Monday, January 1, 2018

NILAVRONILL SHOOVRO


WELCOME
TO
OUR POETRY ARCHIVE
Looking Back

It was in March 2015 when I was just thinking about one monthly web journal especially for poems around the world. It was my personal dream at that point of time to bring out “Our Poetry Archive”.  So I made contact with few of my friends to form a team for this purpose. Throughout my life always I believe in collective works. To build up a team one has to find few like minded people with more or less same vision. At that point of time it was not an easy task to fulfill. Yet I gave it an honest try. It was at that time when poet Anna Zapalska of Poland and poet Carolina Nazareno of Canada stood beside me as real and good friend. They helped me a lot to find out new poets. Although we had tried to build up one executive editorial board, for the purpose, yet it was not possible at that point of time as none of us was sure about the end result.  So actually I had to publish the first issue almost single handedly. Yes, with the help of Anna Zapalska and Carolina Nazareno and few other friends, those who helped me a lot contributing with their own poems and by bringing in their personal friends to participate in our poetical journey. So on 1st April 2015, “Our Poetry Archive” was published for the first time. That was just like the fulfillment of any long cherished dream. Yes I was overjoyed to see the first issue of OPA myself.

But as I said earlier, I do believe only in collective works, it was also painful for me to accept this type of practical situation of not being able to form an executive editorial board till then. Yet with the passing of every month OPA was getting new poets. And the viewer-ship of our monthly web journal was increasing every month. This had helped us a lot to continue with our work each month. Then all of a sudden Paris had witnessed one of the deadliest terror attacks on unarmed civilians. That was November 2015. Yes, not only this act of terrorism made a worldwide shock; it had also pained me a great deal. I was thinking about how insignificant we actually are. And I was feeling really a sense of shame with working on mere poetry or literary works at that point of time of colossal catastrophe. So I had planned to make one special issue on Peace Poetry against War and Terrorism for OPA.  So I asked all most all of my social site friends to participate in that venture to air our voice of protest against war and terrorism. To my sheer astonishment I received an awesome response around the world. Even lot of unknown friends, those who were friends of my friends participated in that special number of OPA. I should like to mention especially Poet Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa of Philippines and Poet Anca Mihaela Bruma of Romania, Poet Maria Miraglia of Italy as they had helped a lot to bring out the massive edition of poetry collection, along with two other friends of mine Anna Zapalska and Carolina Nazareno and few others. So on the 25th December 2015 we published our first Anthology: Poetry for Peace against War and Terrorism.

Yes it was a success as so many poets had responded with number of their poetical creations to air their personal voice of protest against these types of inhuman activities. And with their help OPA had presented one collective effort of human conscience to stand up to the occasion. I would like to share few lines from the preface of that issue for our present readers. “We think it is also the moral responsibility of poets and writers alike to put their individual voice of protest, agony, pain and sufferings in words and lines in this time of political turbulence everywhere. Nobody is sure about who is the offender or protector. Now and then innocent peoples are dying in the most violent manner one could imagine. There is no life security for the citizens around the world. People have lost beliefs in the honesty and integrity of the society and political institutions alike. You don’t know where to turn up for shelter and security. You don’t know when the next suicidal terrorist attack will occur and where. Such is the situation in most of the regions of the world.  So this is the moment to shift our focus from mere literary work to use our literary tools to voice our individual protest in a collective manner. No, this is not a political debate for us. We are only concerned with the security and prosperity of human beings everywhere irrespective of their cast and religion, race and nationality, beliefs and doubts, language and culture. This is the time we thought OUR POETRY ARCHIVE should come out with this noble project focusing these issues and addressing the world in poetry for peace against war and terrorism.”

With that success of collective protest OPA achieved a little bit of fame. And we were fortunate enough to have poet Deborah Brooks Langford among us immediate after. Yes she brought so many new poets to OPA, even it was she herself who had brought us our present Editor poet and author Stacia Lynn Reynolds. I should also like to mention poet Alicja Maria Kuberska of Poland  and Maria Miraglia of Italy who have made OPA so popular in Europe. So at last we were able to form that elusive editorial board with Alicja Maria Kuberska, Anca Mihaela Bruma, Deborah Brooks Langford, Maria Miraglia and the Editor Stacia Lynn Reynolds and myself. This was the story of OPA along with the path of her success so far. During which we have published another two anthologies one against racism and most recently the anthology of women poetry. We had also published four continental special editions bringing in almost all the different literary traditions and heritages around the world to make OPA truly a world platform of Poets and Poetry.

