Poetry from Xavier Womack
alabanza we will say alabanza to her loving heart that always beat as one with ours. her eyes melded into our minds stone within us. di su nombre across the world, let her breathe with the sound of our voices coming in unison conteniendo su alma. she will live forever in our one corazón wrapping us tight with all her love hoy, mañana, y siempre.
Short story from Jim Meirose
Ah, okay – But, anyway
Hey, great—good stuff, that drink, eh? I can see it in your face. I happened on this stuff while I was down here getting this place built. What do you think of this nice quiet spot here? I had them level this side yard, and plant in this garden space, as a little bonus just for us, while they were finishing up the relocation. I figured, why not throw some money this way? It’s a cool perk. This garden, that is. What do you think?
It’s okay. But—what drink is this?
Ah. How ‘bout you guess?
I can’t guess. It’s—its just good {b-b-b-b-but at that very moment this pleasure’s offset by past experience, that without any exceptions, anything popping up unexpectedly pleasant, that is so unexpectedly pleasant as to be a life-changing breakthrough, as this—drink outshines any prior drink, and God damn it to hell “I can never ever drink another”—only to find very soon after that the unpleasant aftertaste—which bubbles up completely repulsive—says you must never ever try that drink again, Daddy, yah yah no no it is in fact so terrible! Where is a sink? I need a sink! Or water fountain, or something to flush out this taste, and, thank God the evil of this drink? Food? Or whatever made itself known quickly—if not, we very well may have told others you must try this—you will not be sorry eh will each of your friends try to tell five more friends each to try and them same so ah game being to cover the planet with fans of this drink drinkers of this drink lovers of it consumers of it tell a friend tell a friend but then they start tell a friend tell a friend tell a friend to grab their stomachs change tell their a faces friend to tell what a the friend I don’t I thought wow this isn’t good it tastes horrible why the hell’d you recommend this to me, GIMI? Were you trying to kill me with this, Daddy, oh, of course you know I don’t mean that literally, GIMI—oh, no you don’t, Daddy? Really really, Daddy? If you really didn’t mean it why’d you do it to me, Daddy, do you always make a point of doing some set number of “meaningless things” GIMI, and if so, Daddy, does trying to poison us me or them with this gasblaster hot tongued overlycrapullar supercloyingone drink, GIMI? Oh, yah, DADDY, yeah that’s so, GIMI, really, really so, DADDY! You are not our friend afterwards are you oh you will be made very very sorry GIMI because each of your former friends will tell five more generating more former friends, DADDY, telling five more and then five again five again friends the game being to cover the planet with maximum hatred for you yes you DADDY—maybe even a touch past the maximum for YOU–so there. Phew!}
Oh? Is that all you’ve got to say? That it’s good?
Yep. Why?
Oh, no reason. But anyway—as we were saying before—
Jim Meirose’s short work is widely published, and his novels include “Sunday Dinner with Father Dwyer”(Optional Books), “Le Overgivers au Club de la Résurrection” (Mannequin Haus), “No and Maybe – Maybe and No”(Pski’s Porch), “Audio Bookies” (LJMcD Communications), “Et Tu” (C22 press), and “Game 5” (Soyos Books). info: www.jimmeirose.com, X id @jwmeirose
Poetry from J.J. Campbell
———————————————————————-
scribbling down some poems
sitting in the
waiting room
watching all
these people
come in and
decide to sit
on the other
side of the
waiting room
as i’m sitting
here scribbling
down some
poems
crazy wins
again
————————————————————-
better when drinking
she had eyes
of the deepest
blue
i was too poor
to even think
i could get a
chance with
something
so beautiful
she bought
me a drink
one morning
after work
we started to
talk and play
a little pool
she didn’t know
i play better
when drinking
apparently,
i was supposed
to let her win
——————————————————-
hello is a better choice
a steamy eyed
vixen says hello
my first instinct
is to ask how
much money
does this cost
i figure hello is
a better choice
of course, a few
days later and it
will be questions
of how much can
i spend on a gift
card or anything
for them
humans have this
constant ability
to do nothing
but disappoint
me
—————————————————————–
the better of me
i once asked burroughs
to cook me up a shot
fucker kept it
for himself
i used to dance naked
in the rain until time
got the better of me
she tasted like clove
cigarettes and trouble
i should have married
her on a tuesday
coltrane plays me
down from the ledge
yet, i can’t shake the
haunting feeling that
all good men fucking
jump
endless regret wrapped
inside a lover’s lament
yet another tootsie roll
i won’t get to lick
flirting with death
like a whore at last
call
i never thought
loneliness would
be the hill i’d die
on
—————————————————————-
the simmering rage
say hello to the pain
to each wrong step
that brings about
misery
say hello to fucking
traffic
bumper to bumper
for no fucking
reason at all
say hello to the anger
the simmering rage
and the final days
where you’ll be able
to control it
say hello to dysfunction
the guiding light
through every dark
day
J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is slowly wasting away in the suburbs. He’s been widely published over the years, most recently at The Rye Whiskey Review, Horror Sleaze Trash Quarterly, Mad Swirl, The Beatnik Cowboy and Disturb the Universe Magazine. He has a few copies of his book with Casey Renee Kiser, Altered States of The Unflinching Souls, for sale. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights.
