My Poem, All Directions of My Life, Mentioned In an Article by Joanna Fuhrman In T&W Magazine.
My appreciation goes to the wonderful Joanna Fuhrman! Not only is she a great poet, but also a brilliant teacher. Joanna’s years of experience in writing and teaching poetry always gives us insight and inspiration. She is the author of six books of poetry, including To a New Era, published by Hanging Loose Press, 2021. My favorite book of hers is The Year of Yellow Butterflies. I think every poet should at least once read her poems, “New Eyes for the New Year” in Poetry Foundation, and “The Adjunct Commuter” in The Brooklyn Rail.
She kindly mentioned my poem, All Directions of My Life, in her educational article, The Map as Metaphor: Poetic Cartographies in the Virtual Classroom published in Teachers and Writers Magazine. You can also find “Map of My Fourth Year” by Christine Hamm, “NYC Driver” by Orly Bendavid, “List of Imperatives” by Laurel Kallen, and “Yard” by Kate Lutzner, all heart catching!
“Unexpected Mergers” Takes You To The Strange Worlds of Poetry and Painting!
How grateful I am to receive this ekphrastic collaboration, titled “Unexpected Mergers” published by Pski’s Porch, NY. It took me to the strange worlds of the poet/writer/editor, Jordan Trethewey and the artist Marcel Herms! I should admit that I didn’t come around this work cold, as I had already been familiar with their wonderful ekphrastic works through exploring in “Open Arts Forum”. Hard to say which work was my favorite among 40 different works of art and poetry. As I pass through the poems, each one stands alone and at the same time they go well with the pictures. Congratulations to both of them and hope to see more of such great works. So far my favorite poem/picture has been “I need a private world/ free from every living thing” but I am sure, my favorite will change from one to another when I read the book over and over.
Breath, A Poem by Niharika Chibber Joe Published in “Lockdown Prayers”
Breath
Niharika Chibber Joe
“I can’t breathe!” wheezed my father
As asthma bowed a broken violin deep within his chest
At 2 a.m. when my mother muttered, “Go!”
I had run in my 14-year-old bare feet to the doctor’s home
My bleeding feet were efficient
My father lives
“I can’t breathe!” whined my child
As Delhi’s acrid air glazed over his perfectly pink pleura
I raised the car window, and held him close
He fell asleep
“I can’t breathe!” grumbled the defiant 22-year-old
Flinging her cloth mask to the floor
She did not need it to meet friends at the bar
The Virus was not hers to keep
She would hand it off to her friend’s father
The beer had been worth it. She was fine!
“I can’t breathe!” gasped the friend’s father
As the indifferent gurney dumped him onto a bed
Miraculously equipped with a ventilator
That forced air into his laboring lungs
So he could breathe easy
“I can’t breathe!” “Please!”
Wailed a man – a black man
As a cruel white knee pushed into his neck
And held there unflinchingly for eight minutes and forty-six seconds
Until there was no breath left to breathe.
Note: Published in Earth Fire Water Wind ed. Anita Nahal and Roopali Sircar Gaur, Authors Press 2021.
Niharika Chibber Joe is a poet, and short story writer. Niharika writes in English, and sometimes in Japanese or in Hindi. Most recently, her work has been published in In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry (2020), Millennium Poesy (2021), Earth, Fire, Water, Wind (2021) and in the Setu Online Literary Journal. She is a racial equity, social justice and climate warrior. She holds a B.A and M.A. in Japanese Language and Literature from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, and an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. She was born and raised in India, and “grew up” in the United States.
