Different Feathers?


Has free verse been freed from tradition?

Was the latter determined adverse?

Is different different than better?

Just what is the price of free verse?

 

Does free verse have better transmission?

Is tradition decidedly worse?

Is better better than different,

and will the twain ever converse?

 

Be Realio-Trulio

Sonnets ill-used,

erroneous meter,

perhaps a reader

will be confused

 

when it’s perused—

although by name

it may be the same.

If form is abused,

 

rhyming refused

(not really a rose),

it clearly shows

its poet accused.

 

Though enthused,

none are excused.

 

The Piper’s Sonnet

Although I write this sonnet silently,

clandestine, as it were, so none may see,

I wonder whether someday I’ll allow

its light to shine and break its silent vow.

 

So why express in secret on a page

the thoughts in which I currently engage?

It’s hard to say, although on August 3rd

no surreptitious sonnet is absurd.

 

By that, I mean that none would not suffice;

by writing one, at least, you pay the price

the Piper calls for on this special day

so that his tune won’t swoon each muse away.

 

To write or not? I’ll do it secretly.

For now, a covert action just for me.

 

I Come to Raze Your Ears, Not Praise Them!

I went to a poetry reading

with a follow-up open mic.

It’s the first time that I’d been to one—

didn’t know what they might like.

 

So, alrighty then,

I could listen without care,

since diversity of poetry

wasn’t what had brought me there.

 

We all heard the featured poet

reading from his new chapbook.

It’s the first time that I’d been to one

and I read the one I took.

 

Well, alrighty, then,

they could listen without care,

since diversity of poetry

wasn’t what had brought them there.

The second poem, “Be Realio-Trulio,” is a “minison,” a form established by The Minison Project (https://theminisonproject.com/): 14 lines, 14 letters per line, and a 14-letter title.   

The third, “The Piper’s Sonnet,” was written a month ago for Surreptitious Sonnet Day, August 3^rd.

The last, “I Come to Raze Your Ears, Not Praise Them!” was written to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1972 hit tune “Garden Party.”

Too Quiet

In this country
sons are born and sons are dying
in streets, in prisons, and in wars.
This country is too quiet,
so quiet, that the truth gets buried.

Why are the sons in the streets?
Why are they so poor they need 
to rob, steal, and kill?
Why are they so desperate to escape
this life with booze, drugs, and
instant gratification?

Why are the schools, teachers, and
families not given the support to help
the sons succeed?
Why are the rich given government 
handouts to amass more wealth at 
the expense of poor families, sons,
and daughters?

In this country 
no one wants to hear the truth.
This country is too quiet,
so quiet that the truth is buried.

*

Doors

Doors open at 7pm.
Songbirds sing all day long
10-dollar cover charge at the door
Songbirds do not charge one dime Dirt and dust cover
The soles on the feet of the poor
Being unable to afford the show

They settle for the birds that sing
For them outside the door all day long

The feet of the poor need
Socks and shoes, ointment for 
Blisters, dryness, and sunburn
Something for the hunger

A room to rest their tired bodies
Some still dance on tired feet
Songbirds sing for them at no charge
The door will close at 2am
*

New Suit

New suit
Same me
Nothing
Will change

New suit
Same me
It fits
Barely

Haircut 
Fresh shave 
About
Time now

Same me

Just so

You know
My friend

New suit
Same me
Let’s go
Out now

Same you
Same me
Like it

Should be

*

Here We Are

Here they come.
They know my name.
They see me.
I am their prey.
Here they come
To take my voice.
Their masked mugs 
Are all I see.
My time comes.
The masked men come
Like mad dogs.
These masked men,
A flock of them,
Will banish 
My rights. I watch
Them burn with
Rage. Behind them,
The moon shines 

On. Here they come.

Here we are.

Born at the Museum

I know your name.
Weren’t you born at the museum?
You came out of a painting.
A brush and oils created you.

You lived in a boathouse.
At fourteen you used to
like eating coconut meat.
Weren’t you born at the museum?

I hardly recognize you.
The wind tossed your hair around.
You came out of a painting.

The museum is closed on Holidays.
You lived in a boathouse.
That is my memory from childhood.

