 
how to save you

I don’t know 
how to save the rose, the giant

These hands are ineffectual
And so, I pray.

It was during autumn

It was during autumn

When leaves like to fall

But I was wondering 

How to rise and soar 

Bright colours spread 

It was celebration

Of death.

How can rebirth 

Become possible 

Without tasting the coffin?

Decay, loss and annihilation

Autumn held them all

But hope never left 

My heart

Under the naked trees

I stood and

was hell bent to 

see the flowers 

bloom 

Despair smiled

And hummed 

with the migrating birds.

They promised to return

And I knew 

I would wait.

The whirling leaves 

reminded me of

the sacred circumambulation.

Was it necessary to surrender 

To that force

And go into the wind?

I was restless 

On the brink of

A new knowledge.

Then came stillness 

And I was lost,

Engulfed by a new

Kind of numbness.

I felt like waiting

And filling 

Nothingness’s call.

But I was

And knew

I was the vessel

Preparing 

To hold 

Love.

I dwelled in

Namelessness

But I had become 

The Ocean 

And I could 

Not see the drop

I used to be…

Shah Jehan Ashrafi

Free!

by Jacques Fleury

[Excerpt from Fleury’s Boston Globe featured poetry book Sparks in the Dark: A Lighter Shade of Blue, A Poetic Memoir 

archived permanently at the University of Massachusetts’s Healy Research Library]

Dock
we’ll dock stones
roll and
we’ll unroll
in my America
the big flying eagle
birds well done abroad.
two groups of people
the rich and the poor
the young and the old
the white and the black
and three tons of fat
all in procession
silent tales are blooming
flowers growing shells
olive branches
climbing white house walls
two candles burning
shades of gray
I trust in god
holy bloody sunday comes
sunday morning
god bless those whose veins
bear none
twilight swallows the moon
darkness
descends
soldiers gone AWOL
run like panthers
here and gone
they’ve staged a snare
running rivers very dry mouths
Dutiful soldiers beat their drums
paragons of strength and honor
masquerade balls
dinky shoots smack and
the dumb blond flunks
fall down stand up
walk the line
walk backwards
juggling well
will set you free!

Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured and internationally published Haitian American poet, theater reviewer, educator, author of numerous books of essays, reviews, fiction, poetry and literary arts student through Harvard University. He was chosen among over 4, 000 competitors from 83 countries as the Recipient of the International Naji Naaman Literary Prize for Creativity (2026) and a Certificate of Participation for his “…esteemed contribution of poetry to the anthology Water: The Source of Life (Volume IV) presented by La Fenetre De Paris. 

Watercolor painting

You are painting and you have already washed everything

with water so that the colors are in such layers

and you are careful with the shades.

It’s all in the shades, you say.

Thats how you are in life,

you dont express yourself quickly about something

and you use all kinds of excuses to avoid

or kept your opinion silent.

It’s all in the shades.

When, very rarely, you have a guiding thought

a certain musical theme is heard throughout the world

which aims to characterize you,

as a person or an event related to you,

which is always repeated when appearing on

stage you as a hero and in memory of that particular event.

It is so important to tell the world what you think,

without hesitation.

You are not a man inexperienced

in the art or your art of silence

you are not a layman, you know a lot.

You recognize the shades of life in the world.

You sometimes feel like

a man running with a burning torch

and you think everyone sees it like

at the opening of the Olympic Games.

And only you see the hot and liquid mass

that volcanoes throw out

which flows from them and which,

when cooled, hardens like stone

painting his washed-out pictures in shades.

And you won’t even admit to yourself

that you felt the eruption of the world

still silent.

In its shades…

Yes, you felt the avalanche

powerful mass, as a contrast,

that destroys everything in front of it.

That you felt both hot and cold.

Tanja Ajtic was born in Belgrade, Serbia. She lived and studied in Serbia. She is a poet and a writer, but she is also an artist. She also deals with fine graphics. Since 2002, she lives and creates in Canada. Moved to Belgrade, Serbia 2023. Tanja Ajtic is a member of many groups and associations. In Serbia, she is a member of the prestigious Society of Writers of Belgrade. Her poems and stories have been published two hundred collections (books), anthologies and electronic books. Her poems have been published in twelve languages. She published her book Outlines of Love. She participated with books and anthologies at many fairs in the world with other authors. In 2024 and 2025, Ajtic collaborated with Indian poet Sourav Sarkar on two joint poetry collections that present two works by the poet in one book. – She won second prize in Great Britain from the Serbian Library in London (2019). – She won III World Prize for Excellence; Cesar Vallejo; 2021 in the category of artistic excellence Lima, Peru, by the World Spanish Union of Writers and International Award of Excellence; from the World Spanish Union of Writers, UHE Mexico.

