INTRODUCTION

Niloy Rafiq belongs to the second generation of poets, a voice attuned to the pulse of nature and the intimacy of landscape. His verse carries the fragrance of love and romanticism, the urgency of contemporary consciousness, and the tremor of inner rebellion. Burnished by the fire of anguish, his poetry is enriched by the awareness of existence itself. At times, it rises to embody the grandeur of national identity. The spellbinding cadence of folk idiom in his work draws the reader irresistibly into its orbit.

In theme and imagery, Niloy Rafiq’s poetry is born of modern inspiration. Alongside the cultivation of pure emotion, his verse is infused with political awareness and conviction. He is a poet rooted in the soil, grounded in the heritage of his people.

Through his poetry, Niloy Rafiq has given voice to the bleeding present, to the pain and defiance of his own society, and to the gulf between expectation and fulfillment. At moments, he consecrates the spirit of the nation itself. His poetry bears the profound resonance of consciousness. Eternal emotions and feelings, the projection of insight into rhythm, flow effortlessly with the passage of time. He seeks to establish within his verse a sense of indivisible wholeness, a vision of totality. In his inner being, the poet has deeply apprehended the timeless patterns of life. His vibrant consciousness touches the weary and wounded soul with a healing breath of peace.

My name is Binod Dawadi from Purano Naikap 13, Kathmandu, Nepal. My date of birth is 2053 - 12 – 2.  I have completed my master's degree from TU in Major English. I like to read and write literary forms. My hobbies are dancing, singing, reading and writing.  I have written many poems, autobiography, in many languages. I want to be a famous artist and famous writer.

 I don’t like to pass my leisure time by doing nothing. I am creative man. My mind always gives me motivation to do something new. So, I tried new works which I thought is good. [I am single. I am happier to be born on Nepal. To know many cultures and traditions and places here.]

Anthology World Contemporary Poets is a collection of contemporary poets of the world published by Prodigy Published, USA, and organized by Poetry and Literature World Vision. Poetry and Literature World Vision was created mainly to promote poetry worldwide on December 4, 2020. At the beginning of our journey, we decided to feature the contemporary poets of the world on our group page and committed to publishing an anthology at a possible time, including the featured poets in volumes 1,2,3+ serially. We successfully featured 275 international poets in this massive program who are mainly reputed online and globally or internationally recognized, awarded or distinguished for their poetic creativity and remarkable contribution to promoting poetry. We can proudly mention that we gathered most of the leading, dominating and inspiring poets from around the globe in our program that was highly appreciated globally. This achievement motivated us to fulfil our commitment to publishing our anthology. In our initial volume, we assembled 162 poets and set them in Latin alphabetically to avoid debate about their poetic status or positional complexity. This anthology will massively introduce them to the poetry-lover world. And world poetry readers will be able to experience poetry's contemporary mood whenever it is willing to break modernism and welcome a new poetic movement called postmodernism. They will find a scope to identify how much traditionalism has been broken and how many traditions have been continued and discontinued, and how much progression has been somehow achieved. At least, could they break some of the traditions and set something new to come out of modernism and welcome postmodernism? Our careful readers should find out about it. World poetry readers will find in what way our contemporary poets are trying to overcome the crises caused by modernism and set a postmodern process in their poetic vision and mission and how they are trying to define poetry. Do they still think of it as an art of aesthetics devoid of spiritual, ethical and social values and how they depict the nature and scope of poetry? Is our contemporary poetry related to humanity, love and peace etc.? We obviously know that a poet is neither an angel nor a devil; he is a human being and he should have a liability to humanity and world peace. Our poetry readers will be able to explore and experience whether our contemporary poets are committed to these universal values in their creative poetry works or whether they are indifferent to them like that of how the modernists defined art, ignoring these values. They will also find what is the stand of contemporary poets against war, violence and aggression along with political unrest, the Covid pandemic situation and economic disasters around the world. How these issues have been portrayed in their poetry also can be found in this global anthology. We are pleased and proud to mention that most of the reputed poets from around the globe have been included in this anthology. But we think there are more. A significant number is still to be added. The remaining should be included in our upcoming volumes.company I would like to express my gratitude to those published poets in this anthology who cordially collaborated with us, providing their submissions. Congratulations to all published poets! Additionally, I would like you all to be acknowledged that we formed a selection board, approval board and editorial board for publishing this anthology duly. All the honorable members of these boards sincerely cooperated with me, providing their valuable time and creative thoughts. Heartiest gratitude to all of them and very special thanks to our editorial secretary Maria Do Sameiro Barroso, together with other co-editors Ewith Bahar, Lidia Popa, Tejaswini Patil Dange, Marija Najthefer Popov and global ambassador Eva Lianou Petropoulou. My heartiest gratitude goes to our editorial advisor, Mr. Zlatan Demirovic, a world-renowned poet and poetic personality of the contemporary world who shouldered all responsibility for publishing this anthology from his publishing house, Prodigy Published, USA. and played a historical role in promoting poetry. May poetry unite the world with its spirit of love, peace and humanity.

