Poetry from Don Bormon

Young South Asian teen with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a white collared shirt with a school emblem on the breast.
Don Bormon
An ant

In the garden so small, yet bold,
An ant navigates, steadfast and old.
Tiny feet upon the earth they roam,
Seeking crumbs and treasures to bring home.

With strength not seen by a simple glance,
They carry burdens, they advance.
A colony working as one,
Their tasks in harmony, never undone.

Their homes underground, a bustling maze,
Where life's intricate dance always plays.
In unison, they toil and strive,
Their unity makes them truly thrive.

Oh, to be like the ant, small but strong,
To persevere when the journey seems long.
A testament to diligence and might,
The ant embodies a resilient light.

Don Bormon is a student of grade 9 in Harimohan Government High School, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh.

Poetry from Azemina Krehic

Young light skinned woman with long ragged dark hair, brown eyes, and a low cut top.
Azemina Krehic

THEN WHEN DEATH LAUGHED AT US

Under the cold, our fingers shrink like lips before the astringency

while we are biting into fresh quinces.

We push our palms into the deep openings of the coats

 – everyone in their warm pocket fireplaces,

earlobes and nose tips are witnessing the sharpness of the wind,

saying; Hurry home,

so we don’t stand here,

 it’s always cooler by the water!

 Don’t come back to hug me,

I’ll see you another day.

Now, hurry and get up there,

it’s cold by the water!

Azemina Krehić was born on October 14, 1992 in Metković, Republic of Croatia. Winner of several international awards for poetry, including: Award of university professors in Trieste, 2019.,„Mak Dizdar“ award, 2020. Award of the Publishing Foundation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2021. „Fra Martin Nedić“ Award, 2022. She is represented in several international anthologies of poetry.

Poetry from Faleeha Hassan

Young Central Asian woman with a green headscarf and a dark colored blouse and brown hair and eyes.
Faleeha Hassan
Home from School

Whenever I’m late returning from school,
I must withdraw a fish from the river’s pocket
And offer it to the
Oil in the frying pan!
I devise a street—exactly like those in China—flooded with masses of passersby
And picture myself crammed onto it,
Waiting for the green light
Before I walk.
I draw a storm,
To carry me away,
Another one to lift my books,
And a third, a sandstorm, to make the scene more intense.
……………………….
But as easily as a cloud,
I sit in the corner there,
On a bench by a pink door,
Listening to a vendor cry:
“Stork Eggs! Bayd al-Laqlaq !” 1
He passes

1 Bayd al-Laqlaq is a candy made from sugar and flavorings. The vendor carries them in a basket
while singing: “The stork soared and flew off. It attacked the headman’s house.”

2

Near houses
That haven’t yet been stilled by a key’s sigh.
I rest my head on the sun’s palm
And watch
The stork’s fluttering wing
Spray
Sugar confetti
On the roofs
Of the street’s houses!

Faleeha Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, writer, and playwright born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1967, who now lives in the United States. Faleeha was the first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq. She received her master's degree in Arabic literature, and has now published 26 books, her poems have been translated into English, Turkmen, Bosnian, Indian, French, Italian, German, Kurdish, Spain, Korean, Greek, Serbia, Albanian, Pakistani, Romanian, Malayalam, Chinese,
ODIA, Nepali and Macedonian language. 

She is a Pulitzer Prize Nominee for 2018
PushCart Prize Nominee for 2019.
Member of International Writers and Artists Association.
Winner of the Women of Excellence Inspiration award from SJ magazine 2020,
Winner of the Grand Jury Award (the Sahitto International Award for Literature 2021)
One of the Women of Excellence selection committees 2023
Winner of women the arts award 2023
Member of Whos’ Who in America 2023

SAHITTO AWARD, JUDGING PANEL 2023
Cultural Ambassador - Iraq, USA
Email : d.fh88@yahoo.com

Poetry from Mirta Liliana Ramirez

Older middle aged Latina woman with short reddish brown hair, light brown eyes, and a grey blouse.
Mirta Liliana Ramirez
Heart
 
To my heart 
they have hurt him 
hundred times.
 
