About the Poet:
Shodiyeva Mehribon Amin was born in 1998 in the Shofirkon district of the Bukhara region. The young artist’s poems have been published several times in newspapers and magazines such as “Shofirkon ovozi”, “Buxoroyi Sharif”, “Istiqlol g’unchalari”, “Buxoro adabiyoti va san’ati”, “Bilimdon”, “Dono word”. Collections entitled “Nurli manzillar”, “Beg’ubor orzular” have been published. Currently, she is an independent student of the Bukhara State Pedagogical Institute.

The post Poem by Shodiyeva Mehribon Amin first appeared on Prachya Review.

About the Poet:
Herb Kitson is professor emeritus in English-University of Pittsburgh-Titusville-Pennsylvania-USA.  Poems of his in The Atlanta Review, Ballast, Comstock Review, New York Quarterly, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Poetry East, Rattle, Witness, Yankee, Pearl, et al. In print, he has two books  and two chapbooks. 

The post Poem by Herb Kitson   first appeared on Prachya Review.

Bumblebee Gold 

The gold medal goes
To flower’d pollinator:
Humble bumblebee

* Traditional haiku are untitled

Cattails, Haunts and Swales

Call it slew, marsh or swale
Reed mace or cattail
The bogs and the bulrushes call

Haints of mojo, hoodoo
Wraiths and spirits call you
Their mystery and magic enthrall

‘Cross the bayou, moans, low
Loons speak out a rondeau 
Sing to us their plaintive tattoo

As the eve’ yields to dusk
Curtain’s rung down for us
‘Til next eve, ghostly scenes come anew

Artworks: “Marauder, Trickster, Thief” (watercolor on paper), “Dressed in Layers” (mixed media on paper), “Vanishing Point” (watercolor on paper) by Melinda Hicks

About the Poet and Artist:
Melinda Hicks (Artist) has a camera, a collection of “collage stuff” and a vision for art.  Mix these elements with water + color, and something magical happens: visions flow off the tips of her brushes onto paper, and art is created. Melinda’s paintings are based upon photos she takes on walks, from the car and while traveling, as well as painting plein air; she works mainly in watercolor, with collage pieces to add depth. Melinda lives in Fairhope, AL with her dedicated “art critic” husband Donald and her trusty art buddy, Lady Bug, their cat. 

Mike Turner (Writer) is a songwriter and poet living on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Named Male Gospel Entertainer of the Year by the North America Country Music Associations International (2017), his original songs have received radio and streaming play in the U.S., UK, Europe, Australia and on the US Armed Forces Radio Network. Mike has had over 350 poems published in more than 70 journals and anthologies; his poem, “Sense of Peace,” won the Alabama Writers’ Cooperative’s 2023 Roger Williams Peace Prize. His book, Visions and Memories, is available from Amazon.

The post Collab by Mike Turner & Melinda Hicks first appeared on Prachya Review.

Love of country


At the top of the clear sky,
I have tasted the good fortune of Mozi.
Your history is at the top of the list,
John - I carved it into my soul, from dawn to heart.

Your days are beautiful - my soul,
"Navroz" is the interpretation of love.
The sweetness of your food - the worlds are between -
Even "Palovtora" is a fire of languages.

Your great figures are my great history,
The world has recognized the news of thousands of centuries.
Your prayers have come true,
In the interpretation of the world - the name is saffron!

We didn't know what love was -
Summer and winter of homesickness.
The whole body is pale with pain -
We learned from Babur - LOVE OF THE COUNTRY.

I will be the soul in your veins,
There are tears in your eyes.
If I say praise - my word is triumphant,
You are the light of hearts, you are the sun, the sun!

About the Poet:
Mahzuna Habibova Aʼzam kizi. She was born on October 10, 1998 in Jondor district, Bukhara region. Currently a student of Gulistan State University. In Uzbekistan, his first book called “Lines of Longing” was published. In this book “I sing my country” there are poems for our readers about the homeland, love for the homeland, love, friendship, nature, parents. We think that the book will surely take a place in your heart.

The post Poem by Mahzuna Habibova Aʼzam first appeared on Prachya Review.

