Tag: Ryan Quinn Falangan

Borderless, August 2025

Editorial

Storms that Rage… Click here to read.

Translations

Nazrul’s Jonomo, Jonomo Gelo (Generations passed) has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read and listen to a rendition by the famed Feroza Begum.

Ajit Cour‘s short story, Nandu, has been translated from Punjabi by C Christine Fair. Click here to read.

The Scarecrow by Anwar Sahib Khan has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Five poems by Aparna Mohanty have been translated from Odia by Snehprava Das. Click here to read.

Angshuman Kar has translated some of his own Bengali poems to English. Click here to read.

Sunflower, a poem by Ihlwha Choi, has been translated from Korean by the poet himself. Click here to read.

Tagore’s Shaishabshanda (Childhood’s Dusk) has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Ron Pickett, Fakrul Alam, William Miller, Meetu Mishra, Heath Brougher, Laila Brahmbhatt, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Snigdha Agrawal, George Freek, Ashok Suri, Scott Thomas Outlar, Dustin P Brown, Rajorshi Patranabis, Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

From the Vale of Glamorgan are two poems on the place where Rhys Hughes grew up. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

Menaced by a Marine Heatwave

Meredith Stephens writes of how global warming is impacting marine life in South Australia. Click here to read.

The Man from Pulwama

Gowher Bhat introduces us to a common man who is just kind. Click here to read.

More than Words

Jun A. Alindogan writes on his penchant for hardcopy mail. Click here to read.

To Bid or Not to Bid… the Final Goodbye?

Ratnottama Sengupta ponders on Assisted Dying. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In Syrupy Woes, Devraj Singh Kalsi looks at syrupy health antidotes with a pinch of humour. Click here to read.

Essays

‘Verify You Are Human’

Farouk Gulsara ponders over the ‘intelligence’ of AI and humans. Click here to read.

Does the First Woman-authored Novel in Bengali Seek Reforms?

Meenakshi Malhotra explores Somdatta Mandal’s translation of Manottama, the first woman-authored Bengali novel published in 1868. Click here to read.

Bhaskar’s Corner

In Bidyut Prabha Devi – The First Feminist Odia Poet, Bhaskar Parichha pays a tribute to the poet. Click here to read.

Stories

The Sixth Man

C. J. Anderson-Wu tells a story around disappearances during Taiwan’s White terror. Click here to read.

I Am Not My Mother

Gigi Baldovino Gosnell gives a story of child abuse set in Philippines where the victim towers with resilience. Click here to read.

The Archiver of Shadows

Hema R explores shadows in her story set in Chennai. Click here to read.

Ali the Dervish

Paul Mirabile weaves the strange adventures of a man who called himself Ali. Click here to read.

The Gift

Naramsetti Umamaheswararao moulds children’s perspectives. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In American Wife, Suzanne Kamata gives a short story set set in the Obon festival in Japan. Click here to read.

Conversation

Neeman Sobhan, author of Abiding City: Ruminations from Rome, discusses shuttling between multiple cultures and finding her identity in words. Click here to road.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from M.A.Aldrich’s From Rasa to Lhasa: The Sacred Center of the Mandala. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Neeman Sobhan’s An Abiding City: Ruminations from Rome. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Chhimi Tenduf-La’s A Hiding to Nothing. Click here to read it.

Madhuri Kankipati reviews O Jungio’s The Kite of Farewells: Stories from Nagaland. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Snehaprava Das’s Keep it Secret: Stories. Click here to read.

