Ramona

She looks at me like this…

as if her pupils could pierce flesh

as if I were a little transparent

through her eyes, her tin gaze is laid bare,

and the rust on her hands

dissolves in pure surrender

She looks at me like this…

as if to touch my heart she didn’t ask permission

She looks at me like this…

from the depths, with her sweet gaze

as if her composure were made of air

and at each point of the weld

among sparks, one had set fire

to her scrap metal life.

She looks at me like this…

Bending her tired back

Drawing her smile between teeth like screws

Searching among the cold figure of her body

for the wandering lines of her bones

She doesn’t need flesh to live

nor blood nor organs

she has a feverish soul of sheet metal and silence

A loneliness of hugs and kisses

She looks at me like this…

Exhausted from so much falling and getting up

leaving between her twisted bends

a heart shining in her wire-like figure.

María Cecilia Mazza Born in San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina, on October 16, 1979, she resides in the town of Pampa Blanca. She has published two books of her own poems, narratives, and drawings: 2017: Corazón de Escarcha (Heart of Frost) 2018: ISAURA She participates in meetings and congresses in different parts of the country and was invited by Norma Domancich to the Juan Botana Poetry Festival. Anthology “International Free Writer I” (International Free Writer Association I) Board of Directors of Esteban Echeverría.

The Mountain’s Cry

The mountain was robbed of its companionship,

the trees were razed, the grass withered.

The barren earth, without leaves, flowers, or insects,

cries out to the heavens in its sorrow, but no one hears it.

On the summit remains a living being,

a bird has walked.

has traveled in search of someone

to hear its song,

only the echo answers it in a distant sound.

The grass, in its fervor, grows again,

it has not lost hope,

 it dresses in green, shows off its attire

and longs to bloom.

The motionless snow watches

a flower and a bird

that walks without rest,

while the white flower

grows in its silence.

Aura Echeverri Uribe, Colombian. Writer of novels, short stories, and poems. I have published fourteen books: Six novels and eight books of short stories. My first book of poems is with the publisher and will be published soon, and I am currently writing a novel.

LESSON

Wherever I look

I’m take lesson from

Even from the tree

Even from the bird

I hear a sound

Firstly slower than

Then it gets faster

Thundering

It’s raining

People running away

Rain stopping

Rainbow coming out

And people

Being happy

From this life.

Türkan Ergör, Sociologist, Philosopher, Writer, Poet, Art Photography Model. Türkan Ergör was born in 19 March 1975 in city Çanakkale, Turkey. She was selected International “Best Poet 2020”. She was selected International “Best Poet, Author/Writer 2021”. She was selected International “Best Poet, Writer/Author 2022”. She was awarded the FIRST PRIZE FOR THE OUTSTANDING AUTHOR IN 2022. She was awarded the 2023 “Zheng Nian Cup” “National Literary First Prize” by Beijing Awareness Literature Museum. She was awarded the “Certificate of Honor and Appreciation” and “Crimean Badge” by İSMAİL GASPRİNSKİY SCIENCE AND ART ACADEMY. She was awarded the “14k Gold Pen Award” by ESCRITORES SIN FRONTERAS ORGANIZACIÓN INTERNACIONAL.

VIOLIN

Rehearsing a melody

A radiant young teenager,

dressed up in her room,

practicing her violin.

And so, appearing at a concert,

to which she was invited, the teenager

is a self-confident person.

That she doesn’t give up easily,

since the instrument requires practice

to achieve her goal is a fact, in fact,

she has even become a popular artist,

making music her main theme.

When listening to her, you could notice

the emotions of the audience

as the young woman stood

on stage and won over

everyone present,

thanks to the violin as

the main instrument

or supporting character

in the performance, the violin

is poised to become the star of the evening,

and the young woman is the most notable

for having used the violin as an instrument in recent times.

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.”

Slough

The snail shell scatters

Some pick it up some throw it away

Though mine is not like your beautiful eyes

I find the beauty under the morning nyctanthes plants

In your sky, all around the down

In the frangrant morning breeze

What a tune! All the flowers and birds seem to be singing

All the words of life, love and fun are revealed

Life is a reflection of life

Through the darkness of the shell

Hundreds of thousands of lamps emerges daily

What a beautiful, shiny shell of a snail emerges in the raw sunlight!

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 the 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 published in Synchronized Chaos for seven years.

Mrs. Ufere 

Mrs Ufere said you were the best pupil in the whole school but why didn’t you buy her a gift like some of the other pupils did? Like some of their parents did? It was the last day in school. Everyone was leaving, and many people were buying gifts, but Mrs Ufere wasn’t angry or upset. She was just smiling, and you wondered if there was more she wanted to say.You and Mrs Ufere had been like mother and son. You took the first position for the whole three terms with almost-impossible average scores ranging from 96. You wrote the notes on the black board even when Mrs Ufere was in class.

One day the headmaster saw you and marveled, and you would know that he kept thinking about you because the day you came to take your school testimonial, he went into his office, packed out children’s novels and books that were labelled ‘Not to be sold or given out’ and he gave them to you. Eddie Iro’s Without A Silver Spoon was one of the novels he gave you, a novel that teaches about honesty in the midst of hardships. Riverside Primary School molded you, shaped you.

For two years before you came out, you marked tests which only teachers marked. You helped Mrs Ufere write the results into report cards. You knew who took which position in class at the end of every school term. You always took the first position of course, but then you knew who took second, third, fourth and so on. You also knew that Mrs Ufere was a member of The Cherubim And Seraphim Church, a church which many people considered very strange.

Mrs Ufere held your hand as you two walked towards the class from the headmaster’s office. And both of you knew it would be the last time you would really hold hands, because very soon you would leave, and you won’t see Mrs Ufere again.

Isaac Dominion Aju is a Best Of The Net Nominee who lives in Nigeria. He’s appeared on Poetry X Hunger and Flapper Press. His work appears in the upcoming anthology by African Narratives Writing Program.

HUNGRY FIRE  

Here is a debutante 

Burning on a hungry fire

That is sparkling and searing 

Chewing the nerves in her chest 

Gulping the blood in her spleen 

Though not satiated 

The fire is hissing like the sound a snake might make

Symbol of hungriness written on the wall of her hub

Designed by blue flames 

She feels the hungry fire burning and burning 

The fire to flow like water that flows in the ocean 

The fire to glow like a candle that glows in the dark 

The fire to sparkle like freshly fallen snow that sparkles in winter 

This fire is felt not seen 

I feel hungry fire burning in me too.

Aisha MLabo writes from Katsina, Nigeria and is a Law student of Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Katsina, Nigeria.