“If there is a silver lining to the horrific global pandemic, it is that extensive lockdowns have taught me to reconsider my immediate surroundings as possible sources of inspiration for abstract photography. In particular, the light coming into my rooms has provided multiple opportunities for atypical composition via my little handheld iPhone. “Emerging Idea” is actually a view through a privacy film on a household window. The bubble formation reminds me of cells, and the bright light leading to greenery suggests fruitful illumination.”

Janis Butler Holm served as Associate Editor for Wide Angle, the film journal, and currently works as a writer and editor in sunny Los Angeles. Her prose, poems, art, and performance pieces have appeared in small-press, national, and international magazines. Her plays have been produced in the U.S., Canada, Russia, and the U.K.

The post “Emerging Idea” by Janis Butler Holm first appeared on Prachya Review.

As Prachya Review embraces the theme of green—symbolizing growth and renewal—the selected poems, stories, and artworks vividly capture this motif. The story tells a journey from grief to renewal that parallels spring’s arrival, embodying life’s rejuvenation. Flash fictions explore themes of love, possibility, personal growth, and confidence, each promising new beginnings in sync with spring. The poems reflect on loss, love, death, struggle, and trauma- all intertwined with nature’s cycle. Artworks convey profound messages, emphasizing that art speaks volumes even without words.

These pieces celebrate green’s significance in fostering physical, mental, and spiritual growth. Just as spring revitalizes the natural world, these narratives inspire readers to embrace their own journeys of healing and transformation, echoing the lush, renewing essence of green.

Images used for the stories and poems are AI-generated.

Editorial Board: Shafinur Shafin and Nrutyangana Mahapatra 

PR Head: Ian Craven

Contents:

Prose:

“Spring is Hope” by Meenakshi Gogoi

“February” by Rituparna Mukherjee

“Greening Up” by Sreelekha Chatterjee

Translated Story:

“The chakra” by Mahrin Ferdous translated by Rajib Mahmud

Poetry:

Poems by Ann Iverson

Poems by Helen Finney

Poems by Shruti Sareen

Poems by Dee Allen

“Cherry Blossom” by Lucas Zulu

“Despair” by Hanh Chau

“Leaves” by Tina Meeks

“Amorous Glow” by Md Mujib Ullah

“Recognition” by Peycho Kanev

“Again” by Sheila E Murphy

“November Nova” by Ed Brickell

“Green Grow” by John Grey

Artwork:

Artwork by Cynthia Yatchman

Artwork and Poem by Irina Tall

The post Editorial April, 2024 first appeared on Prachya Review.

Carnivorous Cavern

Water swirled, milled around, whispered,
roared. Eroded. Penetrating the deep cracks
of earth. As deep as roots of trees.
Water that came from far away frozen icelands
where sheet upon sheet of ice melted,
under the glare of the hot burning sweltering sun
and gases which made the earth nauseous
and turned it sick into water. An abundance of water
now filled the oceans. The first floods were in the oceans. 
The oceans overspilled their boundaries,
encroached upon land. The oceans ate up the land.
The swirling waters were persistent. They loosened
up the earth, the soil swept it into the ocean.
And the water created a cavern. Below the tree.
A cavern of roots, always buried in the earth,
suddenly exposed to air. A cavern with roots as temple pillars, 
which humans had pillaged and pilloried. The water ate up the land.
Underground roots were now exposed to air.
The tree still clung on desperately to its roots,
to life. Resisting gravity. Resisting being swept out into the ocean,
 resisting death. Its frail tenacity is combating men.

About the Poet:

Shruti Sareen, born and brought up in Varanasi, studied at Rajghat Besant School, KFI. Graduating in English from Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, she later earned a PhD from the same university, titled “Indian Feminisms in the 21^st Century: Women’s Poetry in English” based on which two monographs from Routledge are forthcoming. Her debut poetry collection, A Witch Like You, was published by Girls on Key Poetry (Australia) in 2021. Her fictional memoir The Yellow Wall is forthcoming. She is working on a series of love-letters, Sapphic Epistles(?), as well as a collection of speculative fiction, Berserk Banshees(?). She was an invited poet at global poetry festival, hosted by Russia, Poeisia-21.  She lives and teaches in New Delhi– whenever she manages to get a job! So far, she has mainly taught in Dyal Singh College, Delhi University, and at Jamia Millia Islamia. 

The post Poems by Shruti Sareen first appeared on Prachya Review.

About the Poet:

Tina Meeks is a Bay Area born poet and event coordinator. In 2018, she self-published her first book, Adolescence. Tina has also published work with Rigorous Mag, Nnoko African Literature, and  UMOJA: ToPoJo Black Diaspora Edition, and several others. You may also find her juggling, adventuring, and getting involved with film projects that pique interest and strike her fancies.

The post Leaves by Tina Meeks first appeared on Prachya Review.