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

Tags A Hiding to Nothing, Ajit Cour, An Abiding City: Ruminations from Rome, Angshuman Kar, Anwar Sahib Khan, Aparna Mohanty, Ashok Suri, Balochi, Bengali, Bidyut Prabha Devi, C Christine Fair, C.J. Anderson-Wu, Chennai, Chhimi Tenduf-La, Devraj Singh Kalsi, Dustin P Brown, Fakrul Alam, Fazal Baloch, Feroza Begum, From Rasa to Lhasa: The Sacred Center of the Mandala, George Freek, Gigi Baldovino Gosnell, Global Warming, Gowher Bhat, Heath Brougher, Hema R, Ihlwha Choi, Japan, Jun A. Alindogan, Keep It Secret, Korean, Laila Brahmbhatt, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, M.A.Aldrich, Madhuri Kankipati, Manottama, Marine Heatwave, Meenakshi Malhotra, Meetu Mishra, Meredith Stephens, Mitali Chakravarty, Naramsetti Umamaheswararao, Nazrul, Neeman Sobhan, O Jungio, Obon, Odia, Paul Mirabile, Philippines, Pulwama, Punjabi, Rajorshi Patranabis, Ratnottama Sengupta, Rhys Hughes, Rome, Ron Pickett, Ryan Quinn Falangan, Scott Thomas Outlar, Shaishabshandha, Snehaprava Das, Snehprava Das, Snigdha Agrawal, Sohana Manzoor, Somdatta Mandal, South Australia, Suzanne Kamata, Tagore, The Kite of Farewells: Stories from Nagaland, Translations, William Miller

Poetry

The Rain Was Laughing Sideways

Post author By borderlesssg1
Post date July 14, 2025
No Comments on The Rain Was Laughing Sideways

By Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Rain-Auvers, Painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). From Public Domain

THE RAIN WAS LAUGHING SIDEWAYS(2) 

Looking down into the box,
back on everything,
back through
that wonderful maze
of things.

And it seems
that the rain was laughing 
sideways.

Pernicious alligators
climbing up out of
New York bathrooms.

Though I have never been
the way of that buxom bridge.

Not once across the fancied millennia.

It's more of a faraway thing.
The teeming thunderous clap.

An inner drive
to ceremonial drums,
can you see it?

Back through 
through the alluvial plain
with a walking stick
of hungry crows.

To stand over dirty shave water
with that new face.

To smile 
like a king
of many well-kissed 
things.

Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage. His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Borderless Journal, GloMag, Red Fez, and Lothlorien Poetry Journal.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Tags Canada, Candaian, Elliot Lake, Ontario, Ryan Quinn Falangan, Vincent van Gogh.

Poetry

Losing the Light

By Ryan Quinn Flanagan

LOSING THE LIGHT 

The humming Coke machine, and I have lost the light.
The driving rains outside, and a most terrible truth.
The swelling of wet cardboard and that whoosh of darting high beams by the curb.
And tucked inside the asbestos house, I watch ceiling particles come to rest on the floor tile. 
Leaning back in a chair made to brave its own hind legs.
A coke from the machine beside me, half-flat and half-finished.
The mistrustful eyes of the shop proprietor all over me.
I want to tell him the succubus train left her kisses three stations ago,
but he wouldn't understand.  I want to keep him apprised of any sudden menu changes.
I want him to know of that Russian who made X-rays into records
and smuggled them to the masses.  Paid the hospitals for the discards,
and handmade them into bootlegs of all the best banned American music.
I want to show him all the strange patterns on the soles of my shoes,
but the gophers of the earth have dug holes throughout my body.
A tiny troll with purple hair, taped to the back of the register.
And $1.50 slices of lukewarm pizza 
under glass.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

Tags American, Canada, Canadian, Coke, Elliot Lake, Ontario, Russian, Ryan Quinn Falangan

Contents

Borderless, May 2025

Editorial

“Imagine all the people/ Living life in peace”… Click here to read.

Translations

The Day of Annihilation, an essay on climate change by Kazi Nazrul Islam, has been translated from Bengali by Radha Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Arise O Woman and Two Flowers on One Leafstalk, lyrics by Nazrul, have been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Five poems by Bipin Nayak have been translated from Odia by Snehaprava Das. Click here to read.

Identity by Munir Momin has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Among Strangers, a poem by Ihlwha Choi has been translated from Korean by the poet himself. Click here to read.

Asha or Hope by Tagore has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Ryan Quinn Flangan, Jim Bellamy, Snehprava Das, George Freek, Niranjan Aditya, Christine Belandres, Ajeeti S, Ron Pickett, Kajoli Krishnan, Stuart McFarlane, Snigdha Agrawal, Arthur Neong, Elizabeth Anne Pereira, Rhys Hughes

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In Did He Ever?, Rhys Hughes gives fun-filled verses on Lafcadio Hearn, a bridge between the East and West from more than a hundred years ago. Click here to read.

Musings/ Slices from Life

Will Dire Wolves Stalk Streets?

Farouk Gulsara writes of genetic engineering. Click here to read.

