Wednesday, April 1, 2020

NILAVRONILL SHOOVRO


WELCOME
TO
OUR POETRY ARCHIVE


FROM THE EDITOR

“Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.

Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.  Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol-based rub frequently and not touching your face.

The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette (for example, by coughing into a flexed elbow).

At this time, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments.” ------ World Health Organization

This is the most unfortunate time in recent history of human civilization to begin an editorial of an international monthly web journal with the introduction of a notice issued by World Health Organization. The world is striving hard to combat the most infectious disease human civilization has ever encountered.

None of us is safe. The disease may infect anyone anytime anywhere. Nobody knows who and when and where. People are hiding from the virus everywhere. Get locked in their own homes. The usual course of our everyday-life has changed dramatically everywhere. People are afraid to meet anyone outside. Streets are deserted. It seems to be the setting of a horror movie. Almost everything is closed down to a halt. Nobody knows for how many days or even months. Every day the number of infected people is increasing by leaps and bound. The death tolls are mounting high enough to make everyone alarmed and afraid. The economy is crashing down in most countries. Which will most likely be followed by starvation, famine and more deaths. So, at present we are in a mess. The most difficult situation after the end of World War II. The most hovering question is, who will be the next victim of Corona Virus COVID 19.

The topic of the year 2020! All the other news has been side-lined by COVID 19. We don’t know how the world will overcome this pandemic. And when! But we can foresee thousands of people will never see the morning sun again. As yet, we have lost about thirty thousand valuable lives around the world. Even most specialized doctors and nurses have lost their lives in the battle against corona virus. And the tragedy is still looming large even after almost three months since its first strike.

One can only hope to remain safe at home locked down and isolated from the social community. But this cannot work for an infinite period of time. People have to go out to buy food grain and other essential commodities to carry on living. Again, the risk of getting infected with COVID 19 is much higher when stepping outside of home. So, either one can remain safe from the corona virus by isolation and has to starve and die inside the protection of one's own home, or one has to take the risk of getting infected by this deadly virus by stepping out of home to buy essential commodities and food. Either way death can overcome us.

When death is knocking at your door, what will you do? Will you go on with your usual schedule of everyday life? Obviously not. We will certainly try our best to fight and remain alive till our last breath, which is what we are actually doing right now in our individual capacities. I am not sure whether it is the proper time to publish any literary journal right now. But, as the editor and publisher of Our Poetry Archive, one of the most talked about international monthly web journals of the present day, I feel it is my duty to publish this April number according to the scheduled time. I also hope that many of you, as regular readers and poets of OPA, will take time to flip through the journal especially now when we all should try to keep up a certain level of normality and seek support and comfort in poetry among other things.

Yes, it is a most tragic time in our recent history. People are fighting against this dangerous disease around the world. It is therefore a special challenge for OPA to publish the first issue of the sixth year of Our Poetry Archive. It is not an easy task to publish a web journal every month right on time. But we have done it every month since April 2015 with precision. It has been possible only due to the poets who have provided their unconditional support and thanks to the readers worldwide, who have made the journal so popular internationally. We remain obliged to our readers and poets. As the founder editor, I would also like to thank all my colleagues of the editorial desk who have lent their unconditional support round the clock and helped to carry on with each and every publication month after month.

I would like to conclude this editorial note with few reflections on this worldwide pandemic. Let us first assume this is a natural phenomenon. If that is true, then we should consider this pandemic as a wake-up call for mankind. Through science and technological breakthroughs, we have damaged our mother nature beyond imagination. Our everyday life is hurting nature a great deal. It is high time to become aware of this fact. The Global Warming has reached an all-time high, which is the root of many recent natural disorders. We should also keep in mind that the random use of deadly missiles on a massive scale has also harmed the ecosystem of the world. We have also destroyed the ecological balance through exercising our pride and power of questionable technological innovations. And if we are not ready to acknowledge our own wrong doings, we will certainly live in fool’s paradise. Nature will not spare us forever. It will strike back in numerous ways and forms, which will demolish our pseudo paradise to the ground. If we don't learn the lesson now, it will possibly be too late to save mankind in our beloved world.

If, on the contrary, COVID 19 is a man-made virus, as many people assume, then we should be aware that we are heading towards our suicidal end. Provided that it is a true fact that the biggest pharmaceutical industries are involved in a sinister plot of making huge profit through selling vaccines against COVID 19, which after all may be their own invention, then we would have the scenario of the world turned into a ghetto where we are mere pawns of capital. Let’s hope this is not true, otherwise nature will take its revenge soon. And nobody will remain safe, not even the deadly and evil monsters who might have plotted this pandemic.