تنفس
نیهاریکا چیبر جو
“نمی توانم نفس بکشم!” پدرم خس خس کنان زمزمه کرد
در حالی که آسم ، ویولن شکسته ای را در اعماق سینه اش می نواخت
“ساعت دو بامداد بود که مادرم زیر لب گفت ، “برو
من دختر چهارده ساله ای بودم که با پای برهنه به سوی خانه دکتر دویدم
خونریزی پایم ارزشش را داشت
چراکه پدرم به زندگی باز گشت
نمی توانم نفس بکشم!” فرزندم ناله می کرد”
در حالی که هوای نا مطبوع دهلی بر روی جلیقه ی صورتی اش می درخشید
شیشه ماشین را بالا دادم و او را در آغوش گرفتم
خوابش برد
نمی توانم نفس بکشم!” دخترجوان 22 ساله ای نعره زد”
ماسک پارچه ای اش را به زمین افکند
او برای ملاقات با دوستانش در بار نیازی به آن نداشت
ویروس از آن او نبود تا نگهش دارد
او آن را به پدر دوستش تحویل می داد
آبجو ارزش آن را داشت. حالش خوب بود
نمی توانم نفس بکشم!” پدر دوستش نفس زنان می گقت”
در حالی که برانکارد بی تفاوت او را روی تخت انداخت
ونتیلاتور بشکل معجزه آسایی
هوا را مجبور کرد تا وارد ریه هایش شود
و سرانجام توانست نفس راحتی بکشد
“نمی توانم نفس بکشم … لطفا”
مردی ناله می کرد، مردی سیاه پوست
همانطور که زانوی سفیدی ظالمانه بر گردنش فشار می آورد
و هشت دقیقه و چهل و شش ثانیه بی هیچ نگرانی به اینکار ادامه داد
تا جایی که نفسی برای نفس کشیدن باقی نماند
Watch the video of the poem, recited in Farsi by the vocal artist, Sima Saeidnia here:
You can order a copy of the book on amazon.
Niharika Chibber Joe
Lockdown Prayers Is Available on Amazon
Dear Contributors, Poetry Lovers and Poets
Congratulations, the paperback, “Lockdown Prayers: English Anthology of Short Poems in the COVID Era,” is available to buy on Amazon.
- Linking. The detail pages of the paperback should link within 48 hours, but it can take up to 5 days.
- Product description. It can take 24-48 hours to appear on the detail page.
- Look Inside the Book. This feature will be available in 7 business days.
- International marketplaces. It takes 3-5 business days for your paperback to show as in stock
There are no free copies available for authors. A part of the benefits (if any) will go to the amazon marketplace to advertise the book. The rest will go to support children with cancer. Thank you again for making this wonderful book happen. Please follow the updates on my weblog, Poemedicine (https://soodabehpoems.wordpress.com), to find the translations which will gradually be added.
Winners of the Poetry Contest, Lockdown Prayers, 2021
We are happy to announce the results of the 2021 Poetry Contest for Lockdown Prayers. We received many excellent entries this year, and our contest judges, which were 15 poets and writers from US, Iran, Canada, Bangladesh and India, selected two poems, “Breath” and “Raphael” from “Niharika Chibber Joe” and “Mike Casetta” respectively for the power and beauty.
The anthology, Lockdown Prayers, of 26 poets from the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK is the selection made by the editors from the more than 150 inkwells who so graciously answered the call for submissions. Congratulations to the poets whose poems appear in the upcoming anthology of short poems during the COVID era. The book will be available on Amazon in the first week of May.
And thank you to everyone who submitted!
About Winners:
Niharika Chibber Joe is a poet, and short story writer. Niharika writes in English, and sometimes in Japanese or in Hindi. Her work has been published in In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry (2020) and the Setu Online Literary Journal. Niharika is a United States civil servant. She is a racial equity, social justice and climate warrior. She holds a B.A and M.A. in Japanese Language and Literature from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, and an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. She was born and raised in India, and “grew up” in the United States.
Mike Casetta has one book of poetry, The Certainty of Looking Elsewhere, and many poems published by many small presses. He is retired and lives with his dog at 4800 feet above sea level in Arizona.
