CFS 7.1

 

Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry 

Call for submissions: Volume 7, Number 1  (May 2024)


Guest Editor: Bob DCosta

 

Theme:  Void

 

Void, the most vital of the five elements, Void that represents the infinite expanse beyond the physical realm. It exists “beyond the balcony of the universe.” The space where all existence originates and ultimately returns. The Void is not mere emptiness and formlessness but a womb, and it is from this formlessness that creation begins. Our mind is also a representation of the Void. It is where "voidian voyage" takes place, where churning begins. Chew on this: Science says that light travels faster than sound. But does not the mind travel faster than light? Sitting in India, think of The Statue of Liberty and your mind instantly can picturise the statue. And I am sure you will not disagree that mind has travelled faster than light! Similarly, once the mindful movement is done in the vortex, pieces of lines ooze out. Pieces of poems. So, poets, celebrate this Void of your mind. Churn out your poems and allow the creative pieces to be out in the universe, this universe called Teesta Review.

 

Bob DCosta: Married to words though he sleeps with dusk; and poet, novelist and consulting educationist, Former Assistant Poetry Editor, Eastlit, Thailand; Hon. D. Litt., World Academy of Arts and Culture, California, Bob has written several books of poems and novels in paperback and in e-book form. He has worked as a school teacher for two decades but now teaches English to children as well as gives talks on Happiness that can be achieved by living a simple life, minimum wants and living one day at a time, that is, living for the Now. Bob lives in Kolkata but meditates on the peals from Buddhist temples in the mist-laden hills of Kurseong, from where he draws inspiration that breathes life into his poetry and prose.

Some of his recent books are Broken Whispers, a novel in verse on the life and times of a pavement prostitute, Sapphopolis, a literary fiction based on The Bangladesh War of Independence and Lovers Gift and Crossing by Rabindranath Tagore, edited by Bob Dcosta. Bob is a member of Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, the SAARC Apex Body.

Below is a poem related to the theme.


Void

Night it was

the stars in the void

each a fit-in-the-fist stone

each a-glisten

in the quiet river of the mind

 

each stone loosened

began their float down-stream

the first one shook the shoulders of the void

flattened like bread born in the vortex

called oven

 

it flattened into a page

floated further down

landed on my shoulder

slipped down to my lap

 

and thus birthed

Proof Of My Birth

my first poem

from the womb

 

Void.

 

© Bob DCosta

Find links to some of Bob’s books:

https://amzn.eu/d/0RTbIAy
https://amzn.eu/d/4bTXpVf
https://surl.li/raaqg
https://amzn.eu/d/2MEOQ0b

Call for Submission

 

·         Teesta Review invites submission of poems, short stories, articles and interviews. The pieces are expected to connect with the given theme in some way. Poems should be within 40 (forty) lines, short stories and articles not longer than around 3000 (three thousand) words.

·         The editorial team will have full authority in selecting submitted items for publication.

·         Please email your submission as an attached word document to bob.dcosta14@gmail.com  before April 6, 2024.

 

We’re excited to see what you have for us.

 

Let us flow like the river.

-Team, TEESTA REVIEW

An International Journal of Poetry

(online)