The coach behind MMA’s determination and victories

Many people have different opinions about MMA. Some consider it a bloody fight, a competition without rules. Some even criticize it as a “game of street thugs.” In fact, MMA is a mixed martial arts, which also has strict rules and regulations. People who know this sport well understand that skill, discipline, and hard work are in the first place.

In 2018, the MMA Federation was established in our country, opening the doors to the international arena for our athletes. After that, MMA quickly became popular in Andijan, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, Samarkand, and Fergana regions. Today, Chiraqchi district is also becoming one of the leading regions in this regard.

Bahrom Haydarov’s role in this development is incomparable. He is a 10-time Uzbek champion, 2-time Asian champion, and world champion in MMA. He has also achieved many victories in professional MMA. Today, he is sharing his experience with young athletes.

Bahrom Haydarov’s training is a school of its own. He trains his students as if they were fighting in the octagon. The requirements are strict: an athlete who is late for training will not be allowed to compete. Of course, where there is order, there will be progress. Although the coach is very strict, it is a good experience for his students. “Where there is no discipline, there will be no progress,” he says. The strict coach teaches his students not only the secrets of fighting, but also life lessons.

Our hero is training more than 100 athletes. About 20 of them have already won championships in our country and international competitions. Students such as Anvar Pardayev, Mirjalol Yusupov, Aziz Nurjonov, Jasmina Abdumoʻminova and Shahboz Ortikov are his pride. They are flying the flag of the country high and introducing the younger generation to MMA.

Bahrom Haydarov’s work proves another thing: true heroism is not in the ring, but in teaching others his knowledge, inspiring young people. Today, young people who train under the guidance of their teacher have big dreams and are working tirelessly to achieve them.

Therefore, the young champions emerging from the Chiraqchi MMA School are becoming the pride of our tomorrow.

Abdisattorova Khurshida Suvon qizi was born on November 9, 1997 in the village of Almazar, Chiroqchi district, Kashkadarya region. She is a 3rd-year student of the Sports Journalism Department of the University of Journalism and Mass Communications. Currently, her articles have been published in the newspapers “Hurriyat”, “Vaziyat” and on the websites “Olamsport” and “Ishonch”. She is a participant in the international scientific and practical conference “Future Scientist _ 2025”.

Joan McInerney

Butterfly

Wrapped in ashen clouds

pale shrouds of sadness.

Retracing each dimension of

my heart yet finding no refuge.

My head bent recounting

all the days of my life.

Lost in this blur, this landscape.

Where am I? Where can I go?

Wanting only one fine thought to

fill this empty haze of hours.

One fine contour, touch, color,

one fine tone to breach the silence.

Who stole my sparkling sky

leaving only memories?

What remains is only minute after

minute of more and more loss.

Always searching to find harbor in

oceans where waves rise to heaven.

Within deep quiet, small awakenings begin.

Fragile butterfly…radiant blue winging up up.

Live Oak Boughs

Boughs build archways as tips
of trees touch each other. What
was shaded green becomes
nocturnal shadow. A crescent moon
hangs from heaven. Light tracing
foliage falls dropping
dusty deep upon ground.

Secrets lie inside edged shadows.
Animals hide under darkness
resounding through night
as leaves rustle. All changing
except this pattern of what
is now formed.

When The Moon Is New

Groping through darkness

knocking everything down.

Down into enormous night

where thoughts unravel.

Memories moan past us as

shadows quiver across walls.

We lie pinned to bed sheets

like captive butterflies.

Dry butterflies, our throats

are brittle, eyes turning

from light. Sore arms reach

for anything soft to hold.

Remembering seasons gone by.

So many lost promises.

This huge moment surrounding us.

Wide awake we wait for the new day.

Nightscape

Fog horns sound though

air soaked in blackness.

All evening long listening

to hiss of trucks, cars.

Shadows brush across walls

as trees trace their branches.

Gathering and waving

together then swaying apart.

While I sleep, stars glide

through heaven making

their appointed rounds in

ancient sacred procession.

Dreams as smooth as rose

petals spill into my mind

growing wild patches in

this dark garden of night.