Contributors:
Michael Lee Johnson, Nancy Taylor Day, Lance Jencks, Jefferson Carter, Anita Nahal, Joan Leotta, Don Beukes, Melinda Owen, Scott Thomas Outlar, Niharika Chibber Joe, Dick Holmes, David Lawton, Joan McNerney, Jordan Trethewey, Kathryn Sadakierski, Stefan Bohdan, Kathy Lundy Derengowski, Leslie DeLuca, Danny Bourget, Lynn White, Patricia Walsh, Asefeh Abedini, Mike Casetta, Silent Lotus, JoLynn Juneau
Prizes sponsored by “Forest Hills Remedies inc” (www. foresthillsremedies@com). The winners will receive a set of herbal health & beauty products (costs 70 US $) together with a copy of the bilingual anthology “Where are you from” (costs 20 US $).
,
Three Poems and three Micro-poems by Soodabeh Saeidnia Published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal
The Mansion She Inherited
she lives in a mobile mansion
inherited from Hopis in New Mexico
built with sugar cane and cinnamon
decorated with yellow flyers
hanging all over the wall in the dining room
blue stairs are one-way only toward Sirius
green, two-lane highway toward Orion
the curtain, knitted from butterflies’ dream in cocoon
windows open to the scent of Chaparral
she irrigates the field with a cup of coffee
filled with organic memories of her ancestors
non-GMO flowers growing in the backyard
are the only weeds she needs to crop
Rootless
I saw a man
stood still on the edge
of the George Washington bridge.
His feet rooted into the river
and his hands offered birds
a resting nest but the man
was just a man and the bird,
just a bird. His roots,
taken away by the stream
and birds weren’t patient
until the spring ushered.
Garden of Memory
There is an apple tree
standing in the middle
of the grandfather’s garden.
People say
it’s been there
since Adam and Eve
took its fruit
and lost their memories.
We gave away
hundreds of the apples,
and now the city
is stumbling
on the edge
of oblivion.
Micropoetry
#1
his well-thumbed pages
torn off
and his fragile binding
fractured,
when she closed his book
#2
sometimes a man
bends his dream
to build a bridge
#3
since the day
you flew away
from this cursed land,
a picture of your last kiss
rises every dawn
and a memory
sets every dusk
عمارتی که او به ارث برده است
او در عمارتی متحرک زندگی می کند
که از هپی ها در نیومکزیکو به ارث برده
و از دارچین و آب نبات ساخته شده
با برگه های زرد تبلیغاتی تزیین شده
که بر سراسر دیوار در اطاق پذیرایی آویخته
پله های آبی، شاهراهی یک طرفه بسوی صورت فلکی شکارچی است
پله های سبز، بزرگراهی دو طرفه بسوی ستاره یمانی
پرده ها از رویای پروانگان در پیله بافته شده
پنجره ها رو بسوی عطر گون باز است
او دشت را با فنجان قهوه ای آبیاری می کند
که از رویاهای اجدادش لبریز است
گلهای روییده بدون حشره کش در حیاط پشتی
تنها علفهایی است که نیاز به هرس کردن دارد
بی ریشه
مردی را دیدم که بی حرکت
بر لبه پل جورج واشتگتن ایستاده بود
پاهایش در رودخانه ریشه کرده
و دستهایش لانه پرندگان شده
اما مرد انسانی بیش نبود
و نه پرنده چیزی بیش از یک پرنده
ریشه هایش با جریان اب رفت
و پرندگان تا بهار دوام نیاوردند
باغ خاطرات
در میان حیاط پدربزرگ
درخت سیبی روییده است
مردم می گویند که از زمان آدم و حواآنجا بوده
تا اینکه آندو از سیبهایش خورده
و دچار فراموشی شدند
ما صدها سیبش را به مردمان بخشیدیم
و اینک شهری در آستانه فراموشی است
The Day Squirrels Preach on the Front Page of Open Arts Forum
Just found my poem, The Day Squirrels Preach, on the FrontPage of “Open Arts Forum”! Thank you great editors and fellow poets in the forum who kindly featured the poem. Read the poem on the link below and the Farsi translation here.