The Boy at the Albany Bus Stop

Meredith Stephens dwells on the commonality of human emotions. Click here to read.

The Word I Could Never Say

Odbayar Dorj muses on her own life in Mongolia and Japan. Click here to read.

Social Media Repetition

Jun A. Alindogan discusses the relevance of social media. Click here to read.

Shanghai in Jakarta

Eshana Sarah Singh takes us to Chinese New Year celebrations in Djakarta. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In My Writing Desk, Devraj Singh Kalsi writes of the source of his inspiration. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In Feeling Anxious in Happy Village, Suzanne Kamata relates a heartwarming story. Click here to read.

Essays

Reminiscences from a Gallery: The Other Ray

Dolly Narang muses on Satyajit Ray’s world beyond films and shares a note by the maestro and an essay on his art by the eminent artist, Paritosh Sen. Click here to read.

This Garden Calls Out to Me: A Flaneur in Lucknow’s Sikandar Bagh

Prithvijeet Sinha takes us back to a historical landmark, made for love but bloodied by war. Click here to read.

Stories

Going to Meet the Hoppers

Fiona Sinclair writes a layered story on human perspectives. Click here to read.

The Ritual of Change

Parnika Shirwaikar explores the acceptance of change. Click here to read.

The Last Metro

Spandan Upadhyay explores the spirit of the city of Kolkata. Click here to read.

Nico Finds His Dream

Paul Mirabile narrates how young Nico uncovers his own yearnings. Click here to read.

The Bequest

Naramsetti Umamaheswararao gives a story reflecting a child’s lessons from Nature. Click here to read.

Conversation

Ratnottama Sengupta introduces and converses with photographer, Vijay S Jodha. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Devabrata Das’s One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam, translated by multiple translators from Assamese. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Ryan Quinn Flangan’s Ghosting My Way into the Afterlife. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Arundhathi Nath‘s translation, The Phantom’s Howl: Classic Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings from Bengal. Click here to read.

Andreas Giesbert reviews Rhys Hughes’ The Devil’s Halo. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Aubrey Menen’s A Stranger in Three Worlds: The Memoirs of Aubrey Menen. Click here to read.

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

Tags Ajeeti S, Andreas Giesbert, Arthur Neong, Arundhathi Nath, Bengali, Bipin Nayak, Chinese New Year, Chritine Belandros, Devabrata Das, Devraj Singh Kalsi, Dire Wolves, Earth, Elizabeth Anne Pereira, Eshana Sarah Singh, Fakrul Alam, Farouk Gulsara, Fazal Baloch, Fiona Sinclair, George Freek, Happy Village, Ihlwha Choi, Japan, Jim Bellamy, Jun A. Alindogan, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Kolkata, Lafcadio Hearn, Lucknow, Meredith Stephens, Mitali Chakravarty, Mongolia, Munir Momin, Naramsetti Umamaheswararao, Nazrul, Niranjan Aditya, Odbayar Dorje, One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam, Parnika Shirwaikar, Paul Mirabile, Prithvijeet Sinha, Radha Chakravarty, Ratnottama Sengupta, Rhys Hughes, Ron Pickett, Ryan Quinn Falangan, Sikandar Bagh, Snehaprava Das, Snigdha Agrawal, social media, Sohana Manzoor, Somdatta Mandaal, Spandan Upadhyay, Stuart McFarlane, Suzanne Kamata, Tagore, The Devil’s Halo, The Phantom’s Howl: Classic Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings from Bengal, Vijay S Jodha

Editorial

“Imagine all the people/Living life in peace”

Post author By borderlesssg1
Post date May 14, 2025
No Comments on “Imagine all the people/Living life in peace”

The sky weeps blood, the earth cannot contain
The sorrow of the young ones we've slain.
How now do dead kids laugh while stricken by red rain?

— from Stricken by Red Rain: Poems by Jim Bellamy

When there is war
And peace is gone
Where is their home?
Where do they belong?