Regards,

Shikdar Mohammed Kibriah

President,

Poetry Literature World Vision

From the Editorial Desk

Bangladesh is one of the beautiful smallest countries of the world in Indian subcontinent of the south-east Asia and almost bordered by India. Only The Bay of Bengal is on the south. In ancient time it was independently ruled by different kings in the region of greater Bengal. In Mughal period this area of present Bangladesh included West Bengal, Bihar and Odia was a state of Mughal empire. Then it was ruled by the British 190 years as a part of greater Indian subcontinent from 1757 to 1947. The borders of modern Bangladesh were established with the separation of Bengal and India in August 1947, when the region became East Pakistan as a part of the newly framed State of Pakistan following the end of British rule in the region. Proclamation of Bangladesh Independence in March 1971 led to the nine-month long Bangladesh Liberation War, that culminated with East Pakistan emerging as the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Its area is 1,47, 000 sq-kilometers and population is about 16'5 crore. It is a densely populated country. Ninety percent people are muslim and the rests are hindu, buddhist, cristian and different tribes. By population it is the 8th biggest country of the world. Bengali or Bangla is its native language that originated Bangali or Bangladeshi nationality.
Anthropologists believe that Bangali is a vastly mixed nation as many races of the world originated from the four principal ethnic groups-Negroid, Mongoloid, Caucasoid and australoids had intruded into it. So, the existence of numerous and varied ethnic groups in the mixed blood of the Bangalis is traced. It is assumed that the speakers of austric language were the majority among the ancient inhabitants of Bangladesh. The Bengal region was ruled by the 'Guptas', 'Senas', 'Barmans',
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'Kamboja', 'Kharhaga', 'Turkish', 'Afghans', 'Mughals', 'Portuguese', 'English', 'Armenians', etc., who left behind their blood-current. This intermingling of blood continued even during the Pakistani era. This mixing has been geared up even more during the current age of globalisation. This ancient ethos has remained the real identity of the Bangali nation.
The first mention of the Bangali ethnic groups is found in the writings of Greek historians. The state was given the name of 'Vangala' or Bangla as the inhabitants of this land were termed Vangalia or Bangali, a common language – Bangla that was given shape for the whole of the Bangali nation.
Although Bangladesh was a province in the muslim Mughal state structure, its provincial rulers took great care in handling its cultural distinctiveness. It was during this period that the major festivals of the Bangalis came into being. The Bangla calendar, name of Bangla months, pahela baishakh or the Bengali New Year's festival were the contributions of the Mughals. Various festivals, diverse food-items and dresses which were introduced added colour to the Bangaliness. Betel-leaf, tobacco, drinks, jalsa or adda means cultural gatherings were special contributions of the Mughals. The Bengali poetry or literature was influenced by these diverse cultural developments. Sufism and vaisnavism, and related literature and folk-practices added distinctiveness to the Bangalee ethos.