Treachery 
tore it apart, 
The deception 
shook him. 
disloyalty 
made him bleed... 
But nothing 
he annihilated him. 

With pain he beat 
and again 
but he did not succumb. 
always 
reborn 
showing me 
that exist 
beautiful things 
by which 
it's worth living. 

The ones that hurt 
must be left behind 
as experience 
that I must not repeat.

Mirta Liliana Ramírez has been a poet and writer since she was 12 years old. She has been a Cultural Manager for more than 35 years. Creator and Director of the Groups of Writers and Artists: Together for the Letters, Artescritores, MultiArt, JPL world youth, Together for the letters Uzbekistan 1 and 2. She firmly defends that culture is the key to unite all the countries of the world. She works only with his own, free and integrating projects at a world cultural level. She has created the Cultural Movement with Rastrillaje Cultural and Forming the New Cultural Belts at the local level and also from Argentina to the world.

Poetry from Mahbub Alam

Middle aged South Asian man with reading glasses, short dark hair, and an orange and green and white collared shirt. He's standing in front of a lake with bushes and grass in the background.
Mahbub Alam

Vow

The world is a vow
To keep our promise to the Creator
We have our beauty of eyes
Inner and outer
The sight around
What teaches us?
To learn and obey the plan made for us
Our daily performance
Who is not charmed?
From the beginning of our birth 
We have gradually felt a sense of love and to be loved
Love for the self and standing before the mirror
For the sky and the stars twinkling at night, my dear, a soft call
What a vow to each other and for all!
Cultivating in our hearts in the field of work
Though broken frequently, so what?
We have come here with a word so touching, Vow. 


Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh,
12 January, 2024.

 

Md. Mahbubul Alam is from Bangladesh. His writer name is Mahbub John in Bangladesh. He is a Senior Teacher (English) of Harimohan Government High School, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh. Chapainawabganj is a district town of Bangladesh. He is an MA in English Literature from Rajshahi College under National University. He has published three books of poems in Bangla. He writes mainly poems but other branches of literature such as prose, article, essay etc. also have been published in national and local newspapers, magazines, little magazines. He has achieved three times Best Teacher Certificate and Crest in National Education Week in the District Wise Competition in Chapainawabganj District. He has gained many literary awards from home and abroad. His English writings have been being published in an International Online Magazine - Synchronized Chaos from America for seven years. 

Poetry from Elmaya Jabbarova

White woman with long black hair and a black blouse with flowers on it.
Elmaya Jabbarova
Long live Azerbaijan! 

Your circulation is moving, 
Your flag is waving In its original place. 
Long live Azerbaijan! 
You are a savior, a hero, 
You are this day of the past 
In the hearts of our people. 
Long live Azerbaijan! 
His love, his love, 
Nation, people, 
When you carry it. 
Long live Azerbaijan! 
The world has sympathy, 
To his just judgment, 
There is fire in your coat of arms, 
Long live Azerbaijan! 
You have a geographical location, 
Scandalous fate, 
To the east of the aspects, 
Long live Azerbaijan! 
Thankfully, in the world, 
There is - in addition to the state, 
Within countries, 
Long live Azerbaijan!

Elmaya Jabbarova was born in Azerbaijan. She is a poet, writer, reciter, and translator.
Her poems were published in the regional newspapers «Shargin sesi», «Ziya», «Hekari», literary collections «Turan», «Karabakh is Azerbaijan!», «Zafar», «Buta», foreign Anthologies «Silk Road Arabian Nights», «Nano poem for Africa», «Juntos por las Letras 1;2», «Kafiye.net» in Turkey, in the African's CAJ magazine, Bangladesh's Red Times magazine, «Prodigy Published» magazine. She performed her poems live on Bangladesh Uddan TV, at the II Spain Book Fair 1ra Feria Virtual del Libro Panama, Bolivia, Uruguay, France, Portugal, USA.