PPP EzinePoetryp o e t i c s p l e a s u r e Ezine

Volum e 1; Issu e 1; Year 201 7

Copyrig ht 201 7 Poet s of Poetryp o e t i c s p l e a s u r e Ezine

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Pr e f a c e

It’s difficult to choose and pick poems for an anthologis t whenso many alterna t ives , and good ones at that, are available at any givenpoint of time. It becomes even more difficult when the selection is fora poetry ezine as the poets are contem por a ry and the decision has tobe made on poetry hither to unread, unhea r d and un- judged.

Of course , it’s refreshing, invigora ting and pleasan t to knowthat so many good people are taking (stealing, should I say) time fromout of their modern day urban everyday life in order to create a thingof beauty. Look at the profile of the poets in this issue. There arestuden t s , teache r s , professionals and amateu r s , full- time andoccasional write rs and they take pride in what they do, and identifythemselves as poets.

It’s a privilege, and a pleasan t one, to get a chance to getexposed to so many novel and valuable ideas arrange d in a way thatdeclares :

Though this be common man’s languag e, and the words usedare of everyday use, the syntax too is quite familiar , the overalleffect is not at all common, becaus e the urn, well- wrought , is nomore just the metal or marble it is made of.

S a n t i a g o by Ri c h ar d Lut m a n

The coil of sea arcs his veins alone on the olive waterCod break the salty crustA flip and thrashSlap slapslapslap SlapThe tub brimsThe hooks are his againOil scat te r e d rainbows warm his feet.Gray canvas dips towards docks taken by oranges and pomegra n a t e sHe listens,The bright bodies of fish upon the planks in death.And he turns unafraidTo watch the clouds scurry into the distant hover of scaly shadow.

D e- br a n c h e d or N o t? by S a n d e e p Ku m arM i s hr a

They say going away is notLove lost but the beginning of crea tion,Of a big bang or a garden fruit,When they are ripe or ready,They are de- branche d.

I prefer a simple union,Not detach m e n tBecause avalanche s await forThose who stray far and wide.Why going off is a par t of the process?Is this division or decrem e n t :One part detache d, one part united?

It is a wireless connec tion.We would love more or forget completelyThe distance defines the correla t ions;We will meet but misfortune sufficesA refuge for the time;It is not the matte r of gain or lossA joy kindles the sadness of separa t ion

R e q ui e m t o P e a c e by Teja svi S ax e n a

To seek you is an eternal wait As drawing streams from dreary deser t Like dredging humani ty from dried seabed Of dead consciences , reeking of death.

To find you, is as empty; As promises you make in a hollow space That lost your presence long back.

From gleam of Nut- brown eyes To shimmering Dal lake From scented whiff of kahwas , To rows of wooden shikaaras , From young firans to lanky achkans Who sough t a streak of bright Sun; To blind eyes and crevices of wombs Which crack with every sound of gun,

Not once, you winced or shrieked aloud At wailing mothe rs , mourning on dead And, gaunt faces of senile father s ; Whose lives are dim lit Plummeting in receding rays of sunse t .

You lit up the hopeless hopes Of half- widows and half- mothe rs Who live one moment after other In quest of their spouses and sons.

You seem to fancy the angst of youths Who try to grab your tentacle hooks In unidentified cesspools of blood Agonized Kashmiriyat knows you though;

You march in a Caravan of diplomat s Whose words are sugary entangle me n t s That bind your fleeting silhoue t t e To elude in a blink of a swindle r ' s eye.

A R ai ny N i g h t ( H a i k u s e q u e n c e ) by Ja m e s G.P i a t t

Bells in the church pealA sudden cheerful refrainSending prayers upward Deer in the meadowLeap in unbound ecstasyAs moistur e covers ear th

La n d o f m y Dr e a m by Yajna s e n i M u k h erj e e

I leaned on the balust r a d eWind whipped through my untame d hairThe chill engulfed meI wove the tendrils of hair into the fabric of my dreams

The azure horizon kissed the green blue seaMy mind transcen d e d the visible realmsAnd emerged in the sun kissed land of my dreams

Pristine, undula t ing landscape sNomadic wande rlus tSatiated stomachsConten te d smilesCozy hear thsSecure havens of peaceProud city linesIndust rializa tion saluting technologyThe lavish bounty of natu reHarness ed to genera t e progress

No outrage d modes tyNo outcry of inequalityNo gaping chasms of wealthNo pilferageNo terror unleashe dNo forced infliction of brutali tyNo untold tales of tormentLost in the maze of reality....

A Lo n e ly Tre e by As h a Vi sva s

Autumn leavesA calligraphy in ochreOn a blanke t of sighs :A sea of sibilance . The wind whipped treeHolding a single leafThe next gust signs it off,Like the trace of a dream. The shadow of the treeRests in the backyard-Loneliness- bleak and nameless ,Fear howls in the silent house.