The Bengali language generally corresponding to the country of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. The Bengali are of diverse origin, having emerged from the confluence of various communities that entered the region over the course of many centuries. The earliest inhabitants of the region are believed to have been the Vedda from Sri Lanka. Later the Vedda were joined by Mediterranean peoples who spoke Indo-European languages. In the 8th century peoples of Arab, Turkish, and Persian descent began to enter the area. Eventually all these groups merged to become the people now known as Bengali. Whether Hindu or Muslim, the Bengali people engage in a broad spectrum of artistic activity. Both Hindus and Muslims share the Hindustani classical music and dance tradition, while they also display a strong penchant for nonclassical popular forms. The Bengali of Bangladesh, for instance, created many unique popular music genres, such as baul and marfati, that have remained without true equivalents outside the country.
Bangladesh is a land of beauty and poetry, rich culture and literature. Bengali literature dates to before the 12th century. The Caitanya movement, an intensely emotional form of Hinduism inspired by the medieval saint Caitanya (1485–1533), shaped the subsequent development of Bengali poetry until the early 19th century, when contact with the West sparked a vigorous creative synthesis. The modern period has produced the Nobel Prize-winning romantic world poet Rabindranath Tagore, rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam-national poet of Bangladesh, poet of nature Jibanananda Das, folk poet Jasim Uddin and great modern poets Farrukh Ahmed, Syed Ali Ahsan, Ahsan Habib, Shamsur Rahman, Al Mahmud, Shahid Quadri, Fajal Shahabuddin, Abdul Mannan Syed, Syed Shamsul Haque, Dilwar and so on who should be translated for world poetry lovers. We, Prodigy Published wish to publish their great Bengali poems into English in future.
Besides Bengali poetry a remarkable number of Bengali bilingual or English poets are actively and powerfully creative in contemporary English poetry and literature. They contribute lots to promote poetry and represent their country globally. They are often published in the world renowned anthologies, magazines, newspapers, journals and channels and participated in international poetry festivals , translated and awarded
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globally. In honour of their great contribution in world poetry, we happily decide to publish them in a collection like this book ENGLISH POETS BANGLADESH. We hope it will be a milestone for their poetic journey and help them to go far in the aesthetic way of poetic humanity..
In this collection, we tried to find out all of existing English poets originated Bangladesh and collect their details, yet someone might be missed for the lack of connectivity or their unwilling or noncooperation.
With regards, Zlatan Demirovic, Editor
Prodigy Published