She won the I International Award of Excellence & “Cita Del Glateo” Antonio De Ferrariis, IX edition 2022 – Rome, Italy, a prestigious award in the group of poets for the English language (IX edition of the award for foreign poetry in English) in 2022, Rome, Italy. – Winners of Foundation Naji Naaman literary prize iz 2023; (21 st Edition), from the Republic of Lebanon, Honor Prize (for complete work) for Literary prizes 2023. Poetry for the competition was submitted in three languages: English, French and Arabic. – Winning the 2023 “Zheng Nian Cup” Literary Award – Third Prize by the Beijing Mindfulness Literature Museum, China. – Winning Third Prize, Friedrich Schiller International Literary Competition (2025). She is the winner of many awards, diplomas and certificate. She is currently writing poetry, short stories, haiku, Gogyoshi poetry as well as graphics artist as a freelance artist.

Digital Literacy in Central Asia

Nodira Akhmetova Pulat qizi
Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan, Student of School No. 69, Ellikkala District

Abstract
This article examines the importance and impact of digital literacy in Central Asia. The study analyzes the role of modern information technologies in the development of the Central Asian countries. The results indicate that digital literacy contributes significantly to the progress and advancement of the countries in the region.

Keywords: digital literacy, youth, education, survey, observation.

Introduction
Today, the rapid development of digital technologies has a significant impact on the advancement of many countries. In particular, digital literacy in the Central Asian states is expanding educational opportunities for young people. Therefore, studying measures to further improve digital literacy among the population has become one of the most relevant issues of our time.

Literature Review
In recent years, many scholars have investigated the effectiveness of digital literacy. According to their findings, digital platforms increase access to books and support students in pursuing independent learning. At the same time, some researchers have also highlighted the negative effects associated with prolonged use of electronic devices.

Research Methodology
The study employed observation, survey, and comparative analysis methods. The collected data were analyzed using statistical techniques.

Results and Discussion
The survey results show that the level of Internet usage in Central Asian countries has been increasing from year to year. However, key components of digital literacy—such as critical evaluation of information, fact-checking, and cybersecurity awareness—remain insufficiently developed. Among the countries of the region, Kazakhstan holds a leading position, while Uzbekistan is also achieving notable positive results in its digital transformation processes.

Conclusion
The understanding of digital literacy among the peoples of Central Asia is increasing day by day. Moreover, the strong interest of young people in this field is an important factor contributing to the growth of digital literacy. The effective use of electronic resources can help improve the quality of education. In the future, it would be advisable to further expand the opportunities provided by digital libraries.

Source

https://zenodo.org
https://global-science-review.com
https://www.wikipedia.org

Akhmetova Nodira Po’lat qizi was born in 2012 in Ellikkala District, the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan. She has recently completed the 7th grade at School No. 69. She is interested in the exact sciences, and mathematics is her favorite subject. In her free time, she enjoys studying English. Her dream is to become a successful economist in the future.

The host 

Kang yeong eun  

When you call this bread is existence. 

Because of this to a falling-out with the yeast cells clog and close a cut. A Because of this, I tame mallang mallangha.High With a soft face. 

Blood, Yeonhapa Like wine gets hot inside me. 

​ Any defect is a huge diamond. Scratch Have lofty feelings that cut. Number Or chuka Pain Window Ha The persimmon.Jung of the existence of just a stone’s throw away reveals (咫尺).

​ The bread is like flour for existence prior to a *. This person because of this that can not be removed from bones.I The table of wheat fields. 

My Hunger is a On a wheat field Be a flock of birds to fly off. The organizations that fly in the sky in the sky.Willingness Che will be 

If this is being limited to, flour. On a tray. A glass of wine and a slice of bread is. Ceremony Tak This table We have probably only for dinner one meal. 