— from Poems on Migrants by Kajoli Krishnan

Poetry, prose — all art forms — gather our emotions into concentrates that distil perhaps the finest in human emotions. They touch hearts across borders and gather us all with the commonality of feelings. We no longer care for borders drawn by divisive human constructs but find ourselves connecting despite distances. Strangers or enemies can feel the same emotions. Enemies are mostly created to guard walls made by those who want to keep us in boxes, making it easier to manage the masses. It is from these mass of civilians that soldiers are drawn, and from the same crowds, we can find the victims who die in bomb blasts. And yet, we — the masses — fight. For whom, for what and why? A hundred or more years ago, we had poets writing against wars and violence…they still do. Have we learnt nothing from the past, nothing from history — except to repeat ourselves in cycles? By now, war should have become redundant and deadly weapons out of date artefacts instead of threats that are still used to annihilate cities, humans, homes and ravage the Earth. Our major concerns should have evolved to working on social equity, peace, human welfare and climate change.

One of the people who had expressed deep concern for social equity and peace through his films and writings was Satyajit Ray. This issue has an essay that reflects how he used art to concretise his ideas by Dolly Narang, a gallery owner who brought Ray’s handiworks to limelight. The essay includes the maestro’s note in which he admits he considered himself a filmmaker and a writer but never an artist. But Ray had even invented typefaces! Artist Paritosh Sen’s introduction to Ray’s art has been included to add to the impact of Narang’s essay. Another person who consolidates photography and films to do pathbreaking work and tell stories on compelling issues like climate change and helping the differently-abled is Vijay S Jodha. Ratnottama Sengupta has interviewed this upcoming artiste.

Reflecting the themes of welfare and conflict, Prithvijeet Sinha’s essay takes us to a monument in Lucknow that had been built for love but fell victim to war. Some conflicts are personal like the ones of Odbayar Dorj who finds acceptance not in her hometown in Mongolia but in the city, she calls home now. Jun A. Alindogan from Manila explores social media in action whereas Eshana Sarah Singh takes us to her home in Jakarta to celebrate the Chinese New Year! Farouk Gulsara looks into the likely impact of genetic engineering in a world already ripped by violence and Devraj Singh Kalsi muses on his source of inspiration, his writing desk. Meredith Stephens tells the touching story of a mother’s concern for her child in Australia and Suzanne Kamata exhibits the same concern as she travels to Happy Village in Japan to meet her differently-abled daughter and her friends.

As these real-life narratives weave commonalities of human emotions, so do fictive stories. Some reflect the need for change. Fiona Sinclair writes a layered story set in London on how lived experiences define differences in human perspectives while Parnika Shirwaikar explores the need to learn to accept changes set in her part of the universe. Spandan Upadhyay explores the spirit of the city of Kolkata as a migrant with a focus on social equity. Both Paul Mirabile and Naramsetti Umamaheswararao write stories around childhood, one set in Europe and the other in Asia.

As prose weaves humanity together, so does poetry. We have poems from Jim Bellamy and Kajoli Krishnan both reflecting the impact of war and senseless violence on common humanity. Ryan Quinn Flanagan introduces us to Canadian bears in his poetry while Snigdha Agrawal makes us laugh with her lines about dogs and hatching Easter eggs! We have a wide range of poems from Snehprava Das, George Freek, Niranjan Aditya, Christine Belandres, Ajeeti S, Ron Pickett, Stuart McFarlane, Arthur Neong and Elizabeth Anne Pereira. Rhys Hughes concludes his series of photo poems with the one in this issue — especially showcasing how far a vivid imagination can twist reality with a British postman ‘carrying’ sweets from India! His column, laced with humour too, showcases in verse Lafcadio Hearn, a bridge between the East and West from more than a hundred years ago, a man who was born in Greece, worked in America and moved to Japan to even adopt a Japanese name.

Just as Hearn bridged cultures, translations help us discover how similarly all of us think despite distances in time and space. Radha Chakravarty’s translation of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s concerns about climate change and melting icecaps does just that! Professor Fakrul Alam’s translation of Nazrul’s lyrics from Bengali on women and on the commonality of human faith also make us wonder if ideas froze despite time moving on. Tagore’s poem titled Asha (hope) tends to make us introspect on the very idea of hope – just as we do now. At a more personal level, a contemporary poem reflecting on the concept of identity by Munir Momin has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. From Korean, Ihlwah Choi translates his own poem about losing the self in a crowd. We start a new column on translated Odia poetry from this month. The first one features the exquisite poetry of Bipin Nayak translated by Snehprava Das. Huge thanks to Bhaskar Parichha for bringing this whole project to fruition.