Poetry from Dilbar Koldoshova Nuraliyevna
I SOLD
If they say I’m bad, I’m sorry
I wished you the best.
I worked hard to create my beautiful garden,
I put it on my wrist.
If a weak servant goes astray and loses his way,
Shaking my heart, I walked down the aisle without answering.
They made me cry from pain,
I put the stone in the brass.
Dilbar is happy, and he is unhappy with malicious hearts.
I put my dignity in walking straight as a bow.
CREATIVE GIRL
Dilbar Koldoshova Nuraliyevna was born on March 5, 2007 in the Karshi district of the Kashkadarya region.
She is currently the 10th “B” student of the 43rd school.
Dilbarhan is the queen of poetry, the owner of creativity, a singer with a beautiful voice, and a ghazal girl.
She came first in the “Leader of the Year” competition.
1st prize in the regional stage of the “Hundred Gazelles and Hundred Gems” competition.
She took part in the “Children’s Forum” category and won first place in many competitions.
She is currently the coordinator of the training department of Tallikuron MFY in Karshi district.
Kamalak captain of the opposite district.
Head captain of the “Girls There” club at school 43.
The articles titled “Memory is immortal and precious”, “Our School” and “Mother” were published three times in Kenya Times International magazine in 2024.
In 2023, the first poems were published in the poetry collection “Yulduzlar Yogdusi” of the creative youth of the Kashkadarya region.
In 2024, ghazals of the creative youth of the Republic were published in the poetry collection “Youth of Uzbekistan”.
Essay from Rajarbona Sarvinoz
Amir Temur and the history of the irrigation system during the Timurid era
Rajabova Sarvinoz Utkir’s daughter
Bukhara State University, Faculty of History and Law, student of group 5.3 Tar 22, majoring in history and countries
Abstract: During the period of Amir Temur and the Timurids, the construction of ditches and canals was of great importance in the socio-economic life of the region. During this period, most of the land, water and handicrafts were under state control. Water management systems, including canals and ditches, were important for providing water for agriculture, facilitating trade, and supporting the development of cities. Information is provided on the water supply of the regions, the connection with trade relations in economic life.
Key words: Amir Temur, waterways, Angor canal, water resources, Samonjuq steppe, crafts, Murgob oasis, Barlos stream
Enter
The construction of waterways during the Timurid period is evidence of the development of engineering and infrastructure of that time. The canals were strategically designed to use water resources for irrigation, to ensure the fertility of agricultural land, and to support the growing population of cities within the state. In addition, these waterways are strategic and logistical served, facilitated transport and strengthened the defense of cities. During the reign of Amir Temur, the canal that started from the Red River (Syr Darya) is noteworthy. This canal played an important role in irrigation and agriculture in the Bukhara oasis and served the region’s prosperity and development. [1]
The main part
The careful planning and implementation of water management projects during the Timurid era reflected the state’s desire for sustainable use of resources and economic growth. The legacy of Amir Temur and the ditches dug during the Timurid era continues to inspire admiration and admiration for their engineering achievements. These water management systems not only shaped the landscape and infrastructure of the region, but also played a decisive role in the socio-economic life of the state. The remains of these ancient waterways are evidence of the ingenuity and foresight of the Timurid dynasty, and show their contribution to the development of civilization during that period.[2]
The main purpose of the ditches and canals built during the era of Amir Temur and the Timurids was to serve as a necessary water management system for irrigation, agriculture and urban development. Ditches and canals are built primarily to use water resources for irrigation purposes. By diverting water from rivers and other water sources, these systems ensured the fertility of agricultural land, the production of agricultural crops and the livelihood of the population. The construction of canals and ditches helped the development of agriculture and provided reliable water for crops.[3]
Canals and ditches served as important transportation routes, facilitating the movement of goods and people between different regions. They also supported commercial activities by transporting goods through waterways and enhancing economic exchange within the state. In addition to their economic benefits, ditches and canals also served strategic purposes in terms of defense and security. They helped strengthen the defenses of cities, provided a natural barrier against potential invasions, and contributed to the overall security of the state.[4]