Summing up, in either case the post COVID 19 world will never be the same. Our social structures and community standards will surely be affected beyond imagination. Whenever will step outside our homes, we will be afraid of contact with our fellow beings. This will drastically affect the human relationships. Nobody will feel safe among others. Can you imagine the impact of this behaviour in our everyday life? The post COVID 19 era may take a sharp turn from the traditional human history. Today we can only hope that these are just today's premonitions and that tomorrow we will wake up to a better, rejuvenated humanity.
*Edited By Aprilia Zank



From The Editorial Desk
OPA
A
WORLDWIDE WRITERS’ WEB
PRESENTATION!

PUBLISHED BY

OPA

OUR
POETRY ARCHIVE
ONLINE MONTHLY POETRY JOURNAL
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GÜZİN ORALKAN WITH NILAVRONILL


NILAVRONILL  TALKING WITH
POET OF THE MONTH
GÜZİN ORALKAN
APRIL 2020

NILAVRONILL: Why literature or poetry in specific interests you so much? Please give us some idea about your own perception of literature or poetry in general.

GÜZİN ORALKAN: Humans can understand the external world through knowledge. My background as a pharmacist has always allowed me to make sense of and understand the universe through scientific knowledge. However, I also think that in order to transform the universe in a positive manner, literature and especially poetry are instrumental tools. I believe that while science proves things, literature reflects life. Literature and poetry are essential to allow people to reflect on life and create a better society. My book Kırgın Yansı (Broken Reflection) which was published in 2014 by Yasak Meyve Publications has been conceived with this same philosophy.


NILAVRONILL: How do you relate your own self existence with your literary life in one hand, and the time around you, in the other.
 
GÜZİN ORALKAN: The literary aspect of my life affects almost everything I do in life. My self-existence and way of life have been shaped by the literary side of mine for many years now. I have dedicated most of my energy to improving literature both in my community and internationally. I am one of the founders of Ege Kültür Vakfı (Aegean Cultural Foundation) which enriches culture in my community in Izmir. I am also the General Secretary for Kibatek, a foundation with a mission to expand the influence of Turkish literature through organizing symposiums and events internationally.


NILAVRONILL: Do you believe creative souls flourish more in turmoil than in peace?

GÜZİN ORALKAN:  I believe creative souls have a tendency to progress no matter what situation they are in. In poetry, the subjects come directly from life itself. These subjects could be related to turmoil or peace, as life itself contains both. I believe as a poet I reflect on life itself and have used turmoil as metaphors many times in my poems in the past. However, I also use peace and love as subjects in my poetry repeatedly. It is my duty as a poet to reflect life as it is and doing so allows me to flourish in both peace and turmoil.


NILAVRONILL: Do you think in this age of information and technology the dimensions of literature have largely been extended beyond our preconceived ideas about literature in general?


GÜZİN ORALKAN: I believe the age of information and technology we are living in has dictated its own terms to our society. Therefore, it is crucial to reconsider our preconceived notions and ideas about literature itself.


NILAVRONILL: Now in this changing scenario we would like to know from your own life experiences as a poet, writer and a creative soul; how do you respond to this present time?

GÜZİN ORALKAN: In this rapidly changing scenario of technological advancement I, as a poet, writer and creative soul, am attempting to transform my own ideas about what literature and poetry is. My current thinking is that, as humans, we need to be closer to life and experience it instead of being dependent on technology. I sincerely believe that being closer to life will allow me and other creative souls to create works that could reach and inspire future generations to do the same.


NILAVRONILL: Do you believe that all writers are by and large the product of their nationality and is it an incentive or an obstacle for becoming a truly international writer?

GÜZİN ORALKAN: All writers start their journey as a product of their nationalities and cultures. However, in order to become an international writer, one has to reflect on their local cultural elements in order to build bridges to international values and truths audiences all over the world can resonate with. This way of thinking motivates me to become an international writer. 


NILAVRONILL: Now if we try to understand the tradition and modernism, do you think literature can play a pivotal role in it?  If so, how? Again, how can an individual writer relate himself or herself with the tradition and modernism?