Parichha has also drawn bridges in reviews by bringing to us the memoirs of a man of mixed heritage, A Stranger in Three Worlds: The Memoirs of Aubrey Menen. Andreas Giesbert from Germany has reviewed Rhys Hughes’ The Devil’s Halo and Somdatta Mandal has discussed Arundhathi Nath’s translation, The Phantom’s Howl: Classic Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings from Bengal. Our book excerpts this time feature Devabrata Das’s One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam, translated by multiple translators from Assamese and Ryan Quinn Flangan’s new book, Ghosting My Way into the Afterlife, definitely poems worth mulling over with a toss of humour.

Do pause by our contents page for this issue and enjoy the reads. We are ever grateful to our ever-growing evergreen readership some of whom have started sharing their fabulous narratives with us. Thanks to all our readers and contributors. Huge thanks to our wonderful team without whose efforts we could not have curated such valuable content and thanks specially to Sohana Manzoor for her art. Thank you all for making a whiff of an idea a reality!

Let’s hope for peace, love and sanity!

Best wishes,

Mitali Chakravarty

borderlessjournal.com

Click here to access the contents page for the May 2025 Issue

READ THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE FIRST BORDERLESS ANTHOLOGY, MONALISA NO LONGER SMILES, BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK.

Tags A Stranger in Three Worlds: The Memoirs of Aubrey Menen, Ajeeti S, America, Andreas Giesbert, Arthur Neong, Arundhathi Nath, ASHA, Asia, Assam, Assamese, Aubrey Menen, Australia, Balochi, Bengal, Bhaskar Parichcha, Bipin Nayak, borderlessjournal.com, British, Canadian, Christine Belandres, climate change, Devabrata Das, Devraj Singh Kalsi, Dolly Narang, Earth, Easter, Elizabeth Anne Pereira, Eshana Sarah Singh, Europe, Fakru Alam, Farouk Gulsara, Fazal Baloch, Fiona Sinclair, George Freek, Ghosting My Way into the Afterlife, Greece, Ihlwha Choi, Imagine, India, Jakarta, Japan, Japanese, Jim Bellamy, Jun A. Alindogan, Kajoli Krishnan\, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Kolkata, Korean, Lafcadio Hearn, London, Lucknow, Manila, Meredith Stephens, Mitali Chakravarty, Mongolia, Munir Momin, Naramsetti Umamaheswararao, Nazrul, Niranjan Aditya, Odbayar Dorj, Odia, One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam, Paritosh Sen, Parnika Shirwaikar, Paul Klee, Paul Mirabile, Prithvijeet Sinha, Radha Chakravarty, Ratnottama Sengupta, Rhys Hughes, Ron Pickett, Ryan Quinn Falangan, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Satyajit Ray, Snehprava Das, Snigdha Agrawal, Sohana Manzoor, Somdatta Mandal, Spandan Upadhyay, Stuart McFarlane, Suzanne Kamata, Tagore, The Devil’s Halo, The Phantom’s Howl: Classic Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings from Bengal, Vijay S Jodha

Excerpt

Ghosting My Way into the Afterlife by Ryan Quinn Flangan

Post author By borderlesssg1
Post date May 14, 2025
No Comments on Ghosting My Way into the Afterlife by Ryan Quinn Flangan

Title: Ghosting My Way into the Afterlife

Author: Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Publisher: Nightcap Press

Coffee Bean

Coffee bean on the floor
split down the middle like surgical
ward incisions,
who put you all the way down there, friend,
as if starting a long climb from 
the foot of a volcano?
You should feel lucky in many ways 
to have escaped the grind,
your humming dark roast brethren 
were not so lucky.
Now, the house smells kind as candy.
Stained lip of a personalised mug.
Coffee bean on the floor
I will pull up my socks, 
kick you under the fridge
so we can both go into hiding.

(First appeared in BlogNostics)
 
You gotta be rich to die there

The rich and famous don’t even croak the same as us.
They have their own place.
The Motion Picture & Television Country House
and Hospital.

With plenty of generous donors.
George Clooney is one.
You gotta be rich to die there.

I guess the celebs see the others at the end
and figure it prudent to kick a little cash
that way for when it is their turn.

