HAPPY HOLIDAYS! LA MULTI ANI!

THANKS

The editorial staff of the LITERARY & CONTEMPORARY HORIZON magazine wishes to give thanks to all its collaborators and readers for the interest and support shown in 2009.
The staff also wishes to give special thanks to the following collaborators and readers of this (multi) cultural magazine, people who have provided us with their constant moral support, subscriptions and donations:
From the U.K.: CAROLINE GILL (Swansea), PETER HART (Cambridge)
From France: HELENE GLEHEN (Paris), MATHIEU MERCIER (Lyon)
From Romania : ELISABETA ISANOS (Bucharest), DORINA GACI (Constanţa), TATIANA RĂDULESCU (Bucharest), ALINA-OLIMPIA MIRON (Bucharest)
From the U.S.A : MARY DENISE COSTELLO (Dallas), LAUREN HAWKINS (Philadelphia)
Thanks to them, we have had nine issues this year, issues which have reached our readers, more than 1600, only two months after the magazine’s website had been launched again. For those who don’t know, we’d like to mention that, although professionally, consistently and honestly promoting cultural Romanian and European values, in an official agreement with the University of Bucharest, the LITERARY & CONTEMPORARY HORIZON magazine does not benefit from any subsidies from any Romanian or European cultural institutions.
Our collaborators and readers are our most precious capital, constantly making our cultural actions worthwhile, actions which we will continue with every available means in the year to come. The magazine’s editorial staff thanks you and wishes you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Daniel Dragomirescu, Editor-in-Chief of LITERARY & CONTEMPORARY HORIZON
________________________________________

MULŢUMIRI

Redacţia revistei “Orizont Literar Contemporan” adresează calde mulţumiri tuturor colaboratorilor şi cititorilor săi, pentru interesul cu care au urmărit şi susţinut revista în cursul anului 2009.
Redacţia revistei le mulţumeşte în mod special următorilor colaboratori şi cititori care, pe lângă sprijinul lor moral constant, au susţinut proiectul (multi)cultural al publicaţiei prin abonamente şi donaţii:
Din Marea Britanie: CAROLINE GILL (Swansea), PETER HART (Cambridge)
Din Franţa: HELENE GLEHEN (Paris), MATHIEU MERCIER (Lyon)
Din România: ELISABETA ISANOS (Bucureşti), DORINA GACI (Constanţa), TATIANA RĂDULESCU (Bucureşti), ALINA-OLIMPIA MIRON (Bucureşti)
Din Statele Unite ale Americii: MARY DENISE COSTELLO (Dallas), LAUREN HAWKINS (Philadelphia)
Datorită lor revista “Orizont Literar Contemporan” a putut avea 9 apariţii în cursul acestui an, de care au beneficiat cei peste 1600 de cititori, câti numără în prezent revista noastră, la numai două luni de la relansarea sa pe website. Facem precizarea, pentru cei care nu stiu, ca deşi promovează în mod profesionist, consecvent şi onest valorile culturale româneşti şi europene şi are un acord oficial de parteneriat cu Universitatea din Bucureşti, revista “Orizont Literar Contemporan” nu beneficiază de nici o subvenţie din partea nici unei instituţii de cultură din România sau din Uniunea Europeană.
Colaboratorii şi cititorii revistei “Orizont Literar Contemporan” sunt capitalul nostru cel mai preţios şi ne oferă sentimentul legitimităţii acţiunii noastre culturale, pe care o vom continua cu toate mijloacele disponibile în anul care vine. Tuturor echipa redacţionala a revistei “Orizont Literar Contemporan” le adresează un sincer şi calduros LA MULŢI ANI!

Daniel Dragomirescu, redactor-şef al revistei “Orizont Literar Contemporan”

