MOTHERLAND

Like a warm coverlid

the Sky is turning blue over us.

Like a spring wind,

bringing hope and strength,

You call me, Motherland,

and I am always yours:

day, years, Earth.

And You went through everything,

to be into me

inaccessible, proud

and holy.

To raise us and to bring down,

to reveal your face to the world.

Moments

quiet and bright

keep

Your name.

There are difficult

moments.

And in them

Love

saves us

into Your embrace.

And returns us

the

World!

    Dr HC Rozalia Aleksandrova lives in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She was born in the magical Rhodope Mountains, the cradle of Orpheus. Author of 12 poetry books. Editor and compiler of over 40 literary almanacs, collections and anthologies. She is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers. 

Her poems were translated into many languages: Polish, English, Arabic, Spanish, Danish, Korean, Serbian, Italian, Albanian, Persian, French, Chinese, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Greek, Turkish, Bangla, Hebrew, Duch, Bengali, Russian. Her poems have been published in prestigious collections, almanacs, literary magazines and websites in Bulgaria, Europe and world. In March 2006 she created a poetic-intellectual association “Quantum and Friends” for the promotion of quantum poetry in civil society, Plovdiv and Bulgarian phenomenon. Initiator and chief organizer of the International Festival of Poetry SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT BORDERS from 2015. Every year she publishes one almanac for a Festival.

She is Doctor Honoris Causa of University UNQE – Mexico and member of the Federation of World Leadership and Hi Intelligense, representing Bulgaria. She is in Director`s board of Belgium literary site Atunis Poetry. She is ambassador for East Europe of Prodigy magazine, USA. She is honorary member of WFAI.  She is a winner of the prestigious CESAR VALLEJO Prize for Literature – 2022, 2023 and prize of UHE – Golden Eagle – for Poetry and Peace 2023, 2025. Winner of the Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Award 2022 and others. She was literary advisor in Central Chinese TV from 2023. She is literary consultant of IAETDAA – 2025, USA. She is literary advisor for Bulgaria of PLWV. She was awarded as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2025 by the Egyptian magazine Al-Rowad.

Apart from being a poetesse, she is also a scientist. She deals with the study and reflections of quantum and torsion physics in the field of language, poetry, culture, medicine, philosophy and methodology of science. She has published a book with popular science essays “Let’s open the door to the meaning or reflections of information science“, Plovdiv 2015 and new book “The Wonders of the Poetry”, Plovdiv 2025. 

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.

That’s how you are in life,

you don’t 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 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 Interantional 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.

Farewell Autumn

Come and hold my hands on a drizzly day,

Take me through this autumn.

Take me to the wedding of love,

Pass over the autumn haze.

Let the wind wander, let the rain fall,

Let the drops dance, let the earth feel the breeze,

Without our spring life, Khazan,

Take me through a chapter of your novel YOU.

Let’s erase the sadness and grief from our hearts,

Let’s choose the fate we have,

Let’s join the crane train and go,

Pass through the ranks of distant travelers.

13.10.2026.

Elmaya Jabbarova – was born in Azerbaijan. She is poet, writer, translator. Her poems from 2019 to date were published in the regional and foreign newspapers, magazines, books, Web. pages, Anthologies. She has been awarded many certificates diplomas, medals. She is the Department manager of the Hekari newspaper of Azerbaijan. She is a honorary member of the Writers of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. World Association of People’s Creators, Honorary member of the International Academy of Literature, Art, Culture and Social Sciences of Uzbekistan. She is an Academic. Appointed Koordinator, Secretary General of Azerbaijan, Argentina. She is presented in the book Famous Personalities MultiArt – 5, Argentina. She was a member World Poetic Fraternity. Shewas awarded the title of Global Poet of 2023; 2024. She was awarded the title of World Poet Laureate from Azerbaijan as one of 55 poets selected by Pentasi B Friendship Poetry for 2025.

THE SHROUD OF STOLEN CHILDHOODS 

In the hush before sunrise, the world holds its breath for the girls who wake to futures not their own.

Shadows move across their doorways like unspoken verdicts,

and childhood slips quietly from their hands

before the morning light can find their names.

©️®️ Shannon Scoates

In veiled horizons, their stolen childhoods became a threnody,

Within a penumbra where only whispers dared to breathe.

Amid life’s vicissitudes, their voices became birds imprisoned beneath iron skies,

Where innocence wore the shackles of a bridal guise.

©️®️Somdatta Mitra

Yet somewhere beyond the silence, a dawn remembered their true names,

And hope, though veiled, refused to surrender its flame.

Through fractured destinies, unseen roots gathered strength beneath the dust,

Awaiting the hour when broken wings would remember they were fashioned for the wind.

©️®️ Shannon Scoates

Their perennial resilience and yearning for reclamation remain unheard;

In peregrine phases of life, their inhibitions are like dormant embers beneath an avalanche of ash.

Each sunbeam caresses their unbloomed dreams, yearning to blossom through the illumination of education.

©️®️Somdatta Mitra

Beneath eclipsed heavens, forgotten prayers gathered like unseen constellations,

Each silent tear became a river seeking the freedom of its own tide.

Though sorrow etched its scripture upon the fragile parchment of their days,

The soul remembered a language no chain could ever silence.

©️®️ Shannon Scoates

An amphora of forgotten tears, the shroud concealing their distress;

Girlhood, like a seed, survived beneath the frozen earth.

Knowledge became a constellation stitched across the night of tyranny,

Abrogating the yesteryears’ oppressive customs, as the lexicon of liberty found its voice.