They have a stipulation that you have to 
have worked “actively” in the film and entertainment 
industry for at least two decades.

Then you get to be special.
Die with original Picasso’s adorning
the halls.

I’d imagine their bedpans are solid gold.
But Death being what it is, they never stay
that way for long


(First appeared in Terror House Magazine) 

Marcel Duchamp’s Snow Shovel

Last time I checked 
they didn’t get a lot of snow in Israel,
but they have Marcel Duchamp’s
snow shovel there
with an inscription that reads:
Prelude to a Broken Arm, 1915.
I think ole Marcel would have 
quite a good laugh
if he knew his snow shovel
was stored in the Holy Land.
Seems like the kind of thing
you may want to store up
in these more arctic of 
temperaments.
I have two snow shovels 
and the Holy Land isn’t
asking for either.

(First appeared in Poetic Musings)

About the Book: This is a collection of recent poems by Ryan Quinn Flangan. He writes on daily lives of people with a fresh pen and a soupçon of humour.

About the Author: Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author who lives in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage. His work has been published both in print and online in such places as: The New York Quarterly, Rusty Truck, Borderless Journal, Evergreen Review, Red Fez, Horror Sleaze Trash and The Blue Collar Review. He enjoys listening to the blues and cruising down the TransCanada in his big blacked out truck.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Tags Canada, Canadian, Elliot Lake, Ghosting My Way into the Afterlife, Nightcap Press, Ontario, Ryan Quinn Falangan

Poetry

First of the Season by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Post author By borderlesssg1
Post date May 14, 2025
No Comments on First of the Season by Ryan Quinn Flanagan


Stabs of natural light
and the bears are woken 
from winter.

Bony yearlings
on their own now.

Ambling down the street
with a laboured 
chuffing.

Pulling down the early buds
of berry bushes,
looking for an easy meal.

Early risers, the first of the season.

The ones
out at the dump
live right beside the humans.

They are seasoned, more conditioned.

There is a loaded shotgun 
in the back of the bulldozer
if there are any issues. 

But there is seldom anything.
Old dryers broken down to scrap.

The long winter 
has everyone stunted.

Our fleet-footed fox
brought to lumber.

The birds
in the songless
trees.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International

Tags Canada, Canadian, Elliot Lake, Ontario, Ryan Quinn Falangan

Contents

Borderless, April 2025

Editorial

Seasons in the Sun?….Click here to read.

Translations

An excerpt from Tagore’s long play, Roktokorobi or Red Oleanders, has been translated by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Tagore’s essay, Classifications in Society, has been translated by Somdatta Mandal. Click here to read.

Poems of Longing by Jibananada Das homes two of his poems translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Four cantos from Ramakanta Rath’s Sri Radha, translated from Odiya by the late poet himself, have been excerpted from his full length translation. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Syad Zahoor Shah Hashmi’s Nazuk, has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Disappearance by Bitan Chakraborty has been translated from Bengali by Kiriti Sengupta. Click here to read.

Roadside Ritual, a poem by Ihlwha Choi has been translated from Korean by the poet himself. Click here to read.

Tagore’s Pochishe Boisakh Cholechhe (The twenty fifth of Boisakh draws close…) from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Thompson Emate, Pramod Rastogi, George Freek, Vidya Hariharan, Stuart McFarlane, Meetu Mishra, Lizzie Packer, Saranyan BV, Paul Mirabile, Hema Ravi, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Rhys Hughes

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In Three Gothic Poems, Rhys Hughes explores the world of horrific with a light touch. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

The Day the Earth Quaked

Amy Sawitta Lefevre gives an eyewitness account of the March 28th earthquake from Bangkok. Click here to read.

Felix, the Philosophical Cat

Farouk Gulsara shares lessons learnt from his spoilt pet with a touch of humour. Click here to read.

Not Everyone is Invited to a Child’s Haircut Ceremony

Odbayar Dorje muses on Mongolian traditions. Click here to read.

From a Bucking Bronco to an Ageing Clydesdale

Meredith Stephens writes of sailing on rough seas one dark night. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

Stay Blessed! by Devraj Singh Kalsi is a tongue-in-cheek musing on social norms and niceties. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

On Safari in South Africa by Suzanne Kamata takes us to a photographic and narrative treat of the Kruger National Park. Click here to read.