CONTEMPORARY HORIZON MAGAZINE - SPECIAL CHRISTMAS ISSUE

CONTENTS

Caroline Gill (United Kingdom) – “Welsh Dialogues (3)”
Mike Essig (UNITED STATES) – “Two Poems for Two Poets”
Mathieu Mercier (FRANCE) – “Neither Flourishes Nor Big Words”
Rolando Pulido (CUBA-UNITED STATES) – “Cuban Diaspora and Democracy”
Venkata Ramanan (INDIA) – “Communism Needed, a More Humane One”
Tatiana Rădulescu (ROMANIA) – “In Don Quixote’s Shadow”
William Jackson (AUSTRALIA) – “Life by Remote Control”
Burt Rashbaum (UNITED STATES) – “The Indifferent Sun”
Marina Centeno (MEXICO) – “The Oppression of Rain”
Daniel D. Peaceman (ROMANIA) – “Logos and Poetry”
Katerina Kostaki (GREECE) – “The Great Journey of Artists into Eternity”
Michelle Brooks (UNITED STATES) – “The Last Days of Our Pompeii”
Mark Murphy (UNITED KINGDOM) – “Conversation Between the Heron and the Holy Man, Rasputin”
and other poems
Abhimanyu Shankhdar (INDIA) – “The Three Legged Travesty”
Ernest Williamson III (UNITED STATES) – “Today, Afternoon & After Class” and other poems
Mihai Cantuniari (ROMANIA) – “Their Unique Way” and other poems
Don Riggs (UNITED STATES) – “Craving” and other poems
Biola Olatunde (NIGERIA) – “Oronshen, the Venus of Owo”
Wayne Visser (SOUTH AFRICA & UNITED KINGDOM) – EURAFRICA (poems)
Vinisha Nambiar (INDIA) – “Brave-Heart”
Marius Ştefan Aldea (ROMANIA) – “Mail to My Friends” and other poems
Allan Stevo (SLOVAKIA) – “The Jingling of Keys”
Rita Dahl (FINLAND) – “Last Melancholic”
________________________________

56 PAGES, 17 TRANSLATORS AND 32 AUTHORS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

PRICE PER COPY (SHIPPING INCLUDED): ONLY 8 EUROS, VIA WESTERN UNION

BUY NOW! THE INDEPENDENT JOURNAL "CONTEMPORARY HORIZON" NEEDS MORAL AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM ITS FOLLOWERS (CONTRIBUTORS, READERS, CULTURAL DONORS)

"CONTEMPORARY HORIZON" - OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER OF BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY

"CONTEMPORARY HORIZON" - A MULTICULTURAL MAGAZINE FOR ALL VALUABLE READERS

LYRIC HORIZONS: DON RIGGS (UNITED STATES)

RAFINAMENT ŞI FORŢĂ EXPRESIVĂ
Don Riggs este un poet de un rafinament aparte, şi în egală măsură un artist înzestrat cu o forţă expresivă care nu poate rezulta decât din talentul şi din forţa personalităţii sale. Revista “Orizont literar contemporan” găzduieşte, în numărul special pe lunile noiembrie-decembrie 2009, o selecţie din creaţia sa literară, din care le oferim cititorilor de pe internet ai revistei noastre acest text reprezentativ. (Daniel Dragomirescu)

REFINMENT AND FORCE OF EXPRESSION
Don Riggs is both a poet whose work displays a special refinement and an artist endowed with a force of expression which can't stem but from the talent and force of his personality. “Orizont literar contemporan” / “Contemporary (Literary) Horizon” magazine is publishing a selection from his literary creation in the special issue for November-December 2009, a selection from which we offer our Internet readers a representative fragment. (Alina-Olimpia Miron)
_______________________________________

CRAVING

Concupiscence means having a little
Cupid inside each of us, even when
we’ve just been born, desiring what we’ve just
been jerked from, maybe, or the very first
fruits hanging to slake our thirst, which we had
never known before, back when we were in
the Garden where we had no needs, unless
our mother, the universe herself, did.

So now we’ve had to improvise techniques
from foraging to gardening to field
work to hydroponics to distilling
brandy from fruit juice and whiskey from grain
and sticky black resin from alkoloids
in flowers refined into heroin.

But what about the yearning for union
with the divine? the abnegation of
the self, the body, the will – unless it’s
will that drives one to fast, ignore hunger
– or, better, to focus on that feeling
like a flame the chela gazes into,
subtly shifting, not too brilliant, a bit
of blue or even blackness near the wick.

Exempla abound: the nun who only
ate one consecrated wafer a week,
the guru who must have had chlorophyll
in his epidermis, living on air,
sunlight, and moisture that dripped in his cave.
The hiker who froze to death in winter.

___________________________

INSAŢIETATE

Concupiscenţa înseamnă să avem în noi
un mic Cupidon, chiar şi-atunci
când abia-am fost născuţi, cu dorinţa
să fi fost smuciţi poate. Sau ca
primele fructe coapte să ne-astâmpere setea
ce n-am mai cunoscut, atunci când eram
în Grădina unde n-aveam nevoie de nimic, doar dacă
mama noastră, universul însuşi, avea nevoie de ceva.

