By: CLS Sandoval Christmas Lucky Ducks I hadn’t heard much from my dad in yearsJust a text here and thereMostly my choice He always sent strange giftsMaybe they were only strange because he didn’t really know meI never really let…

By: Moulay Cherif CHEBIHI HASSANI A haunting litanyOf love that can’t be deniedPainful absenceLoss of fragranceOf a fallen liveHere and there, livedSo much bitterness swallowed! And the end of the road a blatant truth,An imminent separationWill love triumph over so…

By Ranjit Kulkarni Why did God give the human species the intelligence to invent the mobile phone? Sitting alone in a plush restaurant in despair, young Rakesh Oswal threw his phone away. Even in the AC of the restaurant, his…

By: Jim Bates The old man sat staring out the window of his apartment. The mask mandate had been lifted and people were flocking into the city’s streets to celebrate, some even dancing. He thought about his dear wife, lost…

By: Giulia Imperioli The reason why we read literature, read nonfiction, read poetry, and absorb the lyrics of songs is connection and seeking of higher meaning/understanding. Reading and consuming art is purely a social act – we hold a magnifying…

By: Bakhtiar Ahmed Ocean of Pain I am floating in the vast oceanof pain, the ocean so beautifulso placid, so dark, so infiniteevery cell in my bodygetting personal attentiontortured individually, torture, somethodological so thorough, not evenone cell, not even one…

By: Patrick Tong after K-Ming Chang & Topaz Winters Let us, my father reminds me in our bedroom / kitchen /lobby. Let us forcep the facts, a forensic of friends,first-timers, and foes. Let us brief over the bygone. Once,for some…

One Courageous Translator Kept Readers in the Soviet Union Waiting Years to Find out By Rex Bowman Anyone old enough to remember the Soviet Union, or anyone who’s studied the history of that mercifully defunct nation, knows that one of…

By: Alex Andy Phuong A personal caseThat includes aBrief momentIn enigmatic time.Dealing effectivelyWith the sublime.Time does pass byBy and by,Yet the ones whoActually do tryTake the initiative,And move through actionThat could causeReactionsRather thanNegative repercussions,And choose to helpWhile refusingIdleness

By: Dr. Gulshan Ara (Unarmed George was killed by a white police officer in Minnasota, USA, on May 25, 2020;This poem is dedicated to “George Floyd”) O, George, you are the voice of eternityThe voice of imprisoned soulsWhispering incessantly, longing…