Essays

Songs of the Adivasi Earth

Ratnottama Sengupta introduces us to the art of Haren Thakur, rooted in tribal lores. Click here to read.

‘Rajnigandha’: A Celebration of the Middle-of-the-Road

Tamara Raza writes of a film that she loves. Click here to read.

‘Climate change matters to me, and it should matter to you too’

Zeeshan Nasir writes of the impact of the recent climate disasters in Pakistan, with special focus on Balochistan. Click here to read.

Bhaskar’s Corner

Ramakanta Rath: A Monument of Literature: Bhaskar Parichha pays a tribute to the late poet. Click here to read.

Stories

Jai Ho Chai

Snigdha Agrawal narrates a funny narrative about sadhus and AI. Click here to read.

The Mischief

Mitra Samal writes a sensitive story about childhood. Click here to read.

Lending a hand

Naramsetti Umamaheswararao takes us back to school. Click here to read.

Conversation

Ratnottama Sengupta talks to filmmaker and author Leslie Carvalho about his old film, The Outhouse, that will be screened this month and his new book, Smoke on the Backwaters. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Anuradha Kumar’s Wanderers, Adventurers, Missionaries: Early Americans in India. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Snigdha Agrawal’s Fragments of Time (Memoirs). Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Sheela Rohekar’s Miss Samuel: A Jewish Indian Saga, translated by Madhu Singh. Click here to read.

Gracy Samjetsabam reviews Tony K Stewart’s Needle at the Bottom of the Sea: Classic Bengali Tales from the Sundarbans. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Raisina Chronicles: India’s Global Public Square by S. Jaishankar & Samir Saran. Click here to read.

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

Tags AI, Americans, Amy Sawitta Lafevre, Anuradha Kumar, Balochistan, Bangkok, Classification of Society, climate change, Devraj Singh Kalsi, Earthquake, Fakrul Alam, Farouk Gulsara, Fazal Baloch, Fragments of Time (Memoirs), George Freek, Gothic, Gracy Samjetsabam, Haren Thakur, Ihlwha Choi, India, Japan, Jibanananda Das, Korean, Kruger National Park, Lizzie Packer, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozabal, Madhu Singh, Meetu Mishra, Meredith Stephens, Miss Samuel: A Jewish Indian Saga, Mitali Chakravarty, Mongolian, Nazuk, Needle at the Bottom of the Sea: Classic Bengali Tales from the Sundarbans, Pakistan, Pochishe Boishak Cholechhe, Pramod Rastogi, Ramakanta Rath, Ratnottama Sengupta, Red Oleanders, Rhys Hughes, Roktokorobi, Ryan Quinn Falangan, S. Jaishankar, Samir Saran, Saranyan BV, Sheela Rohekar, Snigdha Agrawal, Somdatta Mandal, South Africa, Sri Radha, Stuart McFarlane, Syad Zahoor Shah Hashmi, Tagore, Tamara Raza, Thompson Emate, Title: Raisina Chronicles: India’s Global Public Square, Tony K. Stewart, Vidya Hariharan, Wanderers Adventurers Missionaries: Early Americans in India, Zeeshan Nasir

Poetry

Dirt Magicians by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Post author By borderlesssg1
Post date April 14, 2025
No Comments on Dirt Magicians by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

DIRT MAGICIANS

I go outside.
Bounding back into childhood.
Split melon in hand with infernal separation.

The fatherless sun above
rips dancing cornea from my eyes.

While the garden lice under rocks
ball up like dirt magicians.

And the balance girls walk the curb,
arms extended.

Trying not to fall off.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Amazon International

Tags Canada, Canadian, Elliot Lake, Ontario, Ryan Quinn Falangan

World Poetry Day

Raindrops, Roses and Pandas…

Post author By borderlesssg1
Post date March 21, 2025
No Comments on Raindrops, Roses and Pandas…

World Poetry Day falls in March — the same month that houses the World Wildlife Day. Our beautiful planets’ flora and fauna, impacted by the changing climate, might have to adapt or alter. Part of the land masses are likely to return to rest under rising tides. And humanity, how will we respond or survive these phenomena?

We have here responses in poetry from our newly-minted section on Environment and Climate. We celebrate with poetry on our home and hearth, the Earth.