Aşa c-acum a trebuit să improvizăm tehnici
de la a săpa la a planta la a munci
pământul la a creşte artificial la a distila
coniac din suc de fructe şi whiskey din grâne
şi răşină neagră greţoasă din alcaloide
în flori rafinate în heroină.

Cum rămâne cu dorul de uniune
cu divinul? Cu abnegaţia sinelui,
a trupului, a dorinţei – doar dacă nu cumva
dorinţa ne-ndeamnă la abstinenţă, la ignorarea hranei

sau şi mai bine la surprinderea intensă a acelei senzaţii
precum o flacără spre care priveşte chela
foindu-se abia simţit, nu prea aprinsă,
cu mucul albăstriu şi chiar negru.

Exemple din belşug: călugăriţa
ce mânca o singură napolitană sfinţită pe săptămână,
un guru care pesemne c-avea clorofilă
în epidermă, care trăia cu aer,
cu soare, cu lâncezeala ce i se scurgea din căpăţână.
Alpinistul ce-a îngheţat iarna de viu.

Romanian version: Sînziana MIHALACHE

THESES AND ANTITHESES

Two collaborators of the Literary & Contemporary Horizon magazine have sent several texts for publication, texts which are partially reproduced here. The first essay belongs to Indian Venkata Ramanan and deals with communism as a still viable model of organizing the world; the second one, written by Rolando Pulido, a Cuban immigrant to the U.S.A., evaluates communism from the perspective of Fidel Castro's historical experience. We hope both texts to evoke our readers' interest and generate a discussion regarding the problem of a better societal organization (approached from ancient times by Plato in Republic) and human perfectibility. (Daniel Dragomirescu)
_______________________________

Doi colaboratori ai revistei Contemporary Horizon ne-au trimis spre publicare textele pe care le reproducem partial in cele ce urmeaza. Primul eseu este scris de indianul Venkata Ramanan si se refera la comunism ca un model inca viabil de organizare a lumii, cel de-al doilea, scris de Rolando Pulido, cubanez emigrat in Statele Unite, evalueaza comunismul prin prisma experientei istorice din Cuba lui Fidel Castro. Speram ca ambele texte vor fi primite cu interes de cititorii revistei noastre si ca vor genera o discutie in legatura cu problema - prefigurata inca din antichitate de catre Platon in dialogul „Republica” - a unei mai bune organizari a societatii si a perfectibilitatii umane. (D. D.)

VENKATA RAMANAN: COMMUNISM – NEEDED, A MORE HUMANE ONE

Communism stood for certain principles, namely equality, eradication of the difference between the Have’s and Have nots, distribution of wealth, work accoding to capacity and be provided for what you need, classless society.
The collapse of Communism is mainly due to the fact that it assumed work and needs can be quantified. They can never be for needs are subjective, and ‘work according to capacity ‘ can not be defined-who defines capacity? Secondly it assumes human beings are mere numbers.No doubt man needs material comforts the most; however that is not the Summum Bonum of His existence. He has his feelings,emotions and ambitiuons and a constant desire to to move up. Thirdly, the premise that ‘That all are born equal’ is a wrong one. Human beings are similar, not identical. No two individuals are equal in that their predispositions, drives, level of competency, and their definitions of needs and happiness.This communism has failed to make allowance for. Fourthly, too much of academic discussion on the means to achieve their ends, socialism, democracy, revolution etc; while achieving, the goal should have been accorded priority by sticking to one process, say Socialism and not dithering because of impatience, and switching over to Arms. Fifthly, Distribution of wealth without creating it. Sixthly, confusion as to which comes first, their Nation or their ideologies. This led to international friction among the practitioners of the same system. Seventhly, dogmatic adherence , bordering on Religious fervour that anything other than communism is evil. Eighthly, systematic destruction of the fundamental units of Society, Family, Religion, Philosphy, free thought and criticism.While creating classless society, they have created elite in the form of members of the party, politburo Members and the common man.Yet the principle of communism is sound and is needed even today-especially to day-as Keynesian Economics is not delivering the goods and the divide between the Rich and the Poor is widening. What is needed now is the elimination of the mistakes mentioned above and provide Communism with a more Human face; fight for injustice, in a democratic way, without being impatiennt.Lastly what was the quip about’oriental despotism’-Typical Occidental reaction; if things go right, it is due to them; if wrong, orientals.USSR, oriental?
Story.
Few occasions are more propitious for forgetting the past than moments of historical commemoration. Amidst fond recollections of the fall of the Berlin wall, and in a time of, at least temporary, improvement in relations between Russia and the west, few may spare a thought for what it was that ended two decades ago. On two issues history has given its ultimate verdict: the cold war, the third and longest of the three chapters that made up the great global civil war of 1914-91, will not return; the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), as a multinational state and as a global ideological and strategic challenge to the west, is indeed dead. However, on a third component of this story – the worldwide communist movement – the verdict is, as yet, less clear (…)
____________________________________________