GÜZİN ORALKAN: It is not possible to understand the modernist creations without understanding traditional or rather historical creations that precedes those. Just like with art, it is not possible to understand contemporary art without becoming a student of art history. I think literature can play an important role in order to understand the relationship between tradition and modernism by showing us how tradition has shaped the current.


NILAVRONILL: Do you think literary criticism has much to do with the development of a poet and the true understanding of his or her poetry?

GÜZİN ORALKAN: Literary criticism has an important role in the development of a poet. Criticism nurtures a poet and allows him/her to grow further. Therefore, it is crucial for the poet to carefully reflect on the constructive criticism being received allow the poetry and its understanding to be reshaped.


NILAVRONILL: Do you think society as a whole, is the key factor in shaping you up as a poet, or your poetry altogether?
 
GÜZİN ORALKAN: Sharing poetry with the public and society as a whole has always been one of the biggest joys of my creative career. Sharing and receiving feedback are definitely the key factors in my development as a poet. I want to quote one of Enver Ercan’s poems to answer this:

“I’ll write my poems
If there is eternity, they will get there”


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

GÜZİN ORALKAN: This is not a problem with only literature, arts in general is suffering from this very issue. In reality, people are not left with much of an option. Capitalism is doing its best to increase productivity through the use of technology and at the same trying to have our attention to market products through various different distractions online. This left us with almost no time to do anything. I think humans first need to break their addiction to digital devices and solve the problems this consumerist world is causing them through this artificially created attention economy. Having said that, I also think poetry and literature could be excellent solutions to solve these problems that the capitalistic system is creating for us humans. 


NILAVRONILL: We would like to know the factors and the peoples who have influenced you immensely in the growing phase of your literary life.

GÜZİN ORALKAN: I think some of my biggest inspirations are Rabindranath Tagore, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Walt Whitman, Mikhail Lermontov and Stendal. I was also deeply moved by Enver Ercan’s poems. In 1990, I have cofounded Aegean Cultural Foundation with one of the most inspirational humans I have ever met, Professor Ekrem Akurgal. I have taken roles in the organizational committee of Izmir Poetry Days and had the opportunity to work alongside some of the most important poets and literary writers of Turkey and beyond.


NILAVRONILL: How would you evaluate your contemporaries and what are your aspirations from the younger generation?
 
GÜZİN ORALKAN: I think that my contemporaries have done a lot of hard work to advance culture in Turkey. I also find the young generation very promising. My expectations from them is to engage with arts as well as literature and to focus on the classics to understand the history and the literary figures and artists who came before them.


NILAVRONILL: Humanity has suffered immensely in past, is still suffering around the world. We all know it well. But are you hopeful about our future?

GÜZİN ORALKAN: Colonialism and bad governments have definitely hurt humanity and our planet. They have and are still draining the energies of the artists. However, I am still optimistic about the human kind and the future.


NILAVRONILL: What role can literature in general play to bring a better day for every human being? In your own words!

GÜZİN ORALKAN: Literature connects people to life and enriches the lives of readers. As the level of culture goes higher, so does our view of the universe. With sincere wishes to live in peace and universal unity.



GÜZIN ORALKAN was born in Malatya, Turkey. She graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Pharmacy. She is a founding member and President of Aegean Culture Foundation. She is General Secretary of KIBATEK Association. She is a member of the Association of Language, the Association of Literati, and PEN International. She has served as a member of the Organizing Committee for Izmir Short Story Days for many years. She has been participating in the organizing committees of various national and international art events for a long period of time. Her poems have been published both in domestic and foreign literary magazines, shared books, and anthologies, and have been translated into foreign languages. Some lyrics that she wrote have been composed by famous composers and taken place in TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) repertoire. TRT's archive series "Music Bundle" CD Volume 1 includes her work. Her collection of poems entitled The Offended Reflection has been published by Yasakmeyve Publishing. Her two collections of poems are ready to be published.

NilavroNill Shoovro: The Indian poet, is the founder editor and publisher of the monthly web journal Our Poetry Archive. His poems have widely been translated in many European languages. He is also an essayist and writes lot of articles on social issues, current affairs and literature.