Drawing on the tray of fish. I don’t know why you are full and eat one’s knuckles and blue. Ha Is all the time The Shemiramoth, 

A chunk of space, is only water and air. A piece of sacred pieces of bread honorable’is mixed. ​

​My God there is (神) because of this

​

* ereulleu pongti <symbols in >

 성체聖體 

강영은

빵이라 부를 때 이것은 존재 한다 

누룩과 불화하는 이것 때문에 상처가 아문다 상처를 길들이는 이것 때문에 나는 말랑말랑하고 부드러운 표정을 지닌다 

피와 연합하는 포도주처럼 나의 내면이 뜨거워진다 

​커다란 다이아몬드의 흠집은 흠집을 깎는 고귀한 감정을 지니게 된다 수축하거나 팽창하는 감정은 존재의 지척(咫尺)을 드러낸다

​ 빵이 되기 위한 밀가루처럼 존재에 선행하는 존재* 뼈에서 떼어낼 수 없는 이것 때문에 나의 식탁은 밀밭이다 

나의 굶주림은 밀밭 위로 날아오르는 새떼가 된다 이 하늘에서 저 하늘로 날아다니는 조직의 지체가 된다 

만일 이것이 밀가루에 국한된 존재라면 쟁반 위에 놓인 한 잔의 포도주와 한 조각 빵은 식탁이 차려준 한 끼니 식사에 불과했으리라 

쟁반 위에 물고기 그림을 그린다 먹고 배부른 까닭을 알지 못 하나 손가락 마디에 푸른 하늘이 스민다 

물과 불과 공기가 관계한 한 덩어리 우주, 한 점의 빵 조각을 성스럽게 받든다 ​

이것 때문에 나의 신(神)이 존재 한다

​*에를르 퐁티<기호들>에서

 Romance with the Evening

Kang young eun  

– <Translation by Ko Chang-soo>

In the evening’s expression,

An emotion with a differing color of blood blooms and fades.

Like jasmine that shifts the color towards violet, soft violet, white,

In those moments the evening takes on an expression that most resembles solitude.

Thus I forget for a moment that my limbs have become awkward,

And my ears, neck, mouth and nose have bloomed.

Though several people walk together, the evening touches one eyeball.

Like a corridor that gets increasingly calm each time light deflects,

In those moments the evening becomes a lover;

I become friendly with death like a child roaming in a maze.

And I witness the alleys lengthen out gradually.

While waiting for a call-taxi before a florist where pollen scatters,

I think of you

Like a memo paper that will be forgotten tomorrow,

Like the slight fever of bored time.

In those moments the evening is lost in a love affair.

So I, blooming under an old window-frame,

Become unfamiliar.

On some evenings I’m absent;

So, if the landscape has disappeared into my inside,

I’m absent, that is, in the place left behind by the evening.

In those moments, the evening, not knowing it is evening,

Seeps into the window.

The consolation of being alone suddenly comes in hundreds of faces 

In that very moment.

​​저녁과의 연애

강영은

저녁의 표정 속에 피 색깔이 다른 감정이 피었다 진다 

보라 연보라 흰색으로 빛깔을 이동시키는 브룬스팰지어자스민처럼 

그럴 때 저녁은 고독과 가장 닮은 표정을 짓는 것이어서 

팔다리가 서먹해지고 이목구비가 피었다는 사실을 잠시 잊는다

여럿이 걸어가도 저녁은 하나의 눈동자에 닿는다 

빛이 굴절될 때마다 점점 그윽해져가는 회랑처럼 

그럴 때 저녁은 연인이 되는 것이어서 

미로 속을 헤매는 아이처럼 죽음과 다정해지고 

골목이 점점 길어지는 것을 목격하기도 한다

화분이 나뒹구는 꽃집 앞에서 콜택시를 기다리는 동안 

당신이 생각나기도 한다 

내일이면 잊혀 질 메모지처럼 지루한 시간의 미열처럼 

그럴 때 저녁은 연애에 골몰하는 것이어서

낡은 창틀 아래 피어 있는 내가 낯설어진다

어느 저녁에는 내가 없다

이내 속으로 풍경이 사라진 것처럼

저녁이 남기고 간 자리에 나는 없더라는 말 

그럴 때 저녁은 제가 저녁인 줄 모르고 유리창 속으로 스며든다 

혼자라는 위로는 불현듯 그때 수백 개의 얼굴로 찾아온다

 Profile

Poet Kang Young-eun was born on Jeju Island and earned a Master’s degree in Literature from the Graduate School of Culture and Arts at Kookje University. She made her literary debut in 2000 through the quarterly literary magazine Minerva. Since then, she has published the poetry collections The Green Silk Python, Floating Reef, the Back of the Sea, Mago’s Jar, A Gentle Poetics, The Bird Beyond, and Longing Gravity. She has also published the selected poems Poems Dedicated to the Japanese Nutmeg Yew, the essay collection Letters from the Mountain Hydrangea, the collaborative travel poetry collections The Crescent Moon of Tibet, Mingalaba, Myanmar, and Nazar Boncu, as well as the anthology of poems in English, Faces of the Festival, featuring twelve poets.