ROLANDO PULIDO: CUBAN DIASPORA AND DEMOCRACY

As Cubans at liberty we can seldom write or speak about Cuban issues without stirring discussion amongst ourselves. Not surprisingly we savor conversation over these matters; debate is quintessential Democracy. Although many differences and potent sentiments exist within the global Cuban community as to various policies affecting our homeland we all love and miss our island. As freedom loving people, we all agree on one fundamental goal: the return to a free and prosperous Cuba.
The Cubans as a people have found refuge, made homes and put down roots in many nations throughout the world. Cubans have maintained their national cultural traditions while assimilating the customs of the cities, towns and neighborhoods that have accepted and welcomed them as immigrants. We have embraced and enjoyed the social, political and economic freedoms offered in various Democratic nations where we have flourished as contributing members of society. This has not been limited to the fortunate ones who managed to escape or were expelled from post-Castro Cuba, but those who emigrated of there own free will as well, before the nation began moving down the tragic path of an oppressive collective dictatorship half a century ago.
My island was the first major European colony established in the New World, because of it's geographical location became known as the key to the Americas. As a vital hub for Renaissance trade routes the people of Cuba absorbed the culture, education and characteristics not only of Spain but also France, England, Holland and other European countries. These were some of the numerous ingredients that contributed to the rich culture that we Cubans are notably proud of and cherish so much. Centuries later, in 1902, after the island achieved independence as a consequence of the Spanish-American War the United States began to have considerable influence in our culture in addition to economic growth of the nation as result of expanded trade, tourism and investment on the island. Those contributions, that partnership, were instrumental in developing a strong foundation during the first years and decades of a truly new nation.
Inarguably, it was a catastrophic step on the path of the relatively young Cuban Republic when Fulgencio Batista seized power in 1952. While having served honorably as the elected president from 1940 to 1944 in a span which has been noted for economic growth as well as social reforms his new term as self-appointed leader was met with popular resistance which was strongly repressed as his regime became infamous for its decadence and malfeasance. The Cuban people, understandably, resisted against the government and eventually brought down the dictatorship. The new leadership of Fidel and Raul Castro, the interloper, Ernesto Che Guevara, and many other bad actors betrayed the people and the revolution against the ruthless Batista. Those who confronted the new authoritarian regime with its duplicity, including those who had fought against Batista, were dealt with harshly: imprisonment or execution. By the following year, 1960 , Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) were formed to discover (or fabricate) information about those who acted or spoke against the new dictatorial administration. Local CDRs were employed to keep records of activities and associations that might be considered suspicious or counter-revolutionary, such as: sexual behavior (homosexuals were and are still brutally persecuted), friends, spending habits, criticism of the government, etcetera. Informing the CDR became popular very quickly as an easy way to curry favor with the members of the tyrannical regime. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution continue today as does the extreme deprivation that the Communists vowed to eliminate. Proper nutrition, housing, education, medical care, employment opportunities do not exist in Cuba. The promises of 1959 never materialized. Cuba is essentially a parasitical welfare state. The Cuban people of today due to influences from without and from within the island continue with their travail and a steady diet of mendacity and exploitation (…)

(See the complete version of these articles in „Orizont literar contemporan” / „Contemporary Literary Horizon”magazine, issue no 9/2009)

CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES. ALLAN STEVO: THE JINGLING OF THE KEYS

The jingling of keys is the sound that so many Slovaks in the year 2009 associate with the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Just a few days here give the visitor the impression that this is a much less violent place than the lands West of here. Much less violent than my south side of Chicago home. In a very non-violent way, the presence of the communist government was, among other ways, protested in 1989 with gathering of people, many thousands of people pulling their keys out of their pockets and jingling them. There were some things that might be dangerous to say aloud in public. To jingle your keys in a call for the fall of your government was a much harder to prove offense. Imagine for a moment, if you will, the glorious sound created by being surrounded in all directions by people gently, and so defiantly so, jingling their keys. This was the last tolling of the bell for the dead. This jingling of keys was the last tolling of the bell for the communist government.