On Waking One Day in October

This day breaks without a name
to mark it from any other. It sneaks
light along my window’s dark edge,
slinks onto my stage for dreams. 
I linger -- savor the impossible -- 
feats untamed by gravity,
encounters unmoored from time. 
I stretch -- like a timid guest --
fingertips to toes, delicately test
my comfort in this body 
brittle now from use, misuse, 	
disuse. I push 			
up, sit on the edge 			 
of my bed				
not yet ready for today.

Surface Waves 


As a father is dying 

in Key Biscayne,

peaks crest 	

toward shore. Tangles 

of seaweed, broken shells

-- now polished smooth -- litter

the path.  Each wave pairs

with its distant metronome, pushes

shimmering white before muddled 

green.  One wave folds in on itself, 

collapses before landfall. 

Another races to dry sand, 

a darker trace 

all that remains. 

*poems by JC Williams accompanying with one-line drawings by Cassia Williams-Rogers.

About the Poet and Artist:

JC Williams began writing poetry after careers in philosophy and law. In 2022, she participated in AWP’s Writer to Writer Program working with poet Jehanne Dubrow.  JC’s poems have appeared in Months to Years and Songs of Eretz.  Her experiences growing up in the South find their way into many poems.  In addition to poetry, her loves are her partner, their daughter, and tai chi. She currently lives in Maryland.

Cassia Williams-Rogers is a first year MD/PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.  The one-line drawings accompanying these poems are part of an on-going collaboration with JC Williams for a chapbook in which all poems are illustrated and all of the illustrations are connected with one line. The illustrations were drawn by hand using an Apple pencil (2^nd Gen), an iPad Air (5^th Gen) and GoodNotes5. Cassia is passionate about baking, genetics, and her two cats, Yuri and Adi (named after RNA bases U and A).

The post Poetry and Art by JC Williams & Cassia Williams-Rogers first appeared on Prachya Review.

The post Poems by Stephen Mead first appeared on Prachya Review.

MY PAIN

I locked my pain inside the walls
of home and set out on a journey.

I crossed paths and borders with
an old suitcase in my hand. Then
I admired landscapes and green
parks, I cuddled flowers with my
gaze. I saw happy people, heard
children’s cries: cheerful, joyful,
hovering in the blue like flocks
of birds. One evening I returned
home, weary of joy and lights.

I tried to lower my eyelids and
sleep, but it was in vain. Tears
and suffering did not allow me.

The pain of your absence was
waiting in my house. In a few
instants, it entered my soul and
heart, finding its old space again.

I THINK OF YOU

I think of you, despite your frequent
absences in my days, the messages
that go astray, your deep silence;
that is where I often drown myself.

I think of you, even though there are
thousands of reasons not to love you,
to get you out of my life, transform
you into an unforgettable memory.

I’ll take you away with me into the
days of sun and rain; when I rejoice,
you will also rejoice; I’ll despair, and
you will shed tears, too; when I hurt
myself, we’ll both feel the same pain.

I shall shelter you in my body, because
in my soul you’ve found a place long ago.

About the Poet:

IRMA KURTI is an Albanian poet, writer, lyricist, journalist, and translator and has been writing since she was a child. She is a naturalized Italian and lives in Bergamo, Italy. In 2020, she became the honorary president of WikiPoesia, the encyclopedia of poetry. In 2023, she was awarded a Career Award from the Universum Academy Switzerland. She also won the prestigious 2023 Naji Naaman’s Literary Prize for complete work. Irma Kurti has published 29 books in Albanian, 25 in Italian, 15 in English, and two in French. She has also translated 20 books by different authors. Her books have been translated and published in 16 countries.

The post Poems by Irma Kurti first appeared on Prachya Review.

Ocean 

An Ocean is beyond all imagination 
Boundless and unfathomable 
Like mother’s love 
Depth of the ocean is unnerving 
Sight of an ocean stirs up thoughts 
Sound of an ocean is music for the soul 
Waves are like emotions 
Calm at the surface 
Full of turmoil beneath
Horizon is just an illusion 
Like utopia 
Colors of an ocean is reflection of sky 
Like our society is reflection of our actions 
Ocean is a world in itself 
Rivers fear to lose their identity 
as they fall into the ocean
But only when they do 
They become the ocean themselves 
Oceans are exhilarating 
Nothing remains forever inside 
That’s the nature of an ocean 
Salt of ocean 
Brings flavour in life 
Sometimes to anchor 
You need to go to shallow water
Corals are beautiful from far 
Don’t get entangled 
Let the burdens you are carrying
Melt away in the ocean 
Let life flow with the waves 
Let the dreams sail in the ocean 
Let the ocean touch the soul
Let your heart be big like the ocean.