Kang Young-eun’s poetic world is deeply rooted in the landscape of Jeju, where the vitality of nature, the sense of loss, and the solitude of writing converge. She has described writing poetry as “the loneliest and freest way to embrace time and space,” revealing an attitude that accepts even her own transience and futility as an inevitable part of existence. Her essay collection Letters from the Mountain Hydrangea, which combines poetry, photography, and reflective prose, demonstrates how her creative practice extends beyond lyrical poetry into visual imagery and contemplative essays. By interweaving images of nature with profound inner sorrow, she has developed a distinctive poetic voice that has been consistently recognized across multiple collections rather than at a single moment in her career.

Her honors include the Excellence Award of the Siyesul Poetry Prize (2006), the Korean Poetry Literature Award (2012), the Arts Council Korea (ARKO) Literary Creation Grant (2014), selection as a Sejong Outstanding Book (2015), the Writers Association of Korea Author Award (2016), the Literary Youth Award and recognition as an Outstanding Content publication by the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency (2018), the Seogwipo Literary Award (2023), and selection for the Literature Sharing Program (2024).

She previously served as an instructor of creative writing at the Lifelong Education Center of Seoul National University of Science and Technology and as Chair of the Organizing Committee for the Seogwipo Chilsimni Literary Award. She currently serves as a Board Member of the Korean Poets’ Association and an Editorial Board Member of Literary Youth.

AI in the Classroom: Are We Upgrading Education or Downgrading the Human Touch?

Not long ago, a university laboratory was a place defined by the smell of chemical reagents, the scratch of pens on notebooks, and hours spent looking through optical microscopes. Today, a student can walk into that same lab, open a laptop, and let an Artificial Intelligence algorithm simulate the entire experiment in three seconds.

Technology has moved from the margins of our lives right into the center of our classrooms. For the current generation of university students, AI is no longer a futuristic concept—it is a daily study partner. We use it to debug our Python code, translate complex foreign texts, and organize messy research data. On paper, this is the ultimate democratization of knowledge. But on the ground, the reality feels a bit more complicated. The biggest promise of AI in education is efficiency. In scientific research and laboratory settings, digitalization has broken down massive barriers. Algorithms can analyze thousands of data sets in real-time, helping young researchers spot patterns that would otherwise take months to find. It acts like a super-powered assistant, handling the repetitive, time-consuming parts of science so that human minds can focus on actual creativity and big-picture questions. However, this rapid transition hides a subtle trap. When an AI tool can write a flawless essay, solve a complex higher-mathematics integral, or predict a physics simulation instantly, the human brain gets lazy. The critical muscle of “struggling” with a problem is being bypassed. True learning rarely happens when the answer is delivered instantly on a screen; it happens in the frustrating, messy process of trial and error. Furthermore, there is an invisible element that no language model can replicate: the human connection. A screen cannot replace a professor who notices a student’s hidden potential during a rough lecture. It cannot replicate the late-night debates between roommates trying to crack a logic puzzle together, or the shared joy when a peer finally passes a difficult national certification exam. These deeply human interactions are what actually shape an academic journey. Technology should serve as a bridge, not a substitute. The goal of integrating AI into our universities should not be to turn students into passive consumers of machine-generated data, but to empower them to become sharper thinkers. We must treat AI like a high-tech microscope: a tool that helps us see the world more clearly, but never a replacement for the human eyes doing the looking. As we reshape education for the digital era, the challenge is not just teaching students how to code or use prompts. The real challenge is ensuring that as our technology becomes smarter, we do not lose the raw curiosity, persistence, and human empathy that made us want to learn in the first place.

AMONBOYEVA SHAHNOZA, UZBEKISTAN
FACULTY OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING IN URGENCH STATE UNIVERSITY