Thanks to Shikdar Mohammed Kibriah, Founder and President, Poetry and Literature World Vision, who became the game-changer, conducting its mission of spreading awareness and raising global consciousness. After the first edition, Vol. 1, published as an e-book on Prodigy Published and paperback on Amazon, we are proud to announce the launch of a new edition, Vol. 2, with 219 carefully selected worldrenownedandinternationallyrecognizedpoets. Given the fact that neither one oftheauthors represented in Volume 1. has been included in Volume 2, we can claim that this process is switchingtothecharacterofanencyclopedicworldanthology. The final selection of chosen authors passed a multilevel control process based on strict criteria set by the extended editorial team of provenworldpoetsandwriters. As a publisher and editor, we follow all trends and happenings in the world literary arena, I would clearly emphasize that, based on a topquality editorial team and authors chosen based on their scope, this anthology is becoming one of the world’s top relevant editions of that kind. At the same time, it’s worth noting that our team, aware of the impact of this process, proudly continues to profile our future activities, with the main goal of setting a stage for PLWV to become one of the best platformsforhighestvaluepromotion.

ZlatanDemirovic

The musical quality of a poem becomes unimaginable, when duende surges through it. The field composition, placement of words, metrical calculation, pondering over the tunes, far-fetched images, wide range of deliberation, and powerful sensibility have given Santosh Kumar Pokharel’s poetic creation an ephemeral height. When there is a subconscious invocation to Muses in one’s mind, and when one also becomes
ready to express one’s sensibilities, an unworldly emotional overflow becomes very natural. The bestowal and reception must be simultaneous for a great creation. In this sense, creation emanates from unconsciousness to sub-consciousness (and then to consciousness?). Most of the creations from their very initial perception grow not in conscious reality, but in dreams. By their magnificence, Santosh Kumar Pokharel’s poems too seem to come from a dreamy and divine inspiration. Mr Pokharel is an engineer by profession and a poet by creative deliberation. Therefore, naturally, his poems are a blend of the art of engineering and the art of literary presentation. He amazingly balances between the structure and the flow of his imagination in his poems. On a cursory overview, I found Mr. Pokharel’s poems in five thematic categories. 1. Love, 2. Reminiscences, 3. Musings over the grandeur of nature, 4. Myths, and the use of mythological allusions and 5. His thought for peace against all kinds of abuses and offences. Poet Santosh in the Prologue “My Solemn Vow” expresses his apology in his intimate power for the capacity to express his thoughts and feelings. He says, “No grudge I have no complaints I woe I am full with whatever you did endow May keep your praise in verses wise And creep to your abode steady and slow” In “Love Platonic “the poet seems so emotionally driven to understand the inner voice of his beloved in the way as “It was her that she loved from inside.” From “She in her cold days” to “Inamorata”, he cannot stop himself from talking about his love and beloveds. Suddenly he is driven to the praise of nature in “Dordi Stream”. Further, he collects emotions from his reminiscences, and becomes nostalgic when he remembers his father, and finds himself with his daughter in a delightful mood. In his loneliness, he makes some swift moves from his life to the lives of other creatures, and compares his life somewhere with the flow of a river. He concentrates on the calm, continuous and majestic flow of a river, and applies the thought of “time, flux, and duration” with the flow of his own life. Sometimes, he moves to a very different dimension to talk about the civil violence and state violence, and wants the end of all inhumane activities for the establishment of freedom, peace and humanity. “To Boko Haram on the School Girls,” and “Stop Gaza War” are some of his appeals for peace and justice, and his contempt for crime, cruelty and injustice. In the “Hail the Aryan Race” he is concerned about myth and history of the Aryans. The history of the Aryan race is profusely rich; however it is in the peril in the recent days. All poems are short lined, brief and musical. No apparent breaks, Hemistich and Polyptoton are marked. All objects used in the poems are in one way or the other symbolic, and have a large possibility for wide academic interpretations. Some comparisons like “She a Wizard” render very unusual images, and have the metaphysical qualities. In his love poems he sounds more like John Donne and Andrew Marvell than like Shelley and Keats. In his nature poems he is like Thomas Hardy instead of like Blake, Coleridge and Wordsworth. He does not simply appreciate nature, but also thinks over its fate and sufferings. In his reminiscences, he wants to revive his past for his bliss and happiness, but quickly realizes that the days of innocence are gone, and there is no compensation of them by the moments of and so-called maturity and experience. From his poetic spectrums, I feel that he is a perfect genius, and he has to have more creative outbursts in the days to come. I wish him a very productive career ahead.

Rajan Prasad Pokharel (PhD),

Professor of English at TU, Patan Multiple Campus.

My name is Binod Dawadi from Purano Naikap 13, Kathmandu, Nepal. My date of birth is 2053 - 12 – 2.  I have completed my master's degree from TU in Major English. I like to read and write literary forms. My hobbies are dancing, singing, reading and writing.  I have written many poems, autobiography, in many languages. I want to be a famous artist and famous writer.

 I don’t like to pass my leisure time by doing nothing. I am creative man. My mind always gives me motivation to do something new. So, I tried new works which I thought is good. [ I am single. I am happier to be born on Nepal. To know many cultures and traditions and places here.]

