The June 2024 issue of TMR includes some of the best poems, haiku and short story by contemporary international authors The poems selected for this latest issue are devoid of artificial and ornamental style that extinguishes spontaneous emotions. William Wordsworth aptly says: “If in this opinion I am mistaken, I can have little right to the name of a Poