Linda Imbler (Musician) Photo credit : Mike Imbler
World Music Day is celebrated each year on 21 June. Music plays an important role in our lives as it is a means of artistic expression evoking deep emotions from the heart, mind and the complex subconscious.
I invite all poets and musicians to submit a maximum of 2 creative works to:
vatsfrankness@gmail.com
Poetry
All poems should be in English. Theme: Music 40 lines maximum
Music
Instrumental music or songs in any language will be accepted as videos.
If your work is accepted, you will receive an acceptance e-mail within 1 week of your submission. If you do not hear from me within 1 week, then your poem or song/music hasn’t made through this time.
Dylan Thomas Photo credit: Nora Summers; copyright, Gabriel Summers
More than Words (by Vatsala Radhakeesoon, writer/poet, organizer)
No celebration is complete without the power of music. Thus, Music gives a deeper dimension to Dylan Thomas Day as well.
Thank you to all singers who have submitted their creative works for this literary event.
Here are some songs about Dylan Thomas:
Giles Matthews Wales
Son of the Wave
Robert Lloyd Australia
In my craft or sullen Art (Dylan Thomas’s poem sung)
Poem:
In my Craft or Sullen Art
In my craft or sullen art Exercised in the still night When only the moon rages And the lovers lie abed With all their griefs in their arms, I labour by singing light Not for ambition or bread Or the strut and trade of charms On the ivory stages But for the common wages Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart From the raging moon I write On these spindrift pages Nor for the towering dead With their nightingales and psalms But for the lovers, their arms Round the griefs of the ages, Who pay no praise or wages Nor heed my craft or art.
Dylan Thomas Photo credit: Nora Summers; copyright, Gabriel Summers
Professor Tony Curtis Wales
Extract from My Life with Dylan Thomas
byTony Curtis
Every time we drive down to our house in Lydstep we stop in Carmarthen and park in that large car-park where my junior school Pentrepoeth had stood, or sometimes in the multi-storey next to the new Debenham’s. My parents had pulled some strings to get me into that school; I should have gone to The Model School off Catherine Street, where my father and uncle had gone and where Dylan’ father DJ Thomas had been taught before his successful entry to the University of Aberystwyth.
From the top floor of Debenham’s car-park I can look down on Pentrefelin Street and the back garden of the house where I was born. Next door-but-one and also a few doors further along were two families of coracle fishermen, one called the Thomas Dwr. They would have been the background characters as Dylan’s Grandpa was asked:
“And what do you think you are doing on Carmarthen bridge in the middle of the afternoon… with your best waistcoat and your old hat?”
Grandpa did not answer, but inclined his face to the river wind, so that his beard was set dancing and wagging as though he talked, and watched the coracle men move, like turtles, on the shore. ‘I am going to Llangadock to be buried.’ And he watched the coracle shells slip into the water lightly, and the gulls complain over the fish-filled water…’There’s no sense in lying dead in Llanstephan.’”
On a fine autumn day in 1995 we attended a brief ceremony of the interment of Glyn Jones’s ashes in the church of St Stephen on the Towy estuary; Glyn was a deeply serious man with an irrepressible twinkling humour; he saw every sense in lying dead in Llanstephan and was smiling over us that day.
-*-
On our journeys to Pembrokeshire we invariably stop for coffee in the first-floor Café Revive of M&S in Carmarthen. Looking out of the window at the pedestrianized street with its Boots and Clarks shoe shop I can’t help but see the ghost of Nelson’s Garage where my father worked after the war and through the decade of the 1950s. The other side of the street behind the bland and uniform retail units, in a lane now gone, he had his workshop where my mother and I would sometimes visit; he’d be there with dismantled electric car parts, repaired not simply discarded and replaced in those days, and the Sorcerers’ sinister large glass containers of battery acid with their acrid and biting tang. Oh, and always an unconscious Woodbine at his lips. This workshop was on Shaw’s Lane close to The Stag’s Head and the Nelson Hotel; it may well have been on the spot where the Ladbroke’s Bookies is now. Just up Lammas Street at the end of the lane is The Boar’s Head regularly frequented (as were many of the town’s myriad pubs) by Dylan on his way from Laugharne to the rest of the world. Lammas Street which in “A Visit to Grandpa’s” is where the young Dylan and his Grandpa’s neighbours “rattled down” in their search for the old man, gone missing from Llanstephan. At The Boar’s Head before the war Augustus John had punched Dylan and left him on the road while he drove off with Caitlin to bed her in Laugharne. On the eighth of October, 1953, it was at The Whore’s Bed, as he re-named the hotel, that Dylan took his last drink in west Wales before catching the train to London and the plane to New York.
From my father’s work-shop on our way back home to Pentrefelin Street we’d make our way up Lammas Street towards Brian the Butcher’s whose plump breasts, splayed legs and firm sausages were carefully weighted and wrapped as double entendres. It is a sunny autumn day with candy floss clouds and not a hint of rain from the west. As we pass the Boar’s Head Hotel a man emerges, half-stumbling, loudly proclaiming in mid-sentence, “…Carmarthen, Carmarthen, on my pennyfarthen’…” and my mother takes my hand more firmly and pulls me a little too quickly down the street.
Dylan Thomas Photo credit: Nora Summers; copyright, Gabriel Summers
Celebrating International Dylan Thomas Day 2024 in Colours by Vatsala Radhakeesoon (Writer/poet/artist/Organizer)
International Dylan Thomas Day is celebrated each year on 14th May. This date marks the anniversary of the reading of Dylan Thomas’s popular play Under Milk Wood for the first time in New York in 1953.
This event aims at bringing people of all artistic fields on a single platform by expressing their appreciation for Dylan Thomas’s writings. So, I am glad to feature the works of some artists inspired by the words of that unique Welsh poet.
Many thanks to those artists!
Hope Art-lovers will appreciate the following paintings:
Gianpiero Actis Italy
Dylan Thomas -Portrait Acrylic on canvas board 40 x30 cm
Gianpiero Actis is the co-founder (with Aeronwy Thomas – Dylan Thomas’ daughter) of the art-literary movement “Immagine & Poesia”, and he often offers his artworks as “responses” to poems of different writers.
His artworks are in permanent exhibitions / collections in Italy and abroad (Promotrice delle Belle Arti, Torino /Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea Wales, /Musée de Huy, Belgium)
Innovation and deep cultural background are the main features of his artworks
Gloria Keh, 72, began painting since childhood. Her late father, Martin Fu, an oil painter, was her first art teacher. She studied mandala art and symbolism at the Theosophical Society in Melbourne, Australia, for over 10 years and undertook a short course in art therapy in Singapore.
In 2008, Gloria founded Circles of Love, a non profit charity outreach program, using her art in the service to humanity.
She has participated in over 150 art exhibitions. These include Art Expo New York, Shanghai Art Fair, Affordable Art Fairs in Hong Kong and Singapore, Art Basel Red Dot Miami, Contemporary London, Paris Art Fair 2021 & 2022, Tokyo International Art Fair 2021, several biennales in Italy and at the MEAM Barcelona.
Ten solo exhibitions:
Gallery Steiner (Vienna, Austria); three solos in Singapore; Yukyung Art Museum /Haegeumgang Theme Museum, the Daesan Art Museum and the Yeosu Art Museum in South Korea (2022); at The Kil Hwan Chang Art Museum (2023) South Korea; in Taipei, Taiwan (2023) and in the Philippines (2023).
She Won over 20 international art awards including the ATIM Top 60 Masters art award 2020 in New York.
Ruben Molina Perez Venezuela
The ship Acrylic on canvas 35 cm x 30 cm
RUBEN ANTONIO MOLINA PEREZ was born in Barinitas Venezuela on October 23, 1969; He got a Bachelor of Education degree with a mention in cultural development at the Simón Rodríguez Experimental University. He has worked as a teacher in the areas of drawing, painting and printed systems in various institutions such as the Neumann Design Institute in Caracas, Venezuela. His works have been exhibited both locally and internationally. Through his Art, he has contributed to various social and environmental events intended to fight for good causes.
Krishav Swarit Sanayasi Mauritius
Life beyond Sunset Acrylic on pebble 11 cm x 7 cm
Krishav Sanayasi is a 10-year-old boy, who has discovered his passion for Art from the age of 5. He likes painting, crafting and inventing gadgets of which he makes instructional videos. To-date, he has done 80 paintings. He has participated in many art contests, both at national and international level and he has won most of them. He has illustrated the French children’s book, L’oiseau de mauvais augure of Mauritian author, Amarnath Hosany and he has also contributed as an artist in the Mauritian anthology , Lire , une anthologie internatinale ,edited by writer, Issa Asgarally .
Lidia Chiarelli Italy
Tribute to Dylan Thomas Digital Collage printed on canvas from an original photo by Nora Summers 40 x 30 cm
Lidia Chiarelli (Torino, Italy). Writer and Artist, co-founder, with Aeronwy Thomas, of the art-literary Movement Immagine & Poesia (2007). Award -winning poet. Six nominations to Pushcart Prize, USA. Literary Arts Medal (NY) 2020. KEL winner’s plaque 2022. Her poems are translated and published in many languages.
Dylan Thomas Photo credit: Nora Summers; copyright, Gabriel Summers
Let’s Celebrate International Dylan Thomas Day 2024
by Vatsala Radhakeesoon (writer/poet, Editor and Organizer)
Dear Poets and Literature-lovers,
International Dylan Thomas Day is celebrated each year on 14th May. This date marks the anniversary of the reading of Dylan Thomas’s popular play Under Milk Wood for the first time in New York in 1953.
This year, submissions have been open to languages, other than English and it is really gratifying to have received a poem in Italian and French accompanied by English translations.
I’m grateful to the UK authorities and Immagine and Poesia (Italy) for being supportive in conducting this special event on my blog.
Many thanks to the poets whose works have been selected and featured below.
Hope all readers will enjoy reading them and continue to value the writings of Dylan Thomas.
Derek Davies Wales
Poetic Inspiration…
Taylor Swift, this nation calls you Back to Cymru, where dragons roam; Dylan Thomas, that poetic inspiration Land of Wales, my heart, my home..
To this place, great songs of my homeland From a country, where coal was king; Poetry plays upon those harp strings Music to my soul to bring..
Taylor Swift your chosen inspiration The bard, a legend born for fame; A poet that vibrates, down through the history books An honour that you chose his name..
The tortured poets department That written piece of music From the bottom of a pen; Lyrics from a global pop star For the world to love again..
Taylor Swift, this nation, it still calls you Back to Cymru, where only dragons there roam; Dylan Thomas, our poetic inspiration Land of Wales, my heart, my home..
Derek Davies is a sixty-four-year-old semi-retired builder, originally from Swansea, Wales in the UK. He started out on his road of poetry through his lifelong love of playing guitar, singing and writing song lyrics. His inspirational poets to date are Manchester’s Tony Walsh, Wrexham spoken word poet, Evrah Rose and of course the late Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. He has always tried to write with enthusiasm, passion and deep inner emotion. He has written around two hundred poems to date, including a couple on the late Welsh screen actor Richard Burton.
Barbara Anna Gaiardoni Italy
LET GO
Honeymoon Of Peace Gives The moon a break
Original Italian version:
LASCIA ANDARE
Luna di miele Della Pace Lascia In pace La luna
Barbara Anna Gaiardoni alias @bag is the winner of the First Prize 2023 “Zheng Nian Cup”, National Literature Price and finalist of the Edinburgh “Writings Leith” contest. She received two nominations for the Touchstone Award 2023, recognized on the Haiku Euro Top 100 list for 2023 and on The Mainichi’s Haiku in English Best 2023. Her Japanese-style poems have been published in The Mainichi, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Japan Society UK and in 127 other international journals.
Kusahal Poddar India
Treaties, Annals And Dylan Thomas
I
‘Do not go gentle into that good night’
I throw away the balcony. It follows the trajectory of the last cigarette, sex, sixth sense, furniture, bed, pane and the entire floor I have thrown away. I jettison quiet, and no, I shall not ‘go gentle into that good night’. I shall not ‘go gentle into that good night’.
The city of the smoke rises above its ashes. One chokes and lives. Flame can be seen in hindsight.
I browse the program schedule. The choices in memory are either a fire or a looped visual of brown leaves and transparent plastic blowing in the wind.
II
“The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,” – Dylan Thomas
As if the men fallen will rise, yawn and stretch, will begin to remove the debris and sweep the minefields between two states, and will pave the broken ways.
In a scene, imagine, I pull and peel off my burnt skin, my rotten flesh denuding the bones, and then put on the meat bought from one of those ration-stores set up by the government.
As if the treaties can end a war, unpoison the wells, populate the landscape with the extinct flora and fauna.
I sit on a pile of books scooped from a kaput library. I shall build four columns and a roof with those until I find some concrete.
Kushal Poddar is the author of ‘Postmarked Quarantine’ . He has eight books to his credit. He is a journalist, father, and the editor of ‘Words Surfacing’. His works have been translated into twelve languages, published across the globe.
“SEEDPOD OF DREAMS”A writing inspired by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas:
“Life always offers a second chance, is called tomorrow.”
Dear Distraction, To the next morning or morrow, sometimes a thought is shallow. Who are we? Packs of dreams in the distant echo? Changing the journey from several classes, copybooks, pens and handwritings, innocence has scribbled since childhood. In life’s school, learning comes from packages and is continuous.
Subjects alone undefine us. What transforms us? Grasping the ologies and the other terminologies is a surety for an attentive learner. The pathway of careers is well selected from a list of royal choices.
A stack of diplomas and degrees demarks the graduates. In academics, competence and competition are demonstrated by laureates. Not speaking about intelligent quotient and other legends!
Howbeit, chance is aureate. Yet, several students are left uninspired. What makes a person fortunate or unfortunate? Can we really tell or rate?
The haughty disregard of vanity marginalizes the odds as misfits of the society. The lost soul chases his cause or goal on the bench of failure and sorrow. An individual starts finding his role.
Is time a promiser or running out? The ponding delver is clever. The flower of hope never fades. The marches of success are always steps ahead.
The seed of trust roots in the heart. The crust of firmness makes its pod. The sapling of ambition shoots with daylight of good efforts. The plant grows with culture and time. And one day, falling flowers are blessings in the palms, if not on the head. The tree has finally borne fruits and shade.
A fountain of late and sincere apologies, Regret.
Jhaya Gujadhur is a Specialised Public Health Nurse and poetess from Mauritius. Her first anthology ‘Poesy And Quotes’ has been published in 2023. Her keenness and contribution in quilling keep growing.
Bimal Shrivastwa Nepal
Accompaniment in Solitariness
(In Memory of Dylan Thomas)
Groping for something insightful, In my solitariness, I get accompanied by the “Poem in October”1 And fly with “the birds of winged trees”2 Above the farms and dales.
“Green and carefree”3, My youth is eased “Under the apple boughs.”4 Mesmerized by the “Fern Hill”5, My soul flashes into the dark.
As time flies by, I identify myself with “The Hunchback in the Park”6, At the zoo, Mocked at by the rascals.
This is what echoes then: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”7.
A poem by Dylan Thomas published in 1945/1946
From “Poem in October”, line no. 12
From “Fern Hill”, line no.8
From “Fern Hill”, line no.1
Another poem by Dylan Thomas published in 1946
Another poem by Dylan Thomas published in 1941
From “ The Hunchback in the Park”, line no. 18
Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of English at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. In addition to publishing an anthology of poem, Fad Fervors from Litlight, Pakistan, he has published poems from sahitto.com, Bangladesh; the writer’s club, USA; sahityapost.com, Nepal; kabitaminar.com, India and some other online literary websites.
Heath Brougher USA
Common Locus
Forever Propped upon A house of cards And layered in longings To unpress the unbuttons. Epsom salt for broken toes. Potions spill through the ant-farm crevices. Will we learn to love each other Before it is made illegal? Reaching for dangling Daughters lifted high By amniotic Nooses.
You Know how To sing the eternal Crescendo of the cities kept in bags. This poem Has been Brought To you By Pepsi.
Heath Brougher is the editor of Concrete Mist Press and poetry editor of Into the Void Magazine. He has published elven collections of poetry and prose and has two forthcoming collections.
Dustin Pickering USA
Grief “Tersettes“
this whimper does not delineate or fabricate the stylus of my imagination– a poem dies on its grief.
*
he wanted so badly to remove my grief: he did not know i was in love with sorrow.
Dustin Pickering is founder of Transcendent Zero Press. He has contributed writing to Huffington Post, Café Dissensus Everyday, The Statesman (India), Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, The Colorado Review, World Literature Today, and several other publications. He placed in the top 100 out of 12,500 entries for the erbacce prize in 2021, and was a finalist in Adelaide Literary Journal’s first short fiction contest. He was longlisted for the Rahim Karim World Prize in 2022 and given the honor of Knight of World Peace by the World Peace Institute that same year. He hosts the popular interview series World Inkers Network on YouTube.
Lidia Chiarelli Italy
My liquid world (amid winds of war) to Dylan Thomas
This ashen day in October opens with dancing shadows – images carved in the air of the Winter not too far. An insidious mist enshrouds me in crescendo.
Among echoes in subtle vibration teach me, Dylan, to take shelter in| my liquid world
teach me to feel the pulse of the tides that ceaselessly ebb and flow
And while time and space dissolve in the primordial roar of the ocean
teach me to fly away, with you, from| the void … of this bewilderment of that insanity*
* from: Although through my bewildered way
Lidia Chiarelli (Torino, Italy). Writer and Artist, co-founder, with Aeronwy Thomas, of the art-literary Movement Immagine & Poesia (2007). Award -winning poet. Six nominations to Pushcart Prize, USA. Literary Arts Medal (NY) 2020. KEL winner’s plaque 2022. Her poems are translated and published in many languages.
In the forward moving green of time, he takes up his singing quill, records the thunderclap of politics; great losses, deaths of children.
In the forward moving green of time, he takes up his singing quill, heralds treaties of peace with the moon as his guide.
His muses: 30 days of the chitter of birds, cloudless skies, the dominion of hope shouted beyond despondency.
His wild soul studies and records triumphant voices in nature, the daring of the lunar proclamation, trumpeting his rise above all noise that seeks to break his spirit.
In the forward moving green of time, time that created his anthems now chooses to silence them. The feather cracks, and his sounds grow mute.
Critics say his work was sound over sense, but what sense is there in a world without sound?
Linda Imbler is an internationally published poet with twelve poetry collections and one hybrid ebook of short fiction and poetry.
In a humble class family of the 20th Century, A charismatic child was born. It was during the seedling of World War I, When his first soft step landed on the earth. For him, it was harder than landing on the moon, only the thing that could do well for him; during this time was- a shield of faith, provided by his birth angel.
Wait, they weren’t the fancy angel we can’t find, Everyone can find them as their shield- we find this shield in the form of parents. Although God didn’t bless him with- ‘Materialistic Wealth’ to live a life, this child, Thomas Dylan, was blessed with ‘wealth of knowledge’— to live as a legend in history. And now, He has been the richest soul in the world of poetry.
Rajendra Ojha (Nayan) is a Nepalese poet, philosopher, social researcher, social worker, and EU certified trainer. He also served as a citizen diplomat for three months under the ‘Ministry of Population and Environment’ in 2018 in Switzerland for the diplomatic program of the Minamata Convention, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Poems and philosophical writings of Rajendra Ojha have been published in various national as well as international literary journals from Nepal, the U.S.A., India, China, Russia, Spain, Myanmar, and Pakistan in both Nepalese and English. He has also published two anthologies, ‘Through the World’ (a collection of experimental poems) and ‘Words of Tiger’ (a collection of philosophical and psychological poems), in 2011 and 2019, respectively. Mr. Rajendra Ojha had been honored by two major prestigious award named ‘Asia’s Outstanding Internship Solution Provider Award 2020/21’ and ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Television Award 2023’ for his work as a ‘Social Researcher’ as well as a ‘Social Worker’ (Activities related to Social Responsibility) respectively in 2021 and 2023.
Vandana Kumar India
How did you know, Dylan?
How did you know, Dylan? That you would go at 39 Were you born aware Of decadence Of rot Of streets littered with mice Those that would gnaw At ropes and cable wires Dangling from homes Ten decades from then
How did you know, Dylan? The thin line between the dying and the dead Even when you were young Playing in strawberry fields
I don’t trust your sketches Dunked in nostalgia It could have been October Or November The month doesn’t matter You knew it You just knew
Those last few days on sterile beds White sheets Not of Satin But crisp cotton
The longest nights When the sea murmured secrets And rocked your boat house in Laugharne
How gently did you go? When it was time for the final goodbye Did you carry your umbrella? The papers had said it would rain that week Did you, Dylan Thomas? Did you?
Vandana Kumar is a French teacher, translator, recruitment consultant, Indie Film Producer, cinephile and poet in New Delhi, India. Her poems have been published in national and international websites of repute like ‘Grey Sparrow Journal’, ‘Dissident Voice’, ‘Borderless journal’, ‘Madras Courier’, ‘Outlook’, ‘Ink Pantry’ etc. She has featured in several literary journals and seminal feminist anthologies of repute.
She was a jury member for the ‘All India Poetry Competition’ organized by ‘Cocoa-Butter’ and also co-edited their debut print anthology that resulted from this competition in 2020-2021. She was the only Indian in 40 participating poets in the ‘INĐIJA PRO POET 2023’ festival held in June23 in Serbia. Her debut collection of poems ‘Mannequin Of Our Times’ was published in February 2023. The book has been awarded ‘The Panorama International Book Award’ 2023 and ‘The Mighty Pens Awards’2023. She has also received the Asian Literary Society’s 2024 certificate for excellence awards in the category of best poetry book and women achievers award for literature. She is a Pushcart Prize-nominated author- poet for the year 2023.
Rehana Chamroo France/Mauritius
A flowery dream
Hylô ‘nghariad, yellow li’l trumpet Lying there solely in your tainted demesnes Far beneath the valleys, the hills, the lilies,
Why are you so silently glooming? Flowers are meant to bloom, Don’t you know that, Cutie?
Upon the dusk of the shadowy night, Rise! The horns are ringing. It’s the battle of your life baby.
Shine to the world. “And death shall have no dominion”, Dylan Thomas proses.
Rehana Chamroo is a Mauritian born author whose first French novel Les Dames de Willowland has been published by Estelas Editions in February 2024. Holder of a master’s degree in Psychology, specialised in Cognitive Behavioral Therapies and mum of two, she lives in France and is actually working on her second book.
Dinesh Bachoo Mauritius
Starry Stroll (translated by Vatsala Radhakeesoon)
A summer morning at some peak time Inquisitiveness grabbed me to know his two sides by blessing me with celestial fragrance by opening an unknown path
The enigma so mesmerizing whereby flows mysterious scent of unusual dreams Imagination calls the fresh canvas
Pastel view beaming beauty displaying reality undying all through eyes- hooked Laugharne
Vivid dream in peaceful sleep At the doorstep of the boathouse I met Dylan Thomas The prince of Welsh writings
Blessed by the month of Mary (rosary) We share a world un-mundane Far from a euphoric mob In the refined daring words
What a pleasure to entice time listening to the waves-Castalian Whilst all swirl- poise My soul is immersed Under Milk Wood.
Original French version: Balade Astrale
Un matin d’été à une heure miroir A savoir le double dans son intimité M’embaume d’un parfum célestiel En m’ouvrant une porte inconnue
L’énigme y est drôlement fleurée D’où coule un baume mystérieux Aussi drôle qu’un rêve puisse être L’aire fantasque change de toile
De ce regard tout beau pastel On vient transposer la merveille Aux couleurs d’un réel éternisé Le long du comté de Laugharne
Rêve lucide au sommeil du juste Au seuil de la maison dans l’eau Je viens épier un Dylan Thomas Le prince de l’écriture galloise
Étant béni par le mois du rosaire On se partage un monde astral A l’écart d’une foule déchaînée Dans la finesse des mots hardis
Quel plaisir de leurrer le temps Au bruit d’une mer castalienne Alors que tout se fige en spirale Mon âme écoute Au Bois Lacté
Dinesh Bachoo is a Mauritian poet born on 22 October 1967 at Triolet. He started writing while he was still at secondary school in 1982. Though his chosen language for literary writing is French, being a Kreol Morisien teacher, he also writes in Mauritian Creole. Having published a poetry book in that language, he plans to launch another one very soon and this time it will be in French.
Melissa Chappell USA
The Earth is Bowed
The earth is bowed beneath brumal frost, No furrow is broken, no sod has been turned, only the parched straw of the field by glassy wind lies low, worshipping, as it only knows how, the coming of the Lord as he passes, singing his Sabbath, his voice, the holy streams of Spring, the first green blade, cutting through its earthen aperture, light of creation come early, a promise that the broken shall be unbroken, the frail shall be made strong. The forgotten? They shall be unforgotten. The dead shall live. Those under the earth shall rise. Thus, he strikes firelight against the flint of the heart’s hard fear, for the day is coming soon when Death shall rage in its chains, a strong man bound eternally.
Melissa A Chappell is a writer native to South Carolina, where she leads a rural lifestyle. She gains much inspiration from the forests, fields, birds and wildflowers. In addition to writing, she plays the guitar and the piano. She plans one day to visit the southwestern United States.
Nell Jones Australia
At Last, my Love, My Foxy Darling.
(After Gossamer Beynon)
In the morning light, The daybreak rush is over, And Llarregubb sits quiet.
Parading her best cotton dress, Gossamer Beynon, schoolteacher, Lovesick, Sits at high table, sighs, And supposes, her steamy bedfellow, Sinbad Sailor, who will never be her beau.
And she picks at her food, like a sparrow.
Garden greens yard grown, last night’s, leftovers, Fish heads, and tip bits, hot pot turnovers. Piping hot Welsh cakes, cockles, and rarebit, Pea soup and corn crab and fish flavoured stew. Laver bread, kippers, and cheese melt fondue, Hobnob through Donkey Street, sing ballyhoo, To nibble on giblets, otter, and shrew, And sing bloody murder from inside Bayview.
Potatoes in jackets, sit comfy and snug, Mice in the larder, hide under the jug, Oh Sinbad, she smiles with his name on her lips, I’m through with these lunchtime kidney and chips. But the afternoon bell beckons, in monotonous tones, Dinging and ringing, the tintinnabulation moans. She stands, and flutters out like a moth, Filled to the brim with vegetable broth. She tells herself, today is the day, She will tip him a wink, Or scratch him a note, written in best ink.
Her red stilettoes sing in salacious tones, Down to the Sailor’s Arms. High heels hit the cobble, Tip, tap, click clack, Two stones clanging, Click, clack, clock. Sinbad Sailor, lovestruck, chest puffed out, Warbles like a Stone Chat, At the passing dream of his desires.
Perched high above his morning brew, Still hanging from last night’s, hullabaloo, He bows to greet her, his ice maiden fail, Full of brave sorrow, and passion frail, ‘Here’s to me, Sinbad’ he says, heartbreak drowned, And she slides by, right past him, her eyes to the ground.
‘I want to gobble him up.’
Oh, Gossamer B, So proud and so free, I pine for you, Like a selkie for the sea.
Oh, Gossamer, Gossamer, Gossamer B, Let me peel away, your frilly, flowered frock, Down to your stockings and stays. Come ride with me, on the ship bobbing sea, Be there roses for you and garlands for me.
‘Be still, so that I may absorb you.’ And he downs the last of his beer, with sonnets in his head.
I want to be your lover, When the light out dies each night, And the moon throws its caring arms around us.
I want to be your friend On the tide of every wave, Even when you rise and fall.
I want to be your love, All bed cosy, in the twinkle of the dusk, Shipwreck me gentle, then rock me to sleep. Under the starshine, so warms in its peep.
At last, this is the place, my love, My foxy darling, Oh, Gossamer B, Come lay with me. Come join me, in the sand sifted air, Between river and harbour, Ocean and wave.
But now the day has gone all foggy, and she seems to have slipped away.
Oh Gossamer… And he picks at his teeth with a pin.
Nell Jones (Daniella) was born in Adelaide in 1964. She has Dutch and Welsh heritage. Writing since the age of 12, Nell had her first play, Dead Man’s Alley, a work focused on the plight of homeless men living on the streets of Melbourne, performed at the Nimrod Theatre, Sydney, a second play, The Blind Forty, set on the Torrens River during the Depression in Adelaide, performed at the Seymour Centre, Sydney. She has been the recipient of a Master Writers Grant, from the Australia Council and has written several other plays for youth theatres and schools, as part of her role as a drama teacher and director in those organisations. Nell has published many works over the years, including Jack and Lily, a chronicle of short war stories and poetry. Nell’s first novel, The Lost Sister of Groningen, based on the life of her mother in WW2 and 1950’s Australia, was launched at the Tap Gallery in Sydney in 2010. It was later launched at the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival(URWF) in 2011. Her second novel, A Token for Perry, was launched by Libby Hathorn in Sydney at the 371 Gallery Marrickville. Her poetry volume, The Sky Is My Religionwas also launched in in 2012 with the support of the UWRF and opened by Australian poet and children’s author, Libby Hathorn. Nell performed her poetry daily with Balinese musicians and dancers in an art space at Dewangga Gallery in Ubud, with paintings that were specially created to reflect her poetry volume. At the opening she performed with Balinese dancers and a 30-piece orchestra as part of the festival celebrations. She has had poems published in 2021 for the ‘How Time Has Ticked A Heaven Around the Stars,’ eBook, Poetry Anthology, by Infinity Books as part of Dylan Day celebrations. She was also featured on a poster with her haiku poem, Celestial Turmoil for that year. Coquun was shortlisted in 2021 for the Bridport Prize in the U.K. Poem, Blazing Star for Dylan, in 2021 and, In Ceremony of a Fire Raid Past, 2022 were both featured on Vatsala Radhakeesoon’s blog, for International Dylan Day Poetry Celebrations. In 2023 she co-authored an article based on John Keats, which was published on the Australian Children’s Poetry website. In 2023, she was longlisted for International Dylan Thomas Day, with her poem, Elegy, Is it a Dream? In 2023, she wrote the foreword for Magic Cube of Time for the poet, Vatsala Radhakeesoon, published by Impspired, UK.
Nell has two degrees in Education and lives by the sea in Newcastle, Australia. In 2021 she retired from teaching and is a full-time writer. She completed an Artist in Residency placement at, Lighthouse Arts in Newcastle in 2022, while working on her third novel, The Ingenious Professor based on the life of artist, Joseph Lycett. Nell is a member of the Society of Women Writers, NSW.
Old Age is a library For any society. Rage acts as a reason Of wisdom, For when the light With a lifespan dies, The library is dark. We need the rebelling spirit Against the dying of light. Light is a seeking For wise men Still keep their inner Calling alive; They do not go gentle Into that good night. An artist paints at night An artist is a rebel. The night is fought With the child like freedom In its depiction in the art. It is hard to shut the Age of experience With the whole library Of old age Burning down to ashes.
Author’s Note: This poem is a response to the poem entitled “Do not go gentle into that good night” by the poet Dylan Thomas.
Sushant Thapa (born on 26th February 1993) is an award-winning Nepalese poet from Biratnagar-13, Nepal who holds an M.A. in English literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He has published five books of English poetry, namely: The Poetic Burden and Other Poems (Authorspress, New Delhi, 2020), Abstraction and Other Poems (Impspired, UK, 2021), Minutes of Merit (Haoajan, Kolkata, 2021), Love’s Cradle (World Inkers Printing and Publishing, New York, USA and Senegal, Africa, 2023) and Spontaneity: A New Name of Rhyme (Ambar Publication House, New Delhi, 2023).
Santosh Bakaya India
What is Beauty? Beguiled by words ever since he was a child; Dylan Thomas mesmerized us by his words when he grew older. Writing about nostalgia, complexities of human nature, pain, loss and other things grim, [I think I get my love of alliteration from him.].
His verses sprung from the inner recesses of his heart; the words of this lyrical poet so fine, sang with a forceful vitality. How I mulled over the words which, I oft found bordering on verbal density. I read and read his poems of so sublime an intensity, trying to catch hidden meanings and layered nuances.
That poem about The Hunchback in the Park, left me contrite about our cruelty to each other. What is beauty? What is ugliness? What construes dark; what is bright? The world is a real mess! What is it coming to? What is up? The poor fellow ate bread from a newspaper, drank water from a chained cup, sneaking into a dog kennel at night. Was he ugly because he was unlike us?
I often picture the homeless man furrowed-brow, hunched on a ramshackle bench, rheumy eyes fixed on the squirrels, watching a hare blundering into a burrow, absently wondering why there was gravel in his cup. Perhaps also about the tearing asunder of the world by ugly emotions- of hatred, jealousy, rapacity, malevolence, megalomania and mendacity?
Quasimodo, The Hunchback of Notre -Dame, despite his so -called repulsive physical appearance, Hugo told us, was compassionate, loyal and kind. So what if he had a wart on one eye? Was he not beautiful? What is a wart? Can a wart blot someone’s inner beauty?
Was the hunchback of Dylan devoid of beauty, just because he was different? No, he was not. Dylan Thomas warned; it’s we who are unappreciative of differences. It’s we who are ugly. It’s time to rue our squint-eyed points of view.
Internationally acclaimed for her prolific literary output, Dr. Santosh Bakaya is an academic, award – winning poet, novelist, biographer, columnist, Tedx speaker, and creative writing mentor, having penned 28 very well – received books across different genres. Her latest book of poems is entitled Sunset in my Cup.
Vatsala Radhakeesoon Mauritius
Forever amidst Poetry for Dylan Thomas
Waves spun, Words dive-drown, Fans’ eyes filled with tears open-wide
Yet, there you are floating on the darker seas sprinkling slivery resurrection – yours, an eternal one, Ink- wisdom dipped and laid on immortal pages for generations to ponder, cherish and glorify
D sings your name to the mermaid’s beach-solace, Finally, free in poets’ greatness you silently smile.
Vatsala Radhakeesoon is a Mauritian writer/poet and an artist. She is the author of various poetry-books. She is also into abstract Art and illustration of children’s poetry and stories.
He has published five books of English poetry, namely: The Poetic Burden and Other Poems (Authorspress, New Delhi, 2020), Abstraction and Other Poems (Impspired, UK, 2021), Minutes of Merit (Haoajan, Kolkata, 2021), Love’s Cradle (World Inkers Printing and Publishing, New York, USA and Senegal, Africa, 2023) and Spontaneity: A New Name of Rhyme (Ambar Publication House, New Delhi, 2023). Sushant is a lecturer of English Poetry, Literature and Business Communication in Biratnagar, Nepal. His poems are featured in Mad Swirl, Spillwords, Journal of Expressive Writing, As It Ought To Be Magazine, Corporeal Lit Magazine, and many other platforms.
Here are 3 poems by Sushant Thapa:
Passion and Compassion
My focus on compassion Made me dedicate To my passion. A flowering humanity Is a treasured urn. How poet John Keats Would visualize The images in his modern urn If he were alive? Art can be interpreted| And it never gets old. It teaches a whole Mighty fountain, Showering blessings from the chasm. In art I find the cave of humanity Reflecting social echoes and A creator or weaver of A new world. No height of temptation Can drain the brain Of passion and compassion.
Brook and Fire
Some memories teach, Some drift by Like a brook by the fire. Enveloped in the freshness Every blooming color Imprints the soulful caricature Of humanity. The fire is a sign of impermanence it burns and is a trace of rage. Yet, it cooks for life. The brook is a flowing measure In consolation it flows. Brook and fire sound opposite, Yet, they both can give birth to life. An equilibrium balances this play| Of fire and flowing brook. Books caged in libraries tend not To make a man, Unless the man decides to open His inner self to receive The herb of knowledge. Balance is a house built With rooms like A beating heart and A roof of intellect. The land or the sky Both need affection Like a clock tower Never really getting old As long as it ticks To provide the spell Of correct time.
Weight of Progress
Opening the curtains of sunshine I delve into the morning. I am a first streak of light And also, the revealing darkness. Both day and night I treasure for upcoming flights That carry the life forward. I saw a progress report Of a work at progress I uncovered a blanket of jargon And allowed myself to drown In the healing hemlock of my study. Hemlock killed Socrates, but My hemlock only heals and I turn action into goals And let those actions speak. Life is a nectar of paradise Only in purity it thrives. From the height of imagination
If you wish to have your poetry chapbooks, poetry books, children’s books (prose and poetry) translated from English to French French to English Mauritian Kreol to English English to Mauritian Kreol please feel free to send them to :
vatsfrankness@gmail.com
Translation Fee: $0.08 (Rs 3.71 Mauritian currency) per word
Translation of Individual poems may also be considered. Please send a minimum of 5 poems if you wish to have a small number of your poems translated. Those poems will be published on my blog.
Shyamasri Maji is an Assistant Professor in English at Durgapur Women’s College in West Bengal, India. She was the recipient of Independent Research fellowship 2018-19 at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. Her book reviews and articles have been published in reputed journals such as South Asian Review, Indian Literature, Economic & Political Weekly, Asian Review of Books, Antipodes and Third World Thematics. Her short stories and poems have been published in Unish Kuri, Muse India, Six Seasons Review, The Bombay Review, Outlook India, Café Dissensus, Modern Literature, Indian Periodical, Durgapur Review and Writers, Editors, Critics. Her poem “Monsoon in the City” has found a place in Scent of Rain: Remembering Jayanta Mahapatra, an anthology in memory of the legendary poet (Ed. Ashwani Kumar, 2024). Her debut collection Forgive Me, Dear Papa and Other Poems (Hawakal, 2023) has received critical acclaim. She has participated in online poetry reading events such as Hamara Mushaira (South Asian Literary Association) and Anantha Poetry Festival (Samyukta).
Here are some poems by Shyamasri Maji:
Hairfall
nails hoot at shameless stars knots tether night’s leathery nape Winter, a tattoo of tyrannical teeth, runs up and down to slaughter strands on my white marble floor
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
I accuse the laundryman of senility and slander like a nagging toddler at mamma’s office, the sullen sun waits outside the electricity office I can’t help it, in the crowded bus, my eyes flow
Haiku
1.
Empty fields mumble marks of grazing unsettle us late afternoon air
2.
A cup of coffee smoke soon fills the forest hours our bed unruffled
From Forgive Me, Dear Papa and Other Poems (Hawakal, 2023) :
*Kintsugi
I collected you in bits and pieces over the years, in hugs and kisses. From the icy floor with marble shine buzzing with waltz and bonfire wine sparkling like tear drops in LED lights. Who sutured the stars on the cracks of nights? Fallen dead from the embracing arms that held them close in sun-kissed charm, the crumpled leaves whimpered in the rain with the desire to dance in the storm again! Our broken hearts waited in the sunset glue on bleeding branches bloomed blossom new, the painter’s strokes celebrated our scars, our wounds are reborn as smiling flowers.
*This poem is inspired by Kintsugi, a form of Japanese art with broken pottery pieces
International Dylan Thomas Day is celebrated every year on 14 May. As a representative of Immagine and Poesia (founded by the patronage of Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of Dylan Thomas) and upon the approval of the main organizers and consultants, UK, I am conducting International Dylan Thomas Day 2024 online.
I invite all writers/ poets, artists and singers interested to submit one creative work about the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas or appreciation of his works to: vatsfrankness@gmail.com
Poetry and Prose: Poems and short stories in English and other languages will be accepted. For writing pieces other than English, please submit an English translation of the work together with the original. Please acknowledge the translator as well. Only poems or stories with proper imagery and theme in context and having a refined language will be accepted.
Art: Artworks in any medium will be accepted, provided they are related to Dylan Thomas.
Music: Songs in any language paying tribute to Dylan Thomas are welcome.
Theme: Any theme but related to Dylan Thomas’s life or works
If your work is accepted, you will receive an acceptance e-mail within 1 week of your submission. If you do not hear from me within 1 week, then your poem hasn’t made through this time.
Rajorshi Patranabis is a multilingual poet, editor, translator and reviewer dabbling into different forms of poetry.He has this knack of writing in fewer words with a lot for the readers to ponder about. A Wiccan by philosophy, he has ten collections of poetry (nine in English and one in Bengali) and four collections of translations (including two co -authored volumes from Assamese to English and Bengali)
He has collections of sonnets, haibun, haiku, ghazals and free verses. He is credited for the first ever collection of Gogyoka, titled The Last drop of your Tears, published by Hawakal prokashona and launched at World Book Fair, 2023, New Delhi, which had been translated to Assamese and is currently being translated to Hindi. He is also credited with the first ever collection of Gogyoshi titled Checklist Anomaly by a single author in English, also published by Hawakal publication. His last published collection is Soliloquy (Ghazals in English) from Penprints publications, and his last published book is Buddha and Void, published by Hawakal Prokashona.
Here are six 5-line Japanese style of poems, Gogyoka by Rajorshi Patranabis:
guilt of a sinful touch collapsed in lucid words I looked up into the crisscrossed galaxy to club my depth with her shallows the universe found itself in red
colossal thoughts slither like tightly knotted snakes panting in ecstatic dilemma love pinks itself in arrogance roses become redundant
you whimper into my eyes lost dreams colour scribbled lines of surrender my lips touch your words arrogant verses open its eyes
comforted pockets of an oblivious sleepless mind petals quiver in sinful glory of thoughtless dry death silent kisses reverberate in blue
opulent austerity looks into your defiance of a blatant nonchalance clouds muster courage to smell your yellow spring
day sprinkles life into the throbs of death stars wait eternally as she looks up to the moon I wait to drink her smile
Vatsala Radhakeesoon Poetry, Prose, Translated Works 