Almost Asleep

Curling into a question mark

eyes shuttered

lips pursed

hands empty.

Dropping through

long dusty shafts

down into dank cellars.

Leaving behind faded day.

That last cup of sunlight

pouring from fingertips.

Lulled by rattling trains,

sighs of motors.

Bringing nothing but

memory into night.

Now I will untie knots

tear off wrappings opening

wide bundles of dreams.

Direction

            Before things turned bad, Jason’s father taught him to shave against the grain. The blade might draw blood, but the results were closer.

            Jason’s stepfather shrugged. “With the grain works too.” Stepfathers could be replaced, he knew, so he went easy.

            During this month’s prison visit, Jason’s father slid his son’s hand across his newly smooth skull. “Nobody can grab my hair,” he said. “You should try it.”

            Jason’s stepfather drove him there every month and waited in the parking lot. It was the least he could do since the boy lost his mother in a way no one should.

President of the Smithsonian

President Al Wilson

Not content with taking.

Over the Kennedy Center

As part of the MAGA movement

Culture war against the communists

Radical left-wing Marxist

Enemies of real America.

Had described that the Smithsonian.

Must reflect traditional American values.

And avoid divisive or anti-American.

Or anti-Christian propaganda.

Therefore, he decreed,

The African American Studies Museum

Must close,

The African Art Museum

Must close.

The American Indian Museum

Must close.

The Smithsonian must be color blind.

And not to mention race or gender

Slavery or the treatment of American Indians,

And the whole Chinese Exclusion Act

And internment of Japanese Americans

Which was a good thing,

Or the holocaust, for that matter.

End anti-American, Anti-Christian,

Anti-MAGA, cultural Marxism

Radical lunatic left, CRT, DEI

And WOKE programming.

Throughout the Smithsonian.

The African American museum holdings

And the American Indian Museum

And the African Art Museum

Will be sold off at an auction.

So the president decreed

MAGA baby all the way

RESTORING TRUTH IN AMERICAN HISTORY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order restoring truth and sanity to American history by revitalizing key cultural institutions and reversing the spread of divisive ideology.

President Trump aims to ensure that the Smithsonian is an institution that sparks children’s imagination, celebrates American history and ingenuity, serves as a symbol to the world of American greatness, and makes America proud.

The Order directs the Vice President, who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, to work to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

The Order directs the Administration to work with Congress to ensure that future Smithsonian appropriations: (1) prohibit funding for exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race, or promote ideologies inconsistent with Federal law; and (2) celebrate women’s achievements in the American Women’s History Museum and do not recognize men as women.

The Vice President will work with congressional leaders to appoint members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents who are committed to advancing the celebration of America’s extraordinary heritage and progress.

The Order also directs the Secretary of the Interior restore Federal parks, monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties that have been improperly removed or changed in the last five years to perpetuate a false revision of history or improperly minimize or disparage certain historical figures or events.

In preparation for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026, the Order directs the Secretary of the Interior to complete restorations and improvements to Independence Hall by that date.

COMBATING CORROSIVE IDEOLOGY: In the last decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted effort to rewrite American history and force our nation to adopt a factually baseless ideology aimed at diminishing American achievement. President Trump is fighting back by reestablishing truth in the historical narrative and restoring Federal sites dedicated to American heritage.

The prior administration pushed a divisive ideology that reconstrued America’s promotion of liberty as fundamentally flawed, infecting revered institutions like the Smithsonian and national parks with false narratives.

At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, the Biden Administration sponsored training by an organization that advocates for dismantling “Western foundations” and that taught Park Rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they present history to visitors.

The Smithsonian Institution—once revered throughout the world as a symbol of American excellence—has recently promoted divisive ideology that American and Western values are harmful.

The American Art Museum currently features an exhibit that purports to address how “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and claims that the United States has “used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.”

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has proclaimed that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are aspects of “White culture.”

The American Women’s History Museum plans to celebrate male athletes participating in women’s sports.

CELEBRATING AMERICAN GREATNESS: President Trump is committed to honoring America’s extraordinary heritage and building a sense of national pride.