This January we are also introducing eleven new poets. We are also glad to present Poetess  ALICIA  MINJAREZ RAMÍREZ of Mexico as the Poet Of the Month. Readers will find one long interview with the poet for the first time in OPA. Author Deborah Brooks Langford and Author Stacia Lynn Reynolds had supervised the entire interview for OPA.

We sincerely thank each poet and reader who is actively involved in this wonderful monthly web journal and continued their support of Our Poetry Archive.
From The Editorial Desk
OPA
A
WORLDWIDE WRITERS’ WEB
PRESENTATION!

PUBLISHED BY

OPA

OUR
POETRY ARCHIVE
ONLINE MONTHLY POETRY JOURNAL

email us to:

******************************************



ALICIA MINJAREZ RAMÍREZ

OUR POETRY ARCHIVE FEATURED
POET OF THE MONTH
                                                                                      
ALICIA  MINJAREZ  RAMÍREZ

JANUARY 2018


OPA How long have you been writing Poetry? We would like to know the early stories about your growing up as a poet or writer in general. Who are your favorite Poets? What are some of your favorite genres to read and to write? Had they inspired you a lot, do you believe in inspiration as a guiding force behind writings at all?

ALICIA: I want to thank you the great opportunity to be in this important space. It is a real honor for me!  Wholeheartedly thank you ! I write since I was 7 years old,  only my family, my teachers and my best friends knew that I liked to write poems and they chose me to write the final speech at the  end of the school year.I was a very shy person but 3 years ago I determined to show the world what I write. Among my favorite poets are: Hafiz, Rumi, William Blake, Novalis, Pablo Neruda,  Ruben Dario, AlfonsinaStorny, Ernesto Kahan and Winston Morales Chavarro.  Hafiz was my inspiration when I was 13 years old.   Among my favorites genres to read are: Egyptian historical novel, science fiction, metaphysics, spirituality and religion. I like to write free verse poetry but, I also write poetry prose or narrative.  Someone told me one day that the first words of inspiration are sent by the gods and the rest is the work of the poet. I definitely believe in the inspirational moments that come to my heart to write.

           
OPA What has been the toughest criticism given to you as a writer? What was the biggest compliment? Did that change how or what you write?  What has been the strangest thing that a reader has asked you?

ALICIA: The harshest criticism: a journalist from Colombia said one of my poems had a very forced rhyme. She did not know that I write in free verse and that poem had been written several years ago.The biggest compliment?I find them every time when I write a new poem, always wonderful comments!  And I think the strangest thing that a reader has asked me is:  to marry him!


OPA What is your favorite poem you have ever written? Compared to when you first started writing, have you notice any big changes in your writing style or how you write compared from then to now?

ALICIA: I do not have a favorite poem, because I try to improvement each day and overcome what I wrote.  The difference between the writingof  my poems since I was  only 7 years old is very large compared as I write now, because I did not have knowledge of literary devices, nor knew about the meter and rhyme of  poems,  It  were only  the  felt thoughts come out of the heart of a  little girl who wanted to change the world. My writing changed some years ago when my mentors in poetry gave me the guidelines to follow to find my own literary style and I am very grateful to them.


OPA What has been your favorite part of being a poet or and author? What has been your least favorite?

ALICIA: I love the creative imagination that allows me to unleash my thoughts. I like to playing with words to getall  what I want with my poems. The only part I don´t like is that as writers, we do not have the government support of our countries.


OPA Did you get to quit your day job and become a writer and/or author, or do you still have a day job and writing is something you do for fun? If you still have a day job, what is it?

ALICIA: On my day job I´m working as a French, English and Computer Science teacher,   I love  my work so much! But I write because my real passions are: Singing and Writing.


OPA Besides writing and reading, what is your most favorite thing to do? What genre are you most looking forward to explore during your writing career? Why?

ALICIA: I greatly enjoy each one of the activities I do. In addition to reading and writing I am passionate about singing since I was a kid. I can sing in 5 different languages: French, English, Italian, Spanish and Bahasa (Indonesian). Through singing, I can getout  all the emotions and  feelings I have inside  of me. I have an unpublished  book written in poetic prose,  I'm also writing a novel. I feel that as writers we must explore several genres.


OPA: Do you think literature or poetry is essential in our life? If so why? How does it relate to the general history of mankind?