©️®️ Somdatta Mitra

Morning gathered quietly upon their shoulders like a blessing,

As forgotten dreams unfolded petal by patient petal toward the sun.

No longer hidden beneath the weight of inherited silence,

They walked into tomorrow carrying the light that had always lived within.

©️®️ Shannon Scoates

In resurgence, a renaissance of dignity became a mountain no tyranny could erode,

Like phoenixes carrying the eternal memory of fire.

As a testament to humanity, every heart awaited its kairos,

Where the grammar of equality blossomed into the scripture of emancipation.

In effulgence and magnanimity, they became the anthem of unconquered hearts.

©️®️ Somdatta Mitra

©️®️Shannon Scoates 

Shannon Scoates is a Canadian poet and intuitive writer whose work is rooted in nature, mysticism, and channeled guidance. Influenced by childhood storytellers like Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, as well as poets such as Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, E.E. Cummings, W.B. Yeats, Robert Frost, and RR Token author Terry Brooks, she began writing at age ten as a way to express emotion and truth. Shannon is also an energy healer trained in Reiki, colour, sound, and vibrational therapy, and she is passionate about helping women find their voice through writing and spiritual connection. A devoted advocate for children’s literature and animal rights, she carries forward the encouragement of her Grampa and Grama, whose spirit continues to guide her creative path. Her first book is currently in development.

FOOTSTEPS OF OUR TIME

Footprints on the hot asphalt,

footsteps of our time

still stand…

In each one a piece of love

has remained forever.

I walk the paths of youth

I still hear our footsteps

and distant but loud laughter…

When love blossomed

everything smelled of sin.

The flowers on the stone weep,

the birds grow quieter,

autumn is golden in color

only we are no more.

Milka J. Šolaja, Belgrade

MILKA J. ŠOLAJA, born in Korenica, Republic of Croatia. Lives and works in Belgrade. She has been writing poetry since her high school days.

So far, she has published 11 independent poetry collections: “If I Were a Bird”, “Dreams in the Mirror”, “Between Reality and Sleep”, “Traces Will Remain”, “Black and White World”, “I Think Your Hands Are Yours”, “A Tear from Stone”, “I Was Born Alone” and two co-authored poetry collections: “I Dream with Verses” and “My Dreams Written in Verses”, published by “Kulture Snova” from Zagreb. 

The eleventh poetry collection “I Am This I Am” is in preparation for publication, as well as the autobiographical novel “Walking on the Edge”. 

She writes love, homeland, descriptive, reflective, spiritual and poetry for children.

Translated into English, Hungarian, Bengali, Spanish, Greek, Odia, Arabic…

Award-winning, represented in many anthologies, monographs, collections and magazines, both domestic and international. Some poems are composed.

Member of: Serbian Writers’ Association, Literary and Artistic Union “Vlaho Bukovac” from Split, “Culture of Dreams” from Zagreb, Institute for Children’s Literature in Belgrade.

She is also a member of several International Groups, Forums and Academies for Poetry and Literature, where she has received a large number of awards. 

THE LANGUAGE OF HOOKS

Write

the unsaid

of the word.

The unseen

of the shadow

upon the discolored humus

of love.

The innocence

of the stone

when it breaks

in the hooked tongues

of the human being,

who has lost

even the traces.

Write,

lest I lose

my identity.

Athens, October 14, 2026

Ermira D. Ifandi was born on June 3, 1975, in Fratar, Mallakastër.

She graduated from “Eqrem Çabej” University in Gjirokastër, with a degree in “Teaching for the Lower Primary Cycle.”

For nearly two decades, she has lived with her family in Athens, Greece, where she continues to maintain a strong connection with the Albanian language, culture, and literary creativity, turning words into a bridge between two cultures.

She has participated in literary competitions organized by Radio Tirana and has published her literary works in local newspapers in Gjirokastër and Tepelenë.

Publications

Albanian–Greek bilingual poetry collection entitled:

ÇAST – ΣΤΙΓΜΗ

Her literary work has been recognized and praised by well-known critics and writers such as Robert Martiko, Luan Rama, Agon Halabaku, and Margarit Done.

Studies and critical works on her poetry have been included in the following books:

“Kur toka flet me qiellin” by Robert Martiko.

“Në zemër të fjalëve” by Margarit Done.

She has been included in several literary anthologies, including:

“Stina poetike”, selected by Pëllumb Troçi.

“NA bashkoi poezia”, among others.

Her work has been published in:

CavaliereNews Magazine, 

Elmasar El-Arabi Magazine,

POLEART Magazine, Destinacioni Newspaper, Letraria Newspaper, Ciceroni Newspaper, Vlera Magazine, Miriade Magazine, Qendra Press, Albania Press, Nevvsin.al, VVINDOVV.AL, and others.

MORENA

 A young, dark-skinned woman, covering her head and chest with a multicolored veil. Very striking, just as she likes to appear: orange like the summer sun, light blue like the sky, and yellow like sunbeams, which characterize her as a great model. She represents many women in her country. Since they remove their veils in the privacy of their homes, it is a tradition to wear them in the presence of people outside their family. Wearing a hijab, a subtle veil over the head, covering down to her chest, she adores her silks, gauzes, and tulle—a great combination with the veil, fabrics that beautify women of color. 

Nidia Amelia García, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a writer and an active member of Juntos por las Letras (Together for Letters). She has participated in numerous virtual events in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Spain, Colombia, Portugal, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and elsewhere. She has also contributed to literary anthologies such as “Books of the Immortals” and “Anthology of the 50 Poets of the World 2022.”