Amir Temur and the Timurids paid great attention to agriculture, which played a key role in the country’s economic life, and irrigation, which was its basis. By the middle of the 14th century, land development began in Movarounnahr and Khorasan. Amir Temur paid particular attention to the irrigation and development of the Samarkand oasis. 72 villages were supplied with water by irrigation networks such as Abirakhmat, Bazar, Korand and Nahri Jadid. Amir Temur built water facilities not only in Movarunnahr, but also in Khorasan, Iran, and the Caucasus. By his decree, the Bodon ankhor or Barlos stream in the Caucasus was established in the Murgob oasis and near Kabul. [5]
After conquering Khurasan in 1381, Amir Temur tried to provide water to Marv region. Each of the generals and state officials separately led the digging of the canal and called it by name. According to Hafizi Abro, the names of Dilkusho, Davlatshah Jondor, Gulbogon, Hasan Jondor, , Sahdak, Purdor, Ali Malik, Aq Bugo, Davlatshah bihisht, Sanjidak, , Kebekchi yurtchi, Kutlug Khatun are mentioned among these channels. The Barlos canal from the Araks river was considered one of the major irrigation facilities of the time. Its length is 10 farsakhs (60-70 km).[10] The isolation of ships in this channel plays an important role in trade relations. In the first half of the 15th century, during the reigns of Shahrukh and Ulugbek in Movarounnahr and Khorasan, irrigation networks expanded. During this period, the Timurids and their regional governors built large irrigation facilities in Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, Marv oases, Tus Valley and Herat and its surroundings, and the water supply was fundamentally improved. One of the largest irrigation works carried out during the Timurid era was the restoration of the ancient Angor Canal on the Zarafshan River in the Samarkand oasis.[8]
Through this canal, which is considered the largest irrigation network of its time, part of the water of the Zarafshan River was discharged into the Kashkadarya oasis, and the surrounding areas were supplied with water. It is known from the archaeological research conducted along the ancient irrigated lands of Bukhara, that the water farms destroyed by the Mughal invasion were restored by the 15th century.[11]
During the reign of Ulugbek (1409-1449), water was released to the Samonjuk steppe, which is located in the southeastern part of the Bukhara oasis, and new lands were reduced. Due to the restoration by Shahrukh of Sultanband, the headwaters of the Murgob river, which was destroyed during the Mughal invasion, and the cleaning of irrigation networks, the water supply of the city of Marv and the Murgob oasis was radically improved. During the reign of Husayn Boygaro, a large area of land was irrigated and improved due to the construction of a new canal from Harirud on his initiative. [9]
Summary:
In general, the canals and canals built during the reign of Amir Temur and the Timurids were important infrastructure projects that played a multifaceted role in the kingdom’s agriculture, urban planning, trade, and security. Their construction reflected the advanced engineering capabilities of the Timurid dynasty and the strategic vision of managing water resources for the benefit of the population and the entire state.[7]
References:
1. Boboyev Kh.B. Amir Temur and the kingdom of the Timurids. – T.: Kamalak, 1996. – 200 p.[1]
2. Azimov E. The reign of Amir Temur. – T.: Literature and Art Publishing House, 1996. -88 p.[2]
3. Akhmedov B. Two words about Timur’s tukuz // Eastern star. -T. 1989. – #8. – B. 132. [3]
4. Akhmedov N., Badirov A. Introduction to the history of Amir Temur and the Timurid period (text of lectures). – Samarkand: Zarafshan, 1999. – 74 p.[4]
5. Lucien Keren. The reign of Amir Temur. B. Ermatov, author of translation and comments from French. – T.: Manaviyat, 1999. – 224 p. [5]
6. Proceedings of the II Republican Scientific-Theoretical Conference on Amir Temur’s World History b-219[6]
7. Materials of the Republican scientific-practical conference on Amir Temur – the great general and statesman T; 2023 [7]
8. Z. Saidboboyev Historical geography T:.2010. -125b [8]
9. History of land-water relations in Uzbekistan T:.2023. 182b [9]
10. AMIR TEMUR IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD T:. Sharq publishing house 2001. -102b [10]
11. Nizamiddin Shami Zafarnoma T:. Publishing House of Uzbekistan 1996. -154b [11]
Essay from Leslie Lisbona
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
I walked briskly west to 40th and Sixth to catch the F train home to Queens, where I lived with my parents. It was already dark and cold even though it was only 4pm, early for me to be leaving the bank, where I had worked for six years, since I turned 24.
In the station, there were a lot of people on the platform. An empty train arrived, and I got a seat. Commuters hung over me, so I bent my head down to my paperback copy of Wuthering Heights. It had been my mom’s favorite book when she was a girl. I was midway through, engrossed in the story of Catherine and Heathcliff.