روزی که سنجابها واعظ شوند
روزی فرا می رسد که سنجابی
از روی شاخه بلوط
به ایوان مادربزرگ می جهد
و به ما می آموزد
که چگونه اندوهمان را
در جامی از سوسن فرو ریزیم
چگونه الهام بخش آواره ای تهیدست شویم
که خانه ای پشمینه بسازد
چگونه همچون عطر آرامبخش اسطوخودوس
در هوا بخزیم
چگونه لباس بارانی پنجره شکسته را
ترمیم کنیم
و وقتی آنروزها از راه برسد
من دیگر عروسک وصله دار حیرت زده ای
بر شومینه مادر بزرگ نخواهم بود
و همچون گنجشکی بیچاره
از آب جوی نخواهم نوشید
Persian Sugar in English Tea Vol. I will be landed on moon!
My heart is beating faster since I have heard from brilliant Elizabeth Wolf that she kindly included the digital file of the bilingual anthology, Persian Sugar in English Tea Vol. I, in her wonderful project. She has scored a digital slot on a lunar lander, heading to the moon. She is #70 on the roster! Unbelievable ! Congratulations to the contributors who have poems in the Vol I! She notified me that the theme is community on our blue planet and so she also included another anthology and pictures taken on 5 continents plus her own full length poetry book. I hope she will reveal some more info regarding the project soon. Thank you, Elizabeth a ton!
Contributors:
Nancy Day, Ken Allan Dronsfield, Charles Braddy, Arthur Charles Ford, Bob Heman, Bob Whitmire, Claudine Nash, Des MannayDiane Shipley DeCillis, Don Krieger, Thomas Fucaloro, Jordan Trethewey, Jay Gandhi, Ngozi Olivia Osuoha, Ronald TumbagaMeagan Brothers, Mike Griffith, Matt Stefon, Ellen Pober Rittberg,, Norbert Góra, James Walton, Aimal Zaman, Phillip Jones, James D. Casey.
About
Call for Submission to the English Anthology: “Lockdown Prayers” & Winner Prizes
Instruction for contributors
Theme: Prayers and Dreams during the COVID-19 stay-home period.
From the final selection of poems, the three editors will choose two of the poets living in the United State to be awarded with the Prizes sponsored by “Forest Hills Remedies inc” (www. foresthillsremedies@com). The winners will receive a set of herbal health & beauty products (costs 70 US $) together with a copy of the bilingual anthology “Where are you from” (costs 20 US $).
1- Please submit not more than 5 Poems. Poems with lines longer than 26 and already published won’t be reviewed unless the poet holds the rights.
2- If the contributor holds all rights to republish a work, they SHOULD let us know where the poem was first published and we will add a note below the poem.
3- Selected poems remain the property of poets/contributors. They retain their copyrights and are free to have their poems published elsewhere (just pls don’t forget to mention the name of the anthology there).
4- Priority will be given to poets whose first language is English .
5- Don’t submit your poems through FB messenger PLEASE. Only through email: soodabehsaeidnia@gmail.com, I will send a short response to confirm the submission later but you would be patient.
6- We prefer you copy/paste your poems into the body of your email than you attach a word file. Files may spread viruses.
7- Contributors are asked to send a short biography (Max 100 words) and a picture (optional). Kindly send the bio and pic along with your poems to avoid extra e-mailing.
8- The process of publishing is time-consuming so the final anthology is expected to release sometime in the middle of 2021. Deadline for submission: Dec 30, 2020
9- I will keep in touch with poets during the process of production, update and inform them whenever the galley proof is ready to check for production-born errors, and then when the book is alive on Amazon.
10- There is no book compensation and no free copy of the paper back. The contributors will receive a PDF file of the book free of charge upon request, and can (recommend to!) purchase some print copies through Amazon. I will do my best to keep the price lower than $15.
Poemedicine 