GÜZIN ORALKAN

OUR POETRY ARCHIVE FEATURED
POET OF THE MONTH
APRIL 2020


GÜZIN ORALKAN

Hear Us

my soul of flower garden
resisting pains
am i my old self
or someone else
after all the happenings
they even made me believe
that i am not myself
or is living hopefully
in universal unity
by removing borders
a bright dream
that will never be realized
lots of people pass away
the earth stays in place with all its majesty
hear us
the irregular order
that with its deaf smile
inwardly kills our lives
that with all alone night falls march hurriedly
the irregular order
hear us

TRANSLATED BY BAKI YIĞIT








The Offended Reflection

your insatiable face
spontaneously peels
when touching it
embraced by pain
wrapped in offense

when your image is reflected
in the mirror

TRANSLATED BY BAKI YIĞIT







The Burry Past

i looked back time after time
on that deep burial
the silent traces
of the burry past
having been a cat's paw
of the crestfallen times
two back and one front
as if knitting the ssalonian style
starting a new row
crushed and scratched
between the devil and the deep sea
a voice from the buried desires
good morning
solstice
day-transcript
then
tell the icebergs that
here is the brazenfaced darkness
where is that love-kindling brightness
to turn the dreams


TRANSLATED BY BAKI YIĞIT






Where Have They Remained

our sleazy lives
gliding softly
through the foamy clouds
have remained registered
on the film strip whose end is burnt
where have
the first hopes of our youth
our honey drop lines that we trained
and the hopeful young minds
that fearlessly thought about the universe
and transformed into ancestors
in their starry dreams
smiling jovially
singing the song of freedom
remained

TRANSLATED BY BAKI YIĞIT






The Shore Of Love

the small arrows of betrayal
twinkling in your sun-dried eyes
the first wind of love has stopped now
god knows who put it into words
you left without saying goodbye
the wounds are open
dead nettles and lemons are useless
what actually kills me is
the mediocrity in your voice
the autumn winks like diamonds
on the shore of that love
without lip,

TRANSLATED BY BAKI YIĞIT

GÜZIN ORALKAN

GÜZIN ORALKAN was born in Malatya, Turkey. She graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Pharmacy. She is a founding member and President of Aegean Culture Foundation. She is General Secretary of KIBATEK Association. She is a member of the Association of Language, the Association of Literati, and PEN International. She has served as a member of the Organizing Committee for Izmir Short Story Days for many years. She has been participating in the organizing committees of various national and international art events for a long period of time. Her poems have been published both in domestic and foreign literary magazines, shared books, and anthologies, and have been translated into foreign languages. Some lyrics that she wrote have been composed by famous composers and taken place in TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) repertoire. TRT's archive series "Music Bundle" CD Volume 1 includes her work. Her collection of poems entitled The Offended Reflection has been published by Yasakmeyve Publishing. Her two collections of poems are ready to be published.


ADOLF P. SHVEDCHIKOV



ADOLF P.
SHVEDCHIKOV

Everything In You Drowned

The woman I love,
Everything in you drowned without a trace,
You that I worship all my life,
You who turned the whole world upside down,
The one you hugged so tenderly,
You what knees I kissed,
You, whom I composed the saga,
You, darling, the subject of night prayers!






How I Love You
I Don’t Know Yet

How I love you, I don’t know yet,
I like your elegant style so much,
With excitement I catch your every breath,
And I obediently listen to the word to everyone.
How I love you, I don’t know yet,
But the soul trembles with trepidation,
Beloved, how good you are,
I recognize one among millions!
I sing a love song, not tired,
And never stop singing,
Even death cannot separate us,
How I love you, I don’t know yet.






Let Me Be Your Poet Of The Night

Let me be your poet of the night,
Capture all your passionate feelings,
Let the incorruptible love sing,
Let your eyes shine for generations!
Let me understand the music of the celestial realms,
What is given in every note in the heart?
Let your gentle sigh echo recalls,
After all, I loved you, it's not scary to die!






Love, In What Words Are You Hidden

Love, in what words are you hidden
Lost in what moments,
Have hundreds of generations found the answer
Was enlightenment in the minds?
But no, alas, there’s no way to solve it,
Colors of chameleon color are changing,
Not amenable to publicity
A host of strange feelings, you cannot describe them!
Lovers begin to sob again,
Hearts will break apart,
And no matter how poor the poets try,
No one will read their verses.
And twice two, no, not four, five!
And no matter how many people convince,
They shamelessly push the pedals
And no one can catch them again!
Well, what should I say to you about love?
All phrases are meaningless,
The tears of joy, misery mixed
Believe me, mind cannot understand meaning of love!






Argentine Tango!

Argentine tango!
I hear the beating of heart,
Come, hug me,
My desired and reverent friend!
Body to body, plexus fast legs!
Argentine tango!
Multitude of feelings,
You are a magician and a god!
Step by step merged with you,
Who merged here, death or life?
Argentine tango!
Madness and passion flying,
Argentine tango!
It will never die!







