or
in a book about the low gradient circular walks of Cheshire
or
in the corner of my mind as I fall asleep
you’re parting the chaos of the reeds
and watching
Til Kumari Sharma (Nepal)
LOST LOVE
Til Kumari Sharma was born in Hile. She is from West Nepal. She got her MA in English Literature from University Kirtipur Kathmandu. She published her first book, Glossary of English Literary Terms, in 2006. She has published over 6,000 poems and other literary works.
Everybody has lost love
That isn’t genuine and pure.
Lost love should be forgotten.
Lost love is hidden and unidentified.
True love is identified and glory.
One is devoted, the other one is doing love to another.
That isn’t true love and that is fake love.
Lost love isn’t genuine love.
It is fake and showy love.
Lost love isn’t love at all.
To remember it is bitter and it’s a torture to all.
Lost love is nothing but death.
Paulo Palz (Nigeria)
DARKNESS
Paulo Palz is a B. Tech in Polymer Science and Textile Technology and is currently a 300 level student of Biochemistry who hails from the southern part of Nigeria. He has written many poems and has also been recently featured in the anthology Nightfall and Other Poems.
There is in me a darkness
Fighting through my veins
A wilderness that once blossomed
A dark flowered garden
Its beauty is inseparable from pain
Hatred so deep in my heart
For all who left a scar
There is in me a darkness
A dark nameless place
Of recessions beyond
Evil so deep in my heart
I was once lost in time
Now torn into pieces
A deep mystery to be explored
Not just a mere hole to be filled
Maxim Tsupkin (Russia)
DESCENDING INTO FLAMES
Maxim Tsupkin’s interest in extreme vocal sounds led him as a result to become a part of an underground metal band. But after its subsequent breakup, he didn’t start looking for other bands, but switched to making audiobooks instead, and his vocal manner left its imprint on his style of narration he uses in his audiobooks.
That’s why, though his vocalism is stuck on the enthusiast level, Maxim comes up from time to time with songs with his own lyrics and music, or he sets other authors’ lines to Creative Commons music.
For many years I’ve stood between the dark and light
For many years I’ve tried so hard to reach thy sun
Today I taste the demon’s blood and hear the angel’s cry
Today I take my final step towards the burning night
Descending into flames where I can find serenity
Descending into flames with no regret, no fear
Descending into flames, no hatred in my heart
Descending into flames, so bid farewell to me
For many years I’ve tried to be like you, oh like the rest
For many years I’ve fallen short, no spark of hope for me
Today I realize that I can’t find a path to Heaven’s Lord
Today I clearly see my road straight down to Hell’s Gate
Descending into flames in search for peace of mind
Descending into flames with no regret, no doubt
Descending into flames, no hatred in my heart
Descending into flames, erase me from your memory
This is the only choice left
For the soul already burnt
This is the only choice left
For the soul burnt to the core
Sayani Mukherjee (India)
GIFTS OF DOMESTICITY
Sayani Mukherjee is a budding writer and an ardent lover of literature hailing from Chandannagar, a former French colony in West Bengal. Currently, she is pursuing her Master’s in English literature from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Recently her writing has been published in the literary magazine of her current alma mater, and an international journal namely Fiction Niche. In her free time she likes to engage herself in the world of cinema, art and cooking.
Perhaps it’s hard to take a vow with the hands,
That once burnt in the squeaky gas fire.
Tea pots rusted with bitter clouds of seeping, 