N i g h t B ird by S e r g i o A. Ort iz

I ask for nothing

of this land

that has given me everything

I loved and hated its men

found my Adam

he fled with a bodybuilde r

as soon as I gained weight

I sought God

and in his place found knowledge

I discovered a home in my body

and since then

moved from place to place

without desires

this is my way

my destiny does not depend on luck

I am the night bird

foretelling death in its song

Th e B r e a t h i n g D ay s by Lyn n W hi t e

In the days when I still brea the d,the days before living took my breath away,the days before I knew my soul was there .I though t about this time,this time of no light,the forever night timewith no breath, no air to breathe .Just dust and darkness .

And I pondere d .

Would there be slow decay or fast.Stillness or movemen t .Now I know.I know everything aboutthe dust and darkness .But I can' t tell you.Not nowin these days of no breath, no airto speak.Only my soul can speak.Can you hear me?

First published in Fragme n t s of Chiaroscu ro, Summer 2016

Lo o s e n i n g Ti e s by S urya sri S a h a .

Relations and ties breach oftenat times untold and hard,parting ways with us, leaving us all distresse d . . .Emotions overflow yet the hear t feels desola te . . .We wish to reconcile,entangle the ties in bonds stronge rbut the other side often seems too hostile,they just distance us farther . .Forsaken we feel as if in dire need of the ones now gone deser t ing us..Soul gets hollowed by the void creat ed in lifewith their depar t u r e sometimes ensuing confusion as to why they left and and if they won’t return . .Their though ts dawns realization remindingthat rendezvous may not happen anytime soonor maybe never trickling tears but hope remains. .

Hope of coming across them,maybe at some instance of time,after all storms are calmed,when all pangs are soothed. .And even if it doesn ' t happen,broken ties don' t redee m as hoped,live on with their memories you once lived.Stop being mournful for ties which loosenedin spite of utmost care,Its not your fault if you tried yetthey are not here..Turns those sobs of despair into sobsof happiness felt on reflecting the sweet memories so never ending.Sadden yourself no more if you triedand walked down the mile,maybe it wasn ' t so worthwhile. .Give way not to doubting the love and bond once shared in the past which now is so tatt e r edbut to the memories of the moment s shared which can never be shat te r e d .The ones left may not return but

their memories will never waver,they will stay forever . .

Th e Yell o w S tr e e t l i g h t b y Mri n a l i n i R aj

My first memory

Of that yellow light

On the stree t , is of years ago;

When I walked half- miles

through that dark

Clutching my mothe r on the

Left and Papa on my right .

Nor were there hundre d- homes

Then, neithe r the Cackling kids

I now hear on the lane outside.

Today, when I click,

And stop mid- way on feeling

Again the yellow around,

Often I am asked, why this

‘Love’ ( if you agree).

No, I don’t know, why

Your ‘LED’ hurts me, yes, I hear

your issues with

The hundre d- Watts. I know

When you say it is hot today,

I see my aunt lying sick

Next- room, ‘It is the heat’, they

say. Your concerns for the

green, I know.

While we walked through

The dark, there was

This yellow- stree t light,

Only one, which

We met always. In that

Quiet there , were three more

With us. Laughs and Smiles

Took shapes .

Years piled, and I saw more

Of her, loving a little more

Of that shadowy- bright .

Today, She leaves the trails for her

Young whites, vacating all slow.

Maybe these Nights are

her last.

Ab o u t t h e P o e t s

Richard Lutma n has a MFA in Writing from Vermont College. Hehas taught composition and litera tu r e courses at Rhode IslandCommuni ty College, Fairfield Universi ty, The Learning Connec tion inProvidence, Rhode Island, and short story classes as par t of CoastalCarolina Universi ty 's Lifelong Learning program. He has publishedover two dozen short stories, three chapbooks, two novellas and onenonfiction book. He was a 2008 Pushca r t nominee in fiction and therecipient of national awards for his non- fiction, short stories andscreenplays. His first novel was published in May of 2016. His website is: www.pa tchofdir t .ne t

Sand e e p Kumar Mishra is a writer , poet, and lecture r in EnglishLitera tu r e . Last year his work published in more than 50 national andinterna t ional magazines . He has edited a collection of poems byvarious poets - Pearls (2002) and written a professional guidebook-How to Be (2016) and a collection of poems and art- Feel My Heart(2016).http://www.sa nd e e pk u m a r mis h r a . com/

http://sande e pk u m a r m is h r a 5 5 7 4 .blogs po t . in/

Tejasvi Saxen a hails from New Delhi, India. He is a dabbler inphotogra p hy, a poet in solitude and thinker in all seasons. He lovesthe company of books, kids, natu re , music, food and dogs. His workshave been published in Muse India, Visual Verse, Duane ' s PoeTree ,Indian Periodical, Dissident Voice Journal, Tuck Magazine , Spillwords ,Scarle t Leaf Review, Random Poem Tree, Peeking Cat Poetry,Phenome n al Litera tu r e , The Avocet Review and Thumbprin tMagazine. He is on instagra m @ Tejasvisaxena .