President Trump signed an Executive Order on his first day in office to establish a task force to prepare for America’s 250th birthday.

This Order also protects America’s monuments from vandalism and calls for construction of the National Garden of American Heroes.

President Trump signed a memorandum ensuring Federal buildings reflect the timeless grandeur of traditional, classical architecture.

By signing this Executive Order, President Trump is ensuring that American history is celebrated accurately, fairly, and with pride—honoring the remarkable progress, liberty, and ingenuity that define our great nation.

Meanwhile, In The Real World, You Can Be Fired For Going To The Doctor

Meanwhile

 In the real world

You can be fired

For going to the doctor.

the worker’s bosses.

Can refuse to let workers  

go to the appointment.

As they are not required

To grant them leave

sick leave.

Bad for the bottom line

And they have no empathy

For workers.

Who are seen as

Merely disposable, interchangeable  

Labor units of production.

Who should be replaced

By robots

as soon as possible.

People will be given a choice.

Go to work, gravely ill.

Or go to the EER.

And six hours later

Perhaps see an overwhelmed doctor

And told me to follow up.

With your primary care doctor.

Who the hell knows.

Who that is any more?

You get the bill

10,000 dollars,

Pay up sucker!

No money?

Not my problem.

And go back to find.

You have been fired.

For leaving or not showing

Up for your shift.

Doctors visit?

That’s not my problem.

You are going to die.

So be it.

We can find other workers.

Or robots to take your place.

Loser.

President Al Wilson Reverses Course on Climate Change, From Denial to Action in the Wake of National Catastrophe

With the destruction of most of Florida—including Mar-a-Lago—
Monster storms ravaging Texas,
And Los Angeles reduced to ash
By earthquake and fire,

President Al Wilson finally decided:
Climate change is real.
It is killing people—
Especially in red states

.
The costs of rebuilding are horrific.
The costs of doing nothing?
Even worse.

His advisors, once cautious, now urgent,
Convinced him to embrace

 a rapid shift to green energy.
Solar, wind, geothermal—no longer fringe,
Now the backbone of survival.

And beyond Earth,

Plans accelerate for lunar and Martian colonies,
With NASA’s bioregenerative greenhouses already in prototype.

Underground cities, domed habitats—once sci-fi,
Now contingency plans.

Wilson must work with the world.
Not just to lead,
But to redeem.

If he fails,
And the world turns

into a hellscape man created,

History will remember him
As the worst leader

 in human memory.

But if he succeeds—
If he reverses course,
And actually solves the problem—

He could be hailed
As the savior of humanity.

Doing something to change the future
Is good politics.

Continued climate denialism
Is bad politics.

And so,
He reverses course.

---

MAGA Dreams Come True

President AL Wilson

Had a dream

The MAGA dream

Coming true!

This time will be different

The internet and AI

Will be used

To make sure

That MAGA rules

And Christian values

Take over.

LGBT folks

Back in the closet

Where they beyond.

Women’s rights curtailed

Minorities deported.

Media tamed

The public distracted

By the latest fake

Celebrity scandal.

The rich live very well

With robot servants

Self-driving vehicles

Great health care.

Maybe even cloned body parts

But the poor

Will barely live

But who cares about them?

MAGA, Baby

The real scandal

The taking over

Of democracy

By the oligarchs

Not talked about.

The secret camps

Filled with people

Who disappear.

Climate change
well the rich

Can live on

In walled off

underground shelters.

The rest of the public

Who cares?

And so it goes

Democracy dies

In broad daylight

MAGA baby!

John (“Jake”) Cosmos Aller is a novelist, poet, and retired U.S. Foreign Service officer who served in ten countries. Prior to joining the State Department, he taught overseas for eight years and served in the Peace Corps in Korea. He currently divides his time between Korea and the United States. His poetry blog can be found at https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com.

Book Review of Breasts, etc. by Nthikeng Mohlele (TK). 

Publisher: Blank Page Books 

Reviewer: Bhekisisa Mncube

I have just finished reading a book with the curious title Breasts, etc. by TK, that enigma of our literary scene—perhaps not as reclusive as his (my) idol,  J.M. Coetzee, but still a figure shrouded in intrigue. At first, the book read like an essay about breasts—women’s breasts, to be precise—though it was marketed as a novel. Midway through, the tempo quickened, and more characters emerged, fleeting yet integral participants in the narrative.