I loved imagining my mom young. It wasn’t difficult, even though I came late in her life. We had so many black-and-white pictures from her youth in Lebanon, where I could tell she had lots of friends and was clowning in almost every shot. In one she hung upside-down on a metal bar; in others she was skiing, swimming, and sticking out her tongue.
In junior high, I used to think that if somehow my mom and I were classmates, she wouldn’t choose me as a friend. I would run through every possible scenario where we might become friends and turn over in my bed with a sinking feeling that it could never happen.
In school I was bookish and had only one or two friends. We wondered how we could become like the popular girls, but it seemed out of our reach.
My mom was popular even at age 66. She had many friends. She oozed charm and wit. Maybe it was because she was my mother, but I saw her as the vibrant center of any gathering. I admired the magnetism in her.
The subway car screeched to a halt as someone stepped on my black ballet flat. I looked up. It was my mother.
She never took the subway anymore. When I was a teenager, she was nearly choked in the turnstile by a mugger trying to grab her gold chain, which wouldn’t break. Instead she drove a Caprice Classic with velvet blue seats.
I couldn’t believe I was seeing her under the florescent lights of the subway car, amidst the advertisements for clear skin and hemorrhoid creams. She wore dangling earrings and looked glamorous. She seemed out of place, out of context in her stylish coat and high-heeled boots.
“Mom,” I said, loud enough for many to take notice.
“Lellybelle!” she said with a smile that embraced me.
I stood up, grabbed her arms, turned her in coordinated baby steps, and placed her in my seat. “What are you doing on the subway?” I asked
“My car broke down on 57th Street,” she said, brushing her brown hair out of her face.
She had been at a bridge tournament that day with her friend Mireille. She played all kinds of card games and was good at them. As we headed home together from the Forest Hills subway station along 108th Street, she told me that when she was walking down Lexington Avenue, she was overcome by perspiration, so much so that she went into a coffee shop and got napkins to wipe down her panty-hosed legs. “That’s weird,” I said. “Maybe you should go to a doctor.”
“Don’t be ridiculous” she said.
Instantly I stopped being ridiculous. We made a right on 68th Drive and were finally home.
Two days later, my mother collapsed.
That night as she was dying on the floral couch of our house, my sister, Debi, cradling her until the EMS arrived, I was on the subway. The trains were delayed. I got out at my exit; the air was arctic, my boots crunching on the snow, my breath visible in the night sky. Walking along 108th Street, I hopped aside as an ambulance went by, lights flashing and sirens wailing. I didn’t know it was racing down side streets to save my mother. I came home while they were trying to get her to breathe. A machine was doing it for her, and the ambulance took her to the hospital, but she was never able to wake up and breathe on her own. Four days later, declared brain dead, the apparatus was unplugged. For those four nights, my brother Dorian stood vigil at the foot of her bed.
Dorian and I left the hospital and made the arrangements at the funeral home and cemetery for a burial in the morning. That night, I fell into bed exhausted and depleted and finally went to sleep. I dreamed I was in bed with my mom having coffee. We were in her bedroom, which for some reason was on the first floor instead of the second, and we were wearing our nightgowns. Her gold bangles chimed as she lifted the cup from the saucer to drink. The doorbell rang. It was a couple, friends of my parents, a box of pastries in their hands. “Who was it?” my mom asked. “Valley and Marco,” I said and showed her all the goodies as if we had won a prize. As I was climbing back into the bed and getting settled for a grasse matinee, the doorbell rang again. “What’s going on?” my mom asked. I shrugged, ran to get the door to find more of her friends, and then got back into her bed. But as I snuggled next to her, smelling her smells, I realized that her friends, whom I’d known all my life, had looked at me with pity.
After the funeral, the friends who had populated my dream came to our door. It was the first night of the shiva. The friends had food just like in the dream, but my dream had been kinder.
I didn’t pick up Wuthering Heights again until the shiva was over and I had to go back to work. On the subway that morning, seated on the hard plastic orange seat, I opened the book to where I had left off.
The next chapter was the funeral of Catherine. I gasped. How had I stopped reading just before that point? Catherine saw Heathcliff again and was sick with regret. But I didn’t expect her to die. The shock of it made me cough out a sob. I closed the book and gathered myself. My mom was gone, brutally taken from me, like an excision. Here I was on the train, after an interruption of 10 days, going back to the mundane advertisements overhead like nothing had happened. But I had changed. I didn’t know how to be. I didn’t know how I was going to continue my life without my mother in it. I wasn’t ready to read a book and be in the subway. I wished I could look up and see her again, right there, stepping on my foot. My mom was in the hard cold ground in a cemetery in Queens, snow already covering her grave. The finality was savage.
My stop was next. I got up to leave the train, and with one last searching look, I stood clear of the closing doors.