ALICIA: Man is a social being and the main element of sociability  is the word,  is therefore far better mastered the use of language and literature, we will be more complete and more useful. Speaking of literature is to immerse ourselves in a world of fantasy, fiction, history, facts; It is a world with which we interact and that is all around us at all times. This foundation is achieved through daily learning, either at university, college or daily life. Otherwise we would suffer a stalemate and the only way to overcome it is investigating and searching for ourselves.


OPA Our readers would like to know your own personal experience regarding the importance of literature and poetry in your life.

ALICIA: We live surrounded by Poetry.  We find  Poetry wherever we look around ... In a beautiful sunrise,  in a starry night,  on  the tender smile of a child,  in the soft voice of the beloved  one caressing our soul only with a few words, in  the presence and company of our parents, in the embrace of a friend or a brother. Every moment it´s  a not written poetry for me, offering me the opportunity to shape it in a canvas of paper… The best poetry will be found within your own voice!


OPA Do you think people in general bother about literature in general?  Do you think this consumerist world is turning the average man away from serious literature?

ALICIA: There's a lot of it. I feel the love of literature is being lost, perhaps because the consumerist environment in which we live.  For this reason, we need to promote love of literature and poetry. For an individual can appreciate all this, we must begin to instill a love of Literature and poetry to children in schools,  since kindergarten and not only that, but also the love of culture and arts.


OPA Do you think society is a factor in shaping you as a poet, or your poetry altogether?

ALICIA: Definitely!  Because based on social problems, poets are a launching point to talk openly about relevant issues, or also to raise awareness, seeking followers to support our thoughts… We can not remain silent in the face of social injustices.


OPA We would like to know about any influences that has inspired your poetry and writings.

ALICIA: I love to read are: Egyptian historical novel, science fiction, metaphysics, spirituality, religion and novel. I have read more than 600 books in: French, English and Spanish always searching the knowledge, because those are our treasures in heaven.the knowledge we bring to start another life. I have wonderful influences in my life to inspire my poetry: Hafiz, Rumi, William Blake, Novalis, Pablo Neruda, Ruben Dario. Contemporary writers as my beloved MonsifBeroual also:Ernesto Kahan,JetonKelmendi,AgronShele, AlicjaKuberska, Madan Gandhi, Sami Nasr, Maria Miraglia, Roula Pollard, SantoshBakaya, Mohammed Ahmed  Benis,  Hussein Habasch, Caroline Nazareno, Susana Roberts, Luz Maria Lopez, Pedro Felix Novoa, Alfred Asis and  Winston Morales Chavarro.


OPA We would also like to know; how do you relate the present literary trends with the literary heritage of your country? 

ALICIA: The second decade of the twentieth century is an essentialkey  for understanding the current development of Latin American literature period. It is a time when the precious sumptuous rhetoric of modernism is discarded and the basis for a complete break with the immediate artistic past. From it, the dominant literary modes recognize the common roots. They were years of demonstrations, proclamations and violent polemics, an intensive search of originality, expressive and formal insurgency that broke out in embodiments radically changing the course of inland letters. Mainly poetry in American literature, presents a puzzling aspect to the public. The constructive will is imposed on the impressionistic, emotional and spiritual. The avant-garde poetry renews the language and purpose of traditional poetry. The cult of beauty,  to the demands of the aesthetic harmony. The new poetry rejects the rational use of language, syntax, declamatory  and musical form, musical legacy: meter, rhyme, giving primacy to the continued exercise of imagination to the unusual and visionary images, the asintactism, the new typographical arrangement,  visual effects and a discontinuous and fragmented, simultaneity makes the primary constructive principle. The avant-garde echoes are felt in all Latin American countries.


OPA Do you believe that all writers are the product of their nationality? Is it an incentive or an obstacle in becoming an international writer?

ALICIA: I do not feel that writers are a product of his nationality, because each of them has been influenced differently by some literary currents, or by some poets of different nationalities. It may be the case that a poet is recognized abroad and to be a perfect stranger in his / her own country. The nationality of a writer is not an impediment to excel abroad. Strongly influences,  hard work, consistence and permanence to fight for the realization of their dreams makes the difference.


OPA What 7 words would you use to describe yourself?

ALICIA:I´m:  passionate,  courageous,  cheerful,  patient,  consistent, logic  and  creative.


OPA   Is there anything else that you would like to share or say to those who will read this interview?

