With Notes of Irony

Call it dogged by bad luck.
Call it a fool’s prophecy.
Call it fate lighting a cigarette
after it fucks you in the arse.
Call it an albatross around your neck.
Call it an ancestral curse.

Blame it on crossing paths with a black cat.
Blame it on your astrological sign.
Blame it on the neighbour who dabbles
in witchcraft. Blame it on the devil.
Blame it on your treacherous spouse
for opening an umbrella
inside the house. Blame it on a bad penny.
Blame it on a broken mirror.
Blame it on the politician you elected.
Blame it on old age.
Blame it on the youth of today.

Say to yourself you deserve it all.
Say it with gusto.
Say it’s one giant goat rodeo.
Say it’s too late to turn it around.
Say it while donning the paint of a tragic clown.
Say it with self-entitlement.

But for pity’s sake, never say
it’s the sum of your choices.

FLOURISHING POINT

Few people flourish at one point of time because of their past concrete Deeds, but, at the same time, people criticize such people mercilessly for any gain without useful strategy.

EARNING FOR SUFFERANCE

People earn money for self and family happiness, but there will be no sight of happiness seen anywhere in their life, rather such people land in more & more problems with complicated tax evasion cases and ultimately such people suffer for want of peace of mind.

STRUGGLE FOR PEACE OF MIND

I don’t think so, there is Peace of Mind for any person. If anybody say’s so he has, it is sure such person is bluffing with an eye on some favor. But, it is sure that Peace of Mind cannot be purchased, but one will get the Peace of Mind by virtue of his/her good character deeds and discipline in life.

IMAGE TARNISH

The brand image of a person cannot be tarnished by anybody other than himself/herself, if his/her deeds, character and antecedents are not good.

STRATEGY FAILURE

I can’t blame anybody for my own failures, but, during the success period, had I maintained good financial management discipline and good public relations, the failure should have not dared to reach me, if my strategy in management and execution of projects was good.

NO FREE MEAL

One can’t work for free as there is no free-meal, but, free-meal can’t be given for free as at the end of the free-meal, management may ask for little donation like fund for use of developmental activities.

QUALITY OF FOOD

In olden days, the quality of food items was so good that peoples’ longevity was 100 years; whereas, these days lack of quality of food items makes the longevity to 50 years, it’s all because of adulterations and bad habits, as is evident these days.

PATIENCE IN LONG QUEUES

People can’t wait in long queues at ATMs, Banks and at Cinema Theatres, but, people wait in long queues for long hours at Temples to have a one minute God’s darshan, as this is linked to sentiment.

SATISFACTION MEMORIES

The broken stones represent the broken failures, but, molded stones are the success and concrete diamond stones.

——————–

MANTRI PRAGADA MARKANDEYULU, Litt.D.,

Poet, Novelist, Song and Story Writer (The Scholar)

B. Com, DBM, PGDCA, DCP,

(Visited Nairobi-Kenya, East Africa)

His honors and awards:

International Achievement Award in Authorship from IPRH, Philippines and Bangladesh.

·         Birland Government honored me with a One Pound Postage Stamp as an official Poet.

·         Global Honorary Advisor, Federation of World Cultural and Arts Society (FOWCASS), Singapore.

·         CIVIC EXCELLENCE AWARD 2022 FROM UHE, PERU

·         Rabindranath Tagore Literary Honor 2022

            (Government of Seychelles, Motivational Strips and SIPAY Journal)

·         CESAR VALLEJO AWARD 2021, 2022 and 2023 (3 Years) UHE, Peru for Literary Excellence WORLD WRITERS’ UNION Peru

·         Gujarat Sahitya Academy and Motivational Strips LITERARY EXCELLENCE Honor

·         Honored with “Royal Kutai Mulawarman Peace International Institute, Philippines”

·         Royal Success International Book of Records 2019 Honor, Hyderabad-

·         The Silver Shield Award from UHE, Peru for my Literary Excellence 2021.

·         2021 GOLDEN EAGLE WORLD AWARD FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE, Peru.

·         The Scholar, Institute of Scholars Research Excellence Award-2020, Bangalore (India)

·         Hon. Doctorate in Literature from ITMUT, Brazil. (2019)

·         State of Birland at Bir Tawil Recognized Poet

 …………

·         Mr. Mantri Pragada Markandeyulu, Litt.D., is a retired Public Sector Enterprise Officer from Hyderabad (India).

·         He is the Deputy-Editor-In-Chief of www.petruska-nastamba.com (Serbia/Belgrade) eMagazine.

·         He is the Editorial Committee Member of THE PANACHE, eMagazine from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India (https://www.aadhyapublication.in)

·         He has worked in few News Papers (English) in Editorial Department.

·         He is also the Trainer in Motivational Management Programs.

·         He has published 75+ books with ISBN (Stories, Novels, Poems, Articles, Short Stories, Quotes etc) English/Telugu.

·         His stories are useful for making Movies, TV series, Web Series.

Address: Plot No. 37, Anupuram, ECIL Post, Hyderabad-500062 Telangana State – India

+91-9951038802, +91-8186945103, Email: mrkndyl@gmail.com, Twitter: @mrkndyl68

Domestic Air Travel



He’s at

The airport now,

He hasn’t flown

In about

Four years,

A combination

Of Covid

And his London,

As he enters

The airport,

The first thing

He hears

Is one of his

Fellow Americans

Asking what

A terminal is.







Taylor Dibbert is a writer, journalist, and poet in Washington, DC. He’s author of the Peace Corps memoir “Fiesta of Sunset,” and his debut poetry collection is due out later this year.

   The winter rains 
   
   Rains appear all of a sudden
     In the middle of January
    Spilling into 
    A winter of dry coughs
    Wetted by grief
   An unseasonal spell 
   Brings it all out  
   
    
    The rains pound 
    Drowning winter bloom
   Before they slow down 
    Every now and then
    You can hear the sorrow 
    In puddles of muck in your front yard 
   Even inside your kitchen 
     
   The sound of a spatula 
    With a thin edge 
   Narrow blades 
    Without an omelet 
    Inside an empty pan
    Just flipping sadness 
   On a medium flame 

Vandana Kumar is a French teacher, translator, recruitment consultant, Indie Film Producer, cinephile and poet residing in New Delhi, India. Her poems have been published in national and international websites, journals and anthologies of repute. Her cinema articles appear regularly in ‘Just-cinema’ and ‘The Daily Eye’. She was a jury member for the ‘All India Poetry Competition’ organized by ‘Cocoa-Butter’ and also co-edited their debut print anthology that resulted from this competition. Her debut collection of poems ‘Mannequin Of Our Times’ was published in February 2023. The book has been awarded The Panorama International Book Award 2023.