James G. Piatt has published 4 novels, “The Ideal Society,” (2012),“The Monk,” (2013), “The Nostrada m u s Conspiracy,” (2015), andArchibald McDougle PI: An Archie McDougle Myste ry (2017), 3collections of poetry, “The Silent Pond,” (2012), “Ancient Rhythms,”(2014), and “Light” (2016), and over 1,000 poems, 35 short stories,and 7 essays. His poems have been nomina te d for pushcar t and bestof web awards , and many were published in The Top 100 Poems of

2016, 2015, & 2014 Anthologies , and the 2017 Poet’s Showcas e andYearbook. His fourth collection of poetry will be release d this year.

Yajnas e n i Mukh erje e speaks three language s , reads and writespoems in two, and dreams in one. She has always been a poet. Shewrites poems wheneve r she is not busy doing so many other munda nethings. She also gets joy in teaching poetry and litera tu r e toUniversi ty studen t s .

Asha Viswas is a former Professor of English, Benara s HinduUniversi ty, Varanasi ,India. She has also taught at Aligarh and at theUniversi ty of Calabar , Nigeria . She has published three collections ofpoems. The first collection Melting Memories was published in 1996[Delhi]. For this she was awarded Michael Madhus ud a n AcademyAward [Kolkat ta] in 1997. Her second collection MortgagedMoorings [write rs workshop, Kolkat ta] was published in 2001. Forthis she was given the Editors’ Choice Award by the Interna t ionalLibrary of Poetry , U.S.A. IN 2003.Her third collection of poems waspublished in 2011 [Kolkata]. Her poems have featur ed in the shortlis t anthology of all India poetrycompeti t ion organized by the British council and the poetry SocietyIndia , Slug fest [U.S.A.] , The Mawaheb Interna t ional [Canada] ,TheBrob Times [ Ireland] , Jalons [France] and various other journals andanthologies in India. Some of her poems have been transla t ed intoFrench. She has read her poems in Weste rn Europe, the U.S.A. andAfrican universi ties. She had a fan club of her poetry in the U.S.

Serg io A. Ortiz is a two- time Pushca r t nominee, a four- time Best ofthe Web nominee, and 2016 Best of the Net nominee. 2nd place in the2016 Ramón Ataz Annual Poetry Competi t ion sponsored by Alairepublishing house. His poems have appea re d or are forthcoming inFRIGG, Tipton Poetry Journal, Drunk Monkeys, and BitterzeotMagazine. He is curren tly working on his first full- length collection ofpoems, Elephant Graveyard.

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues ofsocial justice and events , places and people she has known or

imagined. She is especially interes t e d in exploring the bounda r ies ofdream, fantasy and reality. Her poem 'A Rose For Gaza' wasshortlis ted for the Theat r e Cloud 'War Poetry for Today' competi t ion2014. This and many other poems, have been widely published, inrecent anthologies such as - ‘Alice In Wonderland’ by Silver BirchPress, ‘The Border Crossed Us’ and ‘Rise’ from Vagabond Press and‘Selfhood’ from Trancend e nc e Zero - and journals such as Apogee,Firewords Quart e r ly, Indie Soleil, Midnight Circus and Snapd ra gon aswell as many other online and print publica tions .

Find Lynn at: https://www.facebook.com/pa g e s /Lynn- White-Poetry/1603675 9 8 3 2 1 3 0 7 7?f ref = t s and lynnwhitepoe t ry.blogspo t .com

Suryasr i Saha is doing her B Tech. She is a poet from India who loves writing and believes poetry is her forte.

Link to the book she has written - https://www.a m azon.in/Unexpec t e d-Love- Story- someone- expecting- ebook/dp/B01N1 N S 4TD?_encoding = UT F 8&keywords = a n % 2 0 u n exp e c t e d %2 0love%20sto ry&por t a l- device-attribute s = d e s k t op& qid = 1 4 9 6 8 3 2 1 0 5 & r ef_ = s r_1_21&s = di gi t al-text&sr = 1- 21

Mrinal in i Raj prefers the tag of a 'Reade r ' over that of a‘Author/Poe t’. An English Litera tu r e Underg ra d u a t e at St.Xavier ' sCollege, She is on her way to discover Womanhood. She has strongopinions hence few friends.

Blog- mrinu.wordp r e s s . com