ALICIA:Never stop dreaming! Do not listen  the noise of others when they try to destroy your dreams,  just listen to your inner voice and defend everything you love.


ALICIA  MINJAREZ RAMÍREZ: Multi-awarded poetess, writer, singer, translator, university professor, broadcast radio and |T.V. She was born in Tijuana Baja California, Mexico.  Winner of a special mention and a medal in the International Poetry Prize NOSSIDE Italy 2015 and 2016.President for Mexico in International Writers Association IWA BOGDANI, Albania. Her poems have been translated into: English, French, Taiwanese, Albanian, Cameroonian, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian and Polish. And published in more than 50 International Anthologies, journals and magazines around the world.


The editorial staff of this project: Stacia Lynn Reynolds and Deborah Brooks Langford; sincerely thank you for your time and hope we shall have your continued support.

ALICIA MINJAREZ RAMÍREZ



ALICIA
MINJAREZ
RAMÍREZ

DESERTED VOICES

Cornered breeze
bursting over
mosses’ silence.
I need to flood and evaporate
chimeras
in rugged islands.

Silence salty gates
that incinerate my throat,
nod to water
disdaining
its inherent name.

Deserted voices
sway seconds
upon the lividness
of windy branches,
where clouds
lack power.

The rain is an allusion
of green stars,
ashes are raining
scorching skylines,
usurping my voice
in stony
dust clouds.

Does the air induce scars?

I hear your singlar skin
darkness of glacial fog
sketching my roots.
wounded petals fading away
wings of swallows.

Ether fragments the sobs.
they grow and decline,
cypresses
like snowy jasper,
smithereens of days…

While the moon shines above us.

TRANSLATED BY: ALARIC GUTIÉRREZ
© Alicia MinjarezRamírez




BAKLAVA AND HONEY

Distant contiguous strokes
set up the prayers of Anatolia.
          Eclectic fragrant spices               
clove, sumac, vanilla and cinnamon     
 overflowing cornices.  
Gold, silver, apple tea,
   water pipes, almonds and kaput       
songs of your lineage!

Indigo horizons
melt the earth
of mud and jade
in baklava and honey;
musical odorssurround
nocturnal savannas
in the edge of the days.

Bare fingers 
on red-berried mistletoe and oaks
require the transcending kiss,
reaching the limits of touch
bluish declining
of our belongings.



As affable Sultan
dressed up with Habiye silk.
Transcribe my dreams
with watercolors of straight lines
to drown the sun within,
in the bowl of my palms.

TRANSLATED BY:  ALARIC GUTIÉRREZ
© Alicia MinjarezRamírez




BREATH OF LIGHT

Mute allegory of clouds
feeling my cedars’ roots,
designing the path;
song of blackbirds and orioles,
stunned chimera permuting
fertile figs and pomegranates.

Musical waterfalls
permeate thick
alders and chestnuts,
ethereal decline;
Antioch’s legacy
rinses and distorts
coasts, olives and vines
over the Patara’s coastline.

Emir necromancer
descends from
bare meadows
revealing seeds
to quench the moon
in the subtle geography
of my own shadows.

Your eyes light up
the awoken clay
of jade and honeysuckle,
moistening poems
to clear the air
of the past hours.

Imprecise and concrete trail
upon the wind of days
that intertwines our dawn.
A brief breath of your light
is enough
in the abyss of my night.

TRANSLATED BY:   ALARIC GUTIÉRREZ
© Alicia Minjarez Ramírez




IT RAINS…

A longing breeze
tries to show itself,
like nostalgiamigrating
up in the air.

Water permeates
my body.
Your breath
fills inthe context.

Longing secrets
that the wind
shakes up in the offing,
then nothingness.

I walk behind
upon the moisture
left by the drops
under the branches.

Birds get detached
from their nests,
looking for
the promised shelter.

Church bells ring,
outside
the night interrupts.

I long to dry off
the rain,
like those birds
besettingpark trees
in the evening.    

The stillness of your eyes
invades me…
Ecstatic wings,
paralyzing their flight.
At my silence’s feet.

TRANSLATOR:   ALARIC  GUTIÉRREZ
MEXICO.
© Alicia  Minjarez  Ramírez




NOCTURNAL SUN

There, where the wind fades away
the sky waves its own branches
retouching icy mornings
in the shades,
blackbirds and pigeons flapping
and disturbing the sky.
I aimlessly wander through.