THIS IS THE DAY OF THE BLOODLESS

This is the day of
the bloodless
revolution that didn’t
happen
among the slavs of
Yugoslavia

This is the day that
brought forth the philosopher
king of Plato’s dreams

And somehow,
this November
became glorious, the
kind of day where
you can see the
light is what
became of the 17th
A day of revolution,
of fire, one that does
not burn, but refuses
only slightly threateningly
to cooperate
Either a day to see
the light or a
day to practice
forgetting, and somehow
when I stepped out, I
knew it was a day to
see the light.
______________________________________________

Sunetul cheilor ciocnindu-se una de alta este sunetul pe care atâţia slovaci din anul 2009 îl asociază cu prăbuşirea regimului comunist din 1989. Doar câteva zile lasă asupra vizitatorului impresia că asta e o ţară mult mai paşnică decât cele occidentale. Mult mai puţin violentă decât partea de sud al Chicago-ului în care eu trăiesc. În 1989, într-o lume non-violentă, s-a protestat, printre altele, împotriva prezenţei guvernului comunist, cu o mulţime de oameni, mii de oameni, care şi-au scos cheile şi le-au scuturat în aer. Unele lucruri erau prea periculoase pentru a fi spuse cu voce tare în public. A-ţi scutura cheile în semn de apel pentru căderea guvernului a fost o ofensă mult mai greu de dovedit. Dacă vreţi, imaginaţi-vă preţ de o clipă sunetul fenomental atunci când eşti înconjurat în toate părţile de oameni care-şi scutură cheile paşnic, şi totuşi atât de înverşunaţi. A fost ultimul clopot tras pentru cei morţi. Sunetul cheilor a fost ultimul clopot tras pentru guvernul comunist.

ZIUA FĂRĂ SÂNGE

E ziua
revoluţiei
fără sânge care
nu s-a
întâmplat pentru slavii
din Iugoslavia

E ziua
care l-a promovat pe filosoful-rege
din visele lui Plato

Într-un fel sau altul,
acest noiembrie
a ajuns glorios
genul de zi cand vezi
că ziua de 17
a devenit una luminoasă
o zi a revoluţiei flăcărilor
care nu ard, care refuză
oarecum ameninţător
să colaboreze
e fie-o zi în care
vezi lumina
fie una în care
poţi să exersezi senzaţia de uitare, şi
nu stiu cum, când am ieşit,
am ştiut că e o zi
în care trebuie să văd lumina.
_______________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allan Stevo is a writer living and working in Bratislava, Slovakia. He is currently working on a book.

DESPRE AUTOR
Allan Stevo e un scriitor care locuieşte şi–şi desfăşoară activitatea în Bratislava, Slovacia. În prezent lucrează la o carte.

Versiunea românească / Romanian version: Sânziana MIHALACHE

CONTEMPORARY LITERARY HORIZON, SPECIAL ISSUE

No.9 / November - December 2009

Price: 8 euros per copy (via Western Union)

Over 30 authors from all over the world!

Poems by Elo Viiding (Estonia), Allan Stevo (Slovakia), Mihai Cantuniari, Cassian Maria Spiridon, Marius Stefan Aldea (Romania), Wayne Visser, Mark Murphy (U.K.), Marina Centeno (Mexico), Burt Rashbaum, Don Riggs, Mike Essig, Michelle Brooks (U.S.A.), Mark William Jackson (Australia ) etc.
Issue no.9 / 2009 also contains an excellent short story about a new Fantine: Contretemps by Catherine Rakose (Grenoble, France), an original essay on communism by Indian professor Venkata Ramanan, the new literary manifesto Ni fioritures ni grands mots by French writer Mathieu Mercier from Lyon, Welsh Dialogues (part III) by Caroline Gill (Swansea, Wales) and many other interesting and excellent contributions.

CONTEMPORARY LITERARY HORIZON, No. 9 / 2009 - an independent and multicultural magazine for all our valuable and faithful readers!