Welcome, readers, to May 2024’s second issue!

This month the theme is Self-Determination, having the space and power and dignity to be able to understand and shape one’s own destiny. We stand with all peoples of the world seeking self-determination.

Raafia Shaheen urges us to see people on their own terms and not just how they are useful to us.

Michael Robinson reviews and finds encouragement from Jacques Fleury’s You Are Enough: The Journey To Accepting Your Authentic Self. The book suggests that Black men worldwide should define themselves on their own rather than simply following social stereotypes.

Shahnoza Ochildiyeva tells the story of a girl who has to leave her Uzbek home due to loss but who returns home having made something of herself.

Zarina Abdulina speaks to the importance of worthwhile work to a person’s self-concept and how teaching fills the role for her. Marjona Shayimova talks about finding the courage and perseverance to achieve her goals.

Nazokat Urinboeva offers up a tribute to Uzbekistan’s strength and cultural heritage, all the way back to Mughal emperor Babur while O’tkir Kochkor enscribes poetic praise for the majesty and history of his Uzbek homeland. Mannonova Shakhnoza outlines scholarly research into the history of the Kagan Khanate in Uzbek history as Zulayho Sultonaliyeva illustrates how her culture and society can adapt for the times in her piece on the legal precedent and need for updating and modernizing Uzbekistan’s constitution.

Behruz Toshtemirov argues for the unique qualities of literature as an art form, inspired by her Uzbek cultural heritage.

Abdunazarova Khushroy gives us a poetic tribute to the heritage and language of Uzbekistan as Feruza Abdullayeva pays tribute to the many Uzbek writers whose work she admires.

Evie Petropolou showcases an Egyptian celebration of the Greek poet Cavafy, who was known for his sensual and political poems and unconventional personal style.

Alan Catlin rearranges verbal ephemera from famous people to create unique character sketches. Jacques Fleury celebrates the good fun of the Blue Man Group while Noah Berlatsky shares a harsh and iconoclastic thought about Ezra Pound and Daniel De Culla’s poem pokes gentle fun at the wealthy and powerful.

Mark Young presents a fresh set of his signature mix of text and colorful images as Saad Ali showcases ekphrastic work in response to historical paintings, inserting his thoughts into the fabric of history.

Kylian Cubilla Gomez crafts photographic closeups of his dinosaur and tractor toys and other childhood ephemera. Habibova Mahzuna expresses nostalgia for her lost childhood.

Wayne Russell avows his allegiance to travel and adventure while Sayani Mukherjee’s poetry evokes flights of imagination around the globe.

Adam Fieled peers into the close and tempestuous relationship between an artist and a muse. Gaurav Ojha outlines his path from youthful lusts to maturity and spiritual transcendence. Sandip Saha’s pieces explore the search for mystical spirituality amidst daily life.

James Whitehead probes timeless questions about human life, ethics, and suffering. Niginabonu Amirova reflects on our mortality and the cycles of nature as Mykyta Ryzhykh crafts lowercase poems about the tragedies of quick and slower deaths and Mashhura Abduhalilova renders the experience of mental distress, showing how anxiety distorts time and sensations.

Nigar Nurulla Khalilova laments society’s being uncaring to the vulnerable while Iraqi poet Faleeha Hassan takes a quiet moment to mourn family members lost to war.

Bruce Roberts reminds us of the historic coexistence of Jews, Christians, Muslims and other people in the Middle East and laments the current violence in the region.

Grave markers from medieval Lisbon, showing Christian crosses, Muslim pentagrams and Jewish Stars of David. (Museu de Lisboa)

Bill Tope’s story exposes different levels of corruption in the nonprofit world, how greed can mess with even the best of intentions.

Z.I. Mahmud looks into scholarly literature that explores the tension between Batman’s heroism and his lawbreaking and vigilante violence.

J.J. Campbell seeks to show small kindness in an alienating world. Feruza Muzaffarova highlights the humane sensibility behind O’tkir Hashimov’s novel Between Two Doors. On a personal level, Niginabonu Amirova urges a return to common courtesy, beginning with greetings.