 COSMOS 

The universe swirls and twirls around us
The deep blue universe 
Millions of specks of light 
A   blinding explosive sun 
And a calming orb of night 
The universe swirls and twirls around us 
The entirety of the cosmos lies in what it seems 
to be circular 
The eternal universe and beyond 
Our karma 
Eternal cycle of cause and effect
Reverberates throughout our lives and beyond 
Though our soul is just a minuscule part of the cosmos 
Yet we carry the whole universe within 
The universe swirls and twirls around us 
The cycle of birth and death 
Cycle of seasons 
The formation of a star 
The ripples of water 
Droplets of rain 
A simple circle 
Yet asserting itself unconditionally 
Stable and unstable simultaneously 
The mysteries of the universe 
Are far and beyond imagination 
Either it is a circle or nothing 
What goes around 
Comes around 
The universe swirls and twirls around us 
The black holes 
Form when life cycle of a star ends
Nothing escapes from a black hole 
Circling in the cosmos 
If there be light, then there is darkness
Life is a cycle of everything and nothing 
What starts with circular molecule of life 
Ends into circular something
And the universe swirls and twirls around us.

*All the artworks along with the poems are created by the Poet Pallavi Jain

About the Poet:

Pallavi Jain resident of pearl of gulf, Bahrain for last 10 years, comes from India. Ex-chemistry professor is a bilingual poet. She says nature fuels her imagination and creativity. Multifaceted Pallavi has a distinctive personal style which emanates peace. Her poems reflect her exquisite personality. Her poems has been published in local news papers and in anthologies in India and UK. She is a self-taught passionate artist, home remedy blogger, eco warrior and works for various social causes. Her paintings are ambiguous, general, and abstract as the familiar world around us.

Instagram: bhoomi_our_land

Blog: ybrante.wordpress.com

The post Poetry and Art by Pallavi Jain first appeared on Prachya Review.

Morning of spring as lizards awakened
from quiescent. They had been sleeping for years.
The ants began stretching their legs in a meadow,
where I met a glamour puss I won’t forget its name.
I stared at its vivid wings in awe of its charm.
And looked about as new as a sightseer in a lea.
Its achingly beautiful hue bewitched my brown orbs.
Everything about this butterfly beckon, like the excitement
of sprouting seeds springing back after grey winter.
There was a brief, incredulous silence when I saw
every stark-naked tree clothed in viridescent apparels,
while the gentle breeze whispers. It was cherry blossom
that invited me here, where I am standing alone
and it felt like heaven on earth. The Southern valleys
colouring the advent of spring with silent and earsplitting colours.

About the Poet:

Lucas Zulu is a poet, writer, and editor. He lives in eMalahleni, Kwaguqa, Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. His works have been published in various anthologies in India, Zimbabwe, and the United States of America.

The post “Cherry Blossom” by Lucas Zulu first appeared on Prachya Review.

Green

The thickness of it slithers through the jungle,
solid, deep and moist
or delicately grips to high mountain rocks,
growing at the pace of continental drift.
The dewy fullness of it fills the desert
when the rains finally arrive
and the fields are filled with its swaying mass,
carpeting the countryside.
The sliced sharpness of it
is dropped with ice into a measure of gin
and the neon hurt of its garish words
lighting up downtown.
The tempting fruit of its succulent bite
given by the lure of a snake
or the foreverness of its needled trees
who never lose their pride.
But the irony of the soldiers
whose guns are the colour of life.

About the Poet:

Helen spent most of her adult life living and working as a fine artist in Swansea, South Wales in the UK. However, a move to Thailand just before the pandemic saw a major shift in her concentration towards writing and poetry. She has been published several times (Ink, Sweat & Tears, Morecambe Poetry Festival Anthology, Merthyr–They Wrote, Village Voices, Dreich Mag) and recently released her third poetry collection.

The post Poems by Helen Finney first appeared on Prachya Review.