Foreword - Zlatan Demirovic*
Poetry is the mother of all knowledge. Reading it is a process, a ritual of transcending words in images, colouring it by feelings, shaping and redesigning all to a new vibrational escrow. The essence of existence is hard to define by science, but it’s oft given as a flash of understanding just in few simple verses. As I got an opportunity to write a foreword for this collection of amazing poems, I felt delighted by giving a contribution, conceiving it as a cornerstone in an endeavour to catch up the misty light of cosmic epitome of harmony. During the very first reading, my inner bells started merrily ringing (in the name of love) sending their green light, celebrating an anthem of elated soul. It’s you Molly, who made the inner light radiate freely, leaving the hidden garden’s door wide open! So, it is you who “Stepped out of your boat - to walk over the waves” But, you know well that it’s a job for “The marvel of a woman with faith and fidelity!” Who would remain indifferent, hearing these powerful words of “Earth Woman!” I am the earth woman. look deep into my eyes… much have l seen, endured molestations, greedy hands gnawing me out, breaking, crushing polluting… look at my shaven head my green wiped out…”
10 • When The Humming Bird Flies… Dr. Molly Joseph
Who would dare to desecrate the beauty of a woman! Molly’s concern about a human ethics is serious, “Ethics not about stringent dos and don’ts based on moral codes framed, reframed as per social dictates...” Molly knows the way how to affirm its true essential principles. Simply, comparing it with the Nature. Everyone can avoid and trample human ethical postulates, but the harmonious codes of Nature are the last ones we would play with. The message is simple: Think as Nature, love as Nature, don’t hate anything that is part of it! Don’t try to “deform its shape”! Be Like the SUN! Cherish your profound connection between inner essence and natural world! And in every new verse, is the Nature’s splendour that never ceases to amaze me by spiritual glimpses, behind the surface of the word made picture. As you zoom into some heartfelt deep meaning, a breathtaking simplicity emerges, affirming infinite complexity. I love the flow of words, always in synchronicity with deeper sense, tending even to form a geometric shape, as in a symmetry of flower petals, as the golden ratio-word sequence of word forms. Modern science is still hovering in ether trying to catch the right formula for time and space, but the poet is not! Sometimes, metaphoric dilemma is brighter truth than some mystified formulas. And a question could well become an answer:
Dr. Molly Joseph When The Humming Bird Flies • 11
“Ends, Beginnings... .... Time when it turns so relative as posited by consciousness how can there be beginnings and ends?” Molly is poetically inclined to Nature, philosophically critical to Humanity, and brutally sharp to their sneaky puppet masters. And finally, what else to say, I feel richer, more knowledgeable, and ready to meet new life challenges and open questions. So, my message is, that poets are like lonely Eagles, flying high above and seeing everything, both good and bad. When they have chosen their prey, they will not back down or back off... they impart their wisdom through your eyes to your soul. That is the essential truth you’ll find in this wonderful book, dear reader!

Preface

The golden bridge in our hand

The life without poetry is like the river without water.

Human being need poetry for their souls to sing, and for

connecting people. Each poem is a bridge, connecting the two

banks, allowing people to meet each other. By poems, we can

understand the other people’s soul and mind, then we can make

friends and live in peace.

In 2021, I had a chance to know the Greek poetess Eva Lianou

Petropoulou. We soon made friends and start to exchange in

literary translation and publishing between Greece and Vietnam.

For over two years, we had published works for nearly 50 authors

of the two countries in several platforms, newspapers, magazines,

bringing about the pride and happiness to all of us. We have

become so close as sisters in a family. We have found love, compassion,

Sanctuary c 5

understanding, friendship,… to other each other in the great exchange.

By poetry, we build the golden bridge for strangers to meet and

become close friends, exchange the cultural values and grow greater

by the time passing.

And now it is the good reason for us, the Greek and Vietnamese

poets to celebrate our friendship by an anthology of poetry. Gat

is the Juit Jom our constant eHort to connect and understand each

other. Greece and Vietnam share many similarities such as the long

coast, the long wars in history, and the rich culture in ancient

society, the high skilled handicraK products… Now we share the

love for poetry. “Poetry unites people” (Eva Lianou Petropoulou).

“Poetry leads people to the Land of Love and Light” (Kieu Bich

Hau). Gose ideas meet on the golden bridge!

Ge golden bridge in our hand…

KIEU BICH HAU