Tuliyeva Sarvinoz speaks to the importance of setting a good example and preparing children for the world. Diyora Tursunboyeva reminds us of the importance of encouraging children’s dreams. Niginabonu Amirova celebrates the joy of sports and athleticism for young people as Rano Babamurodova encourages children to read books and learn.

Tuliyeva Sarvinoz also outlines offerings at Uzbekistan’s vocational schools as Abdunazarova Khushroy reflects on educating herself by learning Arabic and Jumanazarova R. gives honor and respect to a dedicated teacher. Tuliyeva Sarvinoz also pays tribute to another educated and accomplished writer and teacher.

Muslima Murodova Kadyrovna pays tribute to the spiritual and compassionate love of her mother. Zuhra Ruzmetova also honors the care and encouragement and constancy of her mother. Nosirova Gavhar pays tribute to her grandfather who introduced her to books and gardening. Zilola Khamrokulova sends up a poetic love piece for her mother as Nozima Uloguva’s poetry and prose celebrates the sacrificial and dedicated love of many mothers as Dilnoza Eshqulova renders up her intense grief and spiritual angst after losing her mother.

Prasana Kumar Dalai presents the joys, pains, and trepidations of love and Mesfakus Salahin contributes delicate romantic poetry. Duane Vorhees presents various sensual love poems through the metaphors of music, literature and cosmology. Kristy Raines sends up passionate and adoring pleas to her lover to remain close.

However, Taylor Dibbert reminds us that no matter how much work you put into a relationship, it doesn’t always last forever. Perhaps the couple he describes could have heeded Madina Toxirova’s advice on the importance of psychology for young people to understand themselves before marrying. Zafar Nur contributes a poem of lament over a heartbreak as Maurizio Brancaleoni translates poetry from Italian writer Amelia Rosselli on quiet heartbreak and loneliness.

Maheshwar Das exults in love, faith, and nature as Brian Barbeito outlines a poetic and pastoral journey in the rain and Brian Barbeito also shares closeups of spring flowers.

J.D. Nelson’s haiku captures spring moments of transition and in-betweenness as Isabel Gomez de Diego contributes photos of various doors and entry ways. Lynn White highlights the whole worlds going on in what we might consider the background of nature.

Mahbub Alam celebrates nature and love in his Bangladeshi homeland. Abduvohid Holikov presents a description of the cultural and natural beauty of the Denov region of Uzbekistan while Ochildiyeva Dilnoza Abdivokhid celebrates the Surkhandarya region’s cultural and natural history and her family heritage. Abduhoshim Maxamadov celebrates the geographic and biological diversity of Central Asia’s Ferghana Valley. Samadov Aziz Xasanovich encourages technology development in harmony with these natural environments in his paper on measurement techniques for constructing horizontal and inclined wells.

Graciela Noemi Villaverde captures a moment of personal and mental stillness and rest. Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa finds her psychological rest and inspiration in water: rain and the ocean’s diversity of life. Annie Johnson speaks to calm moments with her love throughout time and seasons of nature.

WAR IS HELL!

	Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, Rome!
	Persians, Byzantines, Jews, Christians, 
  Muslims—all have called Jerusalem HOME!
	The Islamic Caliphates and Crusaders
			Kept war alive!
	Ottomans held peace for centuries,
 		So all believers could thrive.
	But then the British came, and WW1.
	Ottomans faded, League of Nations survived.
	Meanwhile anti-Semitism ranged far and wide.
		Russia slaughtered Jews,
		Nazis slaughtered Jews,
	And Jews—hundreds of thousands—escaped
		   To Israel to hide.
	  Now, at last, they had a state—
	Except it was imposed on Palestinians
		  Who had NO STATE.
So Palestinian Hamas brought incredible death--
         Atrocity unbelievable--
	   And Israel—in self-defense—
 Has slaughtered thousands and thousands,
	Causing protests—ignorant of history—
		  Around the world!
	     Offense or defense, 
	  WAR IS HELL!
(And where were the protests 
				when Russia invaded Ukraine?)

“When I looked again,  he was still at it.  He was still raping her after he had slaughtered her.”    Quote from Raz Cohen, who witnessed Hamas atrocities during the October 7 attack.



Ukraina
This poem is about a Ukrainian immigrant couple to California who's memorialized with a plaque in a park on a hiking trail in Hayward. 

Weekends,
Early 20th Century, 
My grandfather hiked 
The Hayward Hills- 
Grassy meadows, 
Wooded Creekbeds, 
Sometimes aiming
For a huge pine, 
Visible from afar, 
The needled tower
OF UKRAINA RANCH, 
Home to Agapius
And Albina
Honcharenko.

A new name
  To protect his family, 
      Ukranian Honcharenko
Had lived his life. 
As a man of God,
As a man of honor, 
Defying the Tsar
For the rights
Of Russia's serfs,
Writer and publisher 
For HUMAN RIGHTS
No matter where he lived, 
But always under threat 
From the long
And dangerous fingers
Of the Tsar.


1865-ARRESTED
by Russian agents
in Constantinople.
He escaped-in disguise- 
To London, New York, 
San Francisco,
Hayward,
Escaping a land
Where he was
  "stabbed, drugged,
shot, 
   clubbed like a dog." 
1873-PEACE-
And refuge
Developed
In the pastoral beauty
     Of Hayward's hills, 
Where Agapius and Albina 
Could live and farm—
Holding church services 
In a cave--
    Away
From world evil.
Yet published defiance 
Still smuggled to Russia:
Gentle, persistent, 
Holy Man, 
Humanitarian!


UKRAINA
a California Historic Landmark
HAYWARD HISTORY!

Hope and assurance is the foundation of Mr. Fleury's writing.  It is literally a place to guide you to not only find that place of hope within but to explore the truth about who you are to be transformed into a whole being. 

Mr. Fleury touches on what stereotypes of Black manhood cost us as black males when we need to express our emotions when we are sensitive to any given situation.  One thing these stereotypes lead to is the need for us as black males to display our strength through violence, which leads to self implosion.

Exploring your gender identity as a black male: Mr. Fleury encourages us to find ourselves by looking inside ourselves without relying on social norms. He points out the need to accept one's identity beyond stereotypes of race, gender or social background.  He has again given directions to find your authentic self.

Mr. Fleury's book picks up for me in the chapters related to mental health for the black male. The chapters tell of the impact of being isolated by self-inducement.  Now, I can relate to despair and hopelessness, but it is a spiritual ladder that brings salvation.  Mr. Fleury speaks strongly in the opening about spiritual disorder in his Catholic school.  He has, throughout his book, given us examples of his inner journey to find that his essence is within. He does speak of social and political and economic conditions. However, it's the words of "YOU ARE ENOUGH: A journey to self-acceptance" that ring out the loudest. 

Yes indeed, Mr. Fleury gave us a foundation to discover our own self-acceptance and unconditional self-love.

Three Poems by Amelia Rosselli 
Translated into English by Maurizio Brancaleoni

A sordid light from behind a cloud
the bedroom
her pain
the green mugginess of the tram driver
the forgotten bigoted son.

As all the things I told you
obsequiousness puts the accent on preponderance
I am sonless and fatherless
they are forgotten fathers and sons.

*

Una luce sordida di dietro un nuvolo
la stanza da letto
il suo dolore
la verde afa del tranviere
il figlio bigotto scordato.

Come tutte le cose che ti dissi
l’ossequio pone l’accento sulla preponderanza
io sono senza figlio e senza padre
loro sono padri e figli scordati.





Sleep pounds
hard on the door
my eyes lie
toyes on the ground.

I’m alive as a dead
person can be eager!

You are to blame
for getting by
with axe strokes
envelupsetting me.

You murdered my heart
and the mind tinkers
to survive

without a heart!

*

Il sonno picchia
duro sulla porta
i miei occhi giacciono
ballocchi in terra.

Sono viva come può
un morto essere desideroso!

È colpa di te
che ti arrangi
a colpi di scure
stravvolgendomi.

Mi hai assassinato il cuore
e la mente s’arrabatta
per sopravvivere

senza cuore!





Through the sky
passing in its gondolas
through doors
far from the source
the words ran away, astounded
without noises of love.

Bully down the street replaces friendship.

*

Pel cielo che
nelle sue gondole passava
per porte
lontane dalla sorgente
le parole scappavano, esterrefatte
senza rumori d’amore.

Bullo per strada sostituisce amicizia.




Amelia Rosselli (1930-1996) is considered one of the most important Italian poets of the past century. Born in Paris, she had to flee to Switzerland and then to the U.S. after the murder of her father and her uncle at the hands of Fascist militias. Back in Italy in the late 40s, in 1950 she settled in Rome, where she would spend the rest of her life. While her early literary experiments were in French and English, most of her poetic output was in an Italian studded with slips, portmanteaus and loanwords. The poems presented here are all from “Appunti sparsi e persi” (“Scattered and Lost Notes”) republished by Garzanti this year.

Maurizio Brancaleoni is a writer and translator. He received his Master’s Degree in Language and Translation Studies from Sapienza University of Rome in 2018, but he has been translating at least since 2012. In recent years he localized the prose and poetry of manifold authors, among which Thomas Wolfe, Adrian C. Louis, Justin Phillip Reed, Jean Toomer, Dylan Thomas, Herman Melville, Marina Pizzi and Scipione/Gino Bonichi. More poems by Amelia Rosselli in English translation can be found here.

Critically examine Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns as a graphic narrative.

The monstrous Penguin-like infant’s accession to the hospital maternity nursery and the emblematic destruction of the feline foreshadows the gothic macabre infested upon Gotham
locale in the midst of holiday seasons. “There is a sense of decay everywhere [...] darkness, danger, toxicity and tragedy.” Like the prejudicial denizens of Gotham, these parents exonerate
their plight by forsaking their bestial offspring in the dump of the disposables to be awashed by the frozen icy stream. 

Penguin’s messianic and visionary apparition thirty three years later
uplifts humanity of that society that erstwhile alienated the castaway Moses. Then Penguin’s politicization in the grotesquery of Madonna and child when he soars on the hydraulic platform of the sewer saving and rescuing Richard Doyle’s/Mayor’s offspring. Dickensian scene re-enactment and re[visioning] in Penguin as the fur collared and a beatific expression while holding the Christmas gift of the baby who is dressed in red and white mini Santa suit. 

Penguin despises the fathers of Gotham, especially Max Shreck for unfolding inhumanity through the unwitting catalyst of the destruction and dooming disposable dumpsters. Saviours in temporality spatially transpose the politicization acts as indictment of the commercialization of religiosity as well as of the sheep-like mentality of the populace. 

Corris writes of the evil clothed in colour and light persuasive of genteelness of the spirit: “Black is good—-Batman, of course—---red or bright is bad[...]The Penguin’s sever level lair; Arctic world is garishly a colourful place; charterhouse toxic bile and a giant yellow ducky serving as Penguin’s Stygian barge.”

“How can you be so mean to someone so meaningless?” remonstrates the house broken and unruly pet symbolized by the dramatis personae of Selina with epitaphic and metonymical
associations to convenience, coffee pourer, and a drudge”[...] “Life’s a bitch, now so am I” self effacing transformation of the feline herdess responds after being lambasted and chastised by
her employer and boss Max Shreck. 

Catwoman Selina correspondingly declaims “Hello there!”
as inverted version “Hell here!” while defying wasters, poisoners and recyclers and abdicates two letters from the neon sign of the billboard of the apartment. Selina’s slickers attires herself as Catwoman to empower the secretariat drudgeries and Shreck’s havoc; nonetheless while doing so, Selina is trapped within her victimization. Selina finds her nails in the sewing basket
after dismantlement of the phone and answering machine and she cuts the rain slicker to stitch with her Catwoman attire. 

Selina is a victim of herself in a state of commodification destined to
be recycled nine times somewhat mystical but not immortal. Max Shreck is a twisted and inverted and maladjusted Scrooge, as Selina maligns “Anti-Claus” through annihilating former using electrically shock device that she had gotten from the members of the Red Triangle Gang.

This behaviour is counterfoiling as self-reflexive and self-effacing with personal imperative. The later also relinquishes her eighth life, as she kills her former boss with an electrically charged kiss. Scriptwriter Water states, “Selina isn’t a villain and she isn’t Wonder Woman for the greater good of society”; she will not gather up that by which she is not valued by bearing her lives.

Penguin possesses animal or freakish monstrosity and wretchedness as well as anthropogenic traits as dualistic dichotomized identities like Selina Penguin waves shredded pieces of incriminate documents in Shreck’s face to blackmail Max Shreck into making him well respected monster. Oswald Cobblepot deconstructs the abandoned child of the overwhelming parents. Batman empowers surplus names in the same sense by which Max Shreck manipulates energy
surplus to sustain a futuristic existence. Both of these decadent cynical personalities whose recycled public selves become dangerous constructs that succeeded in impressing the
gothamites they address. “I’ll take care of the squealing, wretched, pinhead puppets from Gotham [...] You gotta admit, I’ll play this stinking city like a harp from hell.” 

Batman takes up the mode of reusing that which was cast off without a thought—----here language to bring down Penguin’s plot to lead the city. The dichotomized hero’s methods become the same one the
villain adopts for they are both ⁴sick. Catwoman’s shopping expedition at Shreck's gives the viewer her face behind the large happy cat that is at the store’s logo. This new version of
shopping becomes both playful and destructive as she whips the head off the mannequins, threatens the security guards by pointing out that they confuse their pistols with their privates and rigs a microwave oven and gasoline to demolish the place.

In a sense, adopting comics characters to the screen does the same thing as the childrens’ comics become the adult film nightmare of a society controlled by the twisted products of neglect and abuse. Penguin goes much further than Catwoman, for he claims for himself the place of God, the avenger, the herod, the transgressor when plots to kill all of Gotham City’s first-born sons. The police chase Penguin over the same terrain his parents covered him the
night they disposed of him. Penguin even knocks over a couple who could have been stand-ins for his parents as he heads for the bridge and the icy water. 

In his own way, Penguin is a tragic figure, caused by his past doomed to repeat and recycle it. “My name is not Oswald, its
Penguin. I am not a human being. I am an animal. Crank the the-ac! Bring me my lists!” The battles in Batman Returns aren’t between the forces of light and dark so much as between competing neuroses.

We should not assess this graphic novel as disparaging through its legality, nor should we glamorize it by deference to its perpetrators. Frank Miller’s Bruce Wayne and Carrie Kelley embody Fixer and Burglar as “the self-made American ascendant, free, accountable to no authority—-yet haunted by guilt [...] a ruthless, monstrous vigilante breaking the foundations of our democracy [...] a symbolic resurgence of the common man’s will to resist [...] a rebirth of the
American fighting spirit.” 

Hyperreal fantasy of the demonical villains Joker/Michel Emerson, the Mutant Leader/ Gary Anthony Williams, and the Two Face demonstrate the biochemical warfare exposition through televised mediatising of the broadcasters obfuscating real life antecedents: “I
am atop Gotham twin towers with two bombs capable of making them rubble. You have twenty minutes to save them. The price is five million dollars. I would have made half, but I have bills to
pay.” 

Batman has been habitually adapted to salvage the rescue operations associated with laughing gases, fear dust, mind control lipsticks, artificial phobia pills and toxic aerosols to a considerable extent. Postmodernism blends the reality of the fictitious world into the reality of the real world [...] often suggests that the two are inextricable, that the boundaries are indecipherability muddy and
impossibly evasive. 

Miller’s Batman transmutates from the stereotypical old school hero to nihilistic anarchistic vigilante, duality of the characteristic traits of the goodness and evilry, blackness and whiteness. The Rise of the Postmodern Graphic Novel [...] the Golden era of stereotypes and symbolic personifications [...] There was no place for ambiguity. Nuclear fallout of the US Corto Maltese by Russian invasion causes the cowardly traitor superman [...] blotting out the source of all my powers [...] the hope for screaming millions. God-like steel ness
superheroism of superman is eradicated by the hubristic flesh and blood of the cold war contrasting revenge driven psychopath and ardent pursuer of divine justice. 

Julia Kristeva’s formation of subjectivity through blending of linguistics and psychoanalysis contextualizes Lacanian readings as a splitting subject that is in conflict who risks being shattered and is on the brink of heterogeneous contradiction. Batman’s disfiguration and maligned image throughout the signification process obdurates the vigilante saviour with the blame of alleged murdering of Joker “The Joker’s body found mutilated and burned [...] murder is added to the charges of the Batman [...] Batman’s breaking and entering, assault and battery, creating a public menace” furthermore creates a polarized dichotomy between the semiotic and symbolic. 

Language will speak the unspeakable as the consciousness will reveal through unravelling of itself. “[...]the spectacular career of Batman comes to a tragic conclusion [...] as the crime fighter suffered a heart attack while battling the government troops [...] his body has been identified as a fifty-five year old billionaire Bruce Wayne [...] and his death has proven as mysterious as his life.”
              
Further Reading and Works Consulted
Susan M. Bernardo’s [ Wagner College Staten Island NY] Recycling Victims and Villains in “Batman Returns”, Literature/ Film Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp: 16-20, Salisbury University

Politics and Society “Should we celebrate or lament the pop culture endurance of Batman, a violent vigilante?
The Return of the Vigilante: An Essay on the Possibility of Political Judgement, Bradon Little John Daniel Croci’s Holy Terror, Batman! 

Frank Miller’s Dark Knight and the Superhero as Hardboiled
Terrorist Jan Axelsson’s New Times, New Heroes, Ambiguity, Sociopolitical Issues and Post-Modernism
in Frank miller’s Graphic Novel The Batman Returns

Ruzbeh Babaee’s [Porto University] Heroic Subjectivity in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Research Gate.

Sprout

As I looked at the corner of our yard, I visited the distant paths of my memory.
When I was still in middle school, my grandfather brought me a bunch of sprouts and books. He looked at me while he was planting the seedlings and handed me the books he brought and said:
- I’ll play with you. Surprised, I said:
-I don’t know how to plant seedlings, of course you will win. My grandfather laughed and said:

- I will plant the sapling, and you will read these books. If you finish reading the books before this sapling grows and blooms, you will win me.
- Who needs this game? I don’t read books. I ride Salih’s bike.
- Don’t ride your neighbor’s bike. If you beat me in the game, I will give you a new bike. I was so happy that I didn’t even know that I agreed to the game. My grandfather, who had not come from the yard, tended to the seedlings in the morning and in the evening, and watered them lovingly. I read a book without looking up. Months passed, months gave way to years. Today, while proudly holding my bachelor’s degree, I looked at the fragrant roses in the corner of the yard and the dusty bicycle that had not been ridden. If I count, it has been seven years since my grandfather left us…

Nosirova Gavhar was born on August 16, 2000 in the city of Shahrisabz, Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan. Today, she is a third-year student of the Faculty of Philology of the Samarkand State University of Uzbekistan. Being a lover of literature, she is engaged in writing stories and poems. Her creative works have been published in Uzbek and English. In addition, she is a member of «All India Council for Development of Technical Skills», «Juntos por las letras» of Argentina, «2DSA Global Community». Winner of the «Korabl znaniy» and «Talenty Rossii» contests, holder of the international C1 level in the Russian language, Global Education ambassador of Wisdom University and global coordinator of the Iqra Foundation in Uzbekistan. «Magic pen holders» talented young group of Uzbekistan, «Kayva Kishor», «Friendship of people», «Raven Cage», «The Daily Global Nation», Argentina's «Multi Art-6», Kenya’s «Serenity: A compilation of art and literature by women» contains creative works in the magazine and anthology of poets and writers.

The Girl of Lugansk

Barefooted walking girl on the street
In prickly frost of morning hours
On icy slippery scald- head of the earth
With broken bloody knees.
Standing up and falling down,
Going alone nowhere.
Teared away from the world and herself.
Becoming more wicked.
Cold touching upon the bones
Of the kept silent victim.
Passers- by not finding any word.
Somebody tightly hiding the neck
Under fox collar,
Feeling sorry deep in the heart,
But not asking her anything.
Another one looks askance at the girl,
Expressing the contempt.
…O, Umpire judge!
Sometimes we can hang
The lock of indifference,
Not hear the dumb scream for help.
We are deaf, as caterpillars,
No demand from us,
And the conscience
Becoming blind,
The fire in the eyes is gone.



Nigar Nurulla Khalilova is a poet, novelist, translator from Azerbaijan, currently in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She is a member of Azerbaijan Writers Union. She graduated from Azerbaijan Medical University and holds a Ph.D.