It’s Good That You Are Still Somewhere

It’s good that you are still somewhere.
That a mystery burns in our life,
That I can sneak a peek at you
In the pre-winter, creating a piece of summer!
It’s good that a ray of light warms,
And there’s still the warmth of a chance meeting,
It's nice to know before it is not yet the evening,
What life is richer than one-act ballet!






I Remembered You

I remembered you,
Everything ran down the love steps,
And rolled the shaft
A multitude of sensory impressions.
The night was dreaming again
With the flood of passion frenzied,
Off, reins all away,
Is it possible to keep you in love?
Oh, love fragrance,
How naturally everyone breathes them!
But where is Socrates,
Who will describe it to us scientifically?

© ADOLF P. SHVEDCHIKOV, PHD, LITTD (RUSSIA)

ADOLF P.
SHVEDCHIKOV


ADOLF P. SHVEDCHIKOV: Russian scientist, poet and translator. Born May 11, 1937 in Shakhty, Russia. In 1960 he graduated from Moscow State University, Department of Chemistry. Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1967. Senior researcher at the Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Since 1997 - the chief chemist of the company Pulsatron Technology Corporation, Los Angeles, California, USA. Doctor of Literature World Academy of Arts and Letters. He published more than 150 scientific papers and about 600 of his poems indifferent International Magazines of poetry in Russia,USA, Brazil, India, China, Korea, Japan, Italy, Malta, Spain,France, Greece, England and Australia. He published also 39 books of poetry. His poems have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and Hindi languages. He is the Member of International Society of Poets, World Congress of Poets, International Association of Writers and Artists, A. L. I. A. S. (Associazione Letteraria Italo-Australiana Scrittori, Melbourne, Australia). Adolf P. Shvedchikov is known also for his translation of English poetry ("150 English Sonnets of XVI-XIX Centuries". Moscow. 1992. "William Shakespeare. Sonnets." Moscow. 1996) as well as translation of many modern poets from Brazil, India, Italy, Greece, USA, England, China and Japan. In 2013 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.


ALICJA MARIA KUBERSKA



ALICJA MARIA KUBERSKA

A Few Words In German
poem dedicated to Gustav Stresemann

Could anyone suppose?
Look
- here's the man,
peace prize winner.
Admirable
  - he extinguished the war conflagration
in the western Europe

He made a mistake
and  threw three words like sparks:
Nur fur Deutsche
 Then it was enough to shout:
Deutschland uber alles!

From words to deeds
- A thin piece of land
curling like an umbilical cord,
between Poland and the Baltic sea,
 was brutally cut off.
Blood and fire flooded Europe.
The iron army started to march
The letters on the belt buckles called:
-Got mit uns

Was he able to predict the fate
of family,
the Jewish wife's relatives?
Here they are
- Numbers stripped of their identity,
Bodies boiled down into soap
Hair in mattresses
Gold teeth in the Reich treasury

They disappeared into the sky
Like  streaks of black smoke
They went through the gate
with  inscription
Arbeit macht frei









Death Ray

Poem dedicated to Nikola Tesla

In the Croatian village of Smiljan,
in the family of a God-fearing priest
in July, a genius was born.

In a child's mind
God lit a spark of wisdom
and He watched how quickly
the fire burned the old world

The lad
rose high above mediocrity.
The strength of knowledge
opened the door to a great mystery.
In the depths of scientist’s mind
the creative process took place
and humanity received
technical wonders as a gift

It's him
tamed energy and invisible waves.
He moved the voice to thousands of miles
that an audible whisper
could sound out loudly
and wooden boxes spoke
like magic ones in the  fairy tale

On Orthodox Christmas in 1943
the precious black thick  notebook
with a dangerous endorsement
 "government affairs"
disappeared
- like a ray of sunshine at night

God picked up Tesla’s wings at the New York Hotel.
America has robbed his estate.
Nobel Prize was destroyed by quarrels and defects.
He returned to his homeland in the modest urn.









My Angel

forgive the wounded feet
you walk with me
through the wilderness
the thorns of sins tear at your robes

 you protect against
 the mud of evil words
and mean deeds
you fight against perverse thoughts

thank you for faithful persistence
for showing me the way in darkness
 and sometimes lending me your wings

ALICJA MARIA KUBERSKA