TK is incapable of writing ordinary British English or crafting a book with a straightforward plot and a neat, satisfying ending. He isn’t a master of prose in the conventional sense; instead, he is a poet, a lyricist whose carefully chosen words create music for the soul. His obsession with the apocalypse—a recurring theme in his dreams—imagines a world where femininity itself, breasts included, is obliterated. He imagines men hugging women’s scriptures, bored, lost without women, and also being the last living creatures on earth who will fall short of food and feed on rodents. Yet, paradoxically, this obsession with breasts and the apocalypse forms the foundation for a beautiful love story centred on a triangular dynamic, including his “first love”, Winnie. She is the first woman who introduced him (James) to bare breasts (no sex), which in turn gave him a fulfilling career in nude photography. 

Though not declared overtly, this love of Winnie evokes André Brink’s sentiment in Before I Forget, where he muses that sometimes, “love is greater for being unfulfilled,” a mantra I live by. Our narrator, James, is a man fascinated by the female form, specifically the breasts, which he captures as a nude photographer. His art seeks to immortalise “a fleeting moment before the ravages of decay and old age” (emphasis mine). Against his ethical instincts, James falls in love with one of his subjects, Esmeralda Abedienne, a woman whose essence transcends mere physicality. It is a love story that transcends breast worshipping, old age, death and decay, not to mention the apocalypse that never occurred. 

This is not simply a tale of breast worshipping; it is a meditation on love, mortality, and art. It is a story that defies the apocalypse, weaving themes of beauty, meaning of life, ageing and decay into a narrative of transcendence. Despite the author telling us, “Life is a voyage to the grave.” In Breasts, etc., TK has produced a feminist manifesto—replete with poetry, music, and restrained eroticism as the only appreciation of breasts, that frees the book from being fascinated with the sexual connotation of breasts. Thus, the book sidetracks criticism by the woke crowd, sex purists and literacy classification. Perhaps it is dystopian due to the recurrent dreams of the apocalypse. However, I can’t escape the cruel killing of Winnie’s husband (cause of death alcohol poisoning), whom the narrator never loved, referring to him as an “intellectual toad” and failed athlete. Notwithstanding the narrator displaying his “jealous lover” streak by taking literary liberty to kill a character who had, in his mind, outlived the usefulness of his existence, the novel is, indeed, a magnum opus.

-Mncube is an author of three acclaimed books (The Love Diary of a Zulu Boy, The Ramaphosa Chronicles and Kumnandi Emakhaya (children’s book), has contributed to five more and has submitted two children’s books for review this year alone. If he does not win awards for his columns (regular columnist at Daily Maverick, The Witness, and guest at News24 and City Press), he only talks to his two cats and drinks cold beers on weekends only.  

Author Biography  

Novelist, short story writer, playwright, Nthikeng Mohlele authored critically acclaimed novels and two short story collections. His work includes: The Scent of Bliss (2008), Small Things (2013), Rusty Bell (2014), Pleasure (2016), Michael K (2018), Illumination (2019),  Breasts, etc. (2023),  Revolutionaries House (2024). The two short-story collections, The Discovery of Love (2021) and A Little Light (2023). 

Mohlele is the winner of the University of Johannesburg Main Prize for South African Writing In English for Pleasure, the K Sello Duiker Memorial Prize and was also long listed for the Dublin International Prize. The Discovery of Love won the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Award 2022 for Best Fiction: Short Stories. Breasts, etc was recently shortlisted for both the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and University of Johannesburg Main Prize Awards (2024). He dabbles in journalistic writing and literary reviews. 

Mohlele’s theatre writing credits include and The Affairs of State and I Am A Woman, which debuted at the Market Theatre, one of South Africa’s mainstream theatre circuits during 2022. His work is taught at leading South African universities, including at his alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of South Africa and University of Johannesburg and of Pretoria. Mohlele’s other interests include music,  photography, technology, film and design. He lives and works in Johannesburg.