Every corner evokes
spiral lines of perpetually
ever written sonnets,
unveiled brides
blur the color lines
upon vacant altars.
I become chrysalis
under the chaos of progress.
I extend my hands
and find only emptiness.
Where do these streets lead me to? 
I try to jump over my shadow,
gradually move
from green to yellow…
Exorbitant looks
lacking everything
and nothing at all.
In the swinging mist
every step reflected upon
its own reflection,
when the twilight expands
I force myself to take shortcuts
that lead me nowhere.

Broken hearts,
moon’s usurped glow,
yielding ghosts
to the impregnable shine
of window cars.
Stillness moves,
static seconds,
silence declines,
I emigrate with no belongings;
brittle and gloomy spectrum
de-kernelling good-byes.

My mind is on hold,
stars cry about
humidity’s shortage
and eclectic rains,
my voice drowns.
Blink away
the ethereal fire of my eyes,
I release myself from prejudice.
I release myself
from body and soul
as nocturnal sun
amidst the desert.

TRANSLATED BY:  ALARIC GUTIÉRREZ
MÉXICO.
©
ALICIA MINJAREZ RAMÍREZ

ALICIA  MINJAREZ RAMÍREZ: Multi-awarded poetess, writer, singer, translator, university professor, broadcast radio and |T.V. She was born in Tijuana Baja California, Mexico.  Winner of a special mention and a medal in the International Poetry Prize NOSSIDE Italy 2015 and 2016.President for Mexico in International Writers Association IWA BOGDANI, Albania. Her poems have been translated into: English, French, Taiwanese, Albanian, Cameroonian, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian and Polish. And published in more than 50 International Anthologies, journals and magazines around the world.



VARSHA SARAN


VARSHA SARAN

ON THE ASHES OF TIME

On the ashes of time
Life takes new shapes, day n night

Burning desires want
more water to cool down for it's needs n acquires;

Silver sand particles of desert
When get warm due to sun heat
Only then, we realize the worth of
Calm messages of cool breezes;

Life goes on and on in every circumstances,
I feel lucky , that you are holding my hands in every situations!!
Varsha Saran @copyright





STILL WANT THAT TOUCH

Still want that touch
Still want that presence and companionship of yours
I am alone....
And need you, O, stranger !
You are my nothing
But everything
Only an imaginative figure!!
That turned very familiar
Very friendly
During our eye contact
I know only
You can make me feel happy
In my gloomy atmosphere
An atmosphere, created only by me
Or  by my surroundings
Oh,yesevery body is lonely !
With their soul
And I feel your imaginative touch
When you hold my hands tightly
Or I hold your hands
With some broken heart
In my silence
I love you
O, my words!!
Varsha Saran@copyright





SHRIEK OF SILENCE

Have you ever heard the shriek of a silent person !!
Yell of a quiet road !!
Actually both are similar
One wants it's companion
Which was disappeared for some time
Silent souls wants togetherness
Togetherness of positive thoughts
Togetherness of continuous inner peace
Peace and silence are the two different things!
After fighting with the loneliness ,
That is not physical,
My talks are always related to metaphysical only
Fighting with self ego , self made stress
Get bored
Roads want their own traffic
Without any noisy traffic and passengers!!
No road feel it's soul!!
Varsha Saran@copyright





BEAUTY OF NATURE

Ahh!
Where have we reached!!
In the valley of flowers
Is it a dream!!
Or a paradise of love
Where gentle breeze is blowing
And kissing the petals softy
They are dancing on the melodious tune of nature
Waiting for the rain
As pregnant black clouds were about to burst
Knowing nothing
Only to live this precious moment
That is romantic and full with life
They are unacquainted about the future
It could be rain heavily
And damage their beauty
But let them live with
This very lively moments!!

@copyright
VARSHA SARAN

VARSHA SARAN is a homemaker and poetess , writer by passion. She did her post graduation from  ChCharan Sing University Meerut. She is a bilingual poetess and writes in Hindi and English languages. Her many poems have been published in different international Anthologies, magazines, e-zines, news papers , UGC approved international journal n international poetry fest magazines. She is a member of  60 world union groups of poetry. She daily writes poems on fb and her page' Varsha ekSrijan' as she gets quick response of  her readers.  She won many awards in writing. There is a channel on you tube named Varsha Saran ekSrijan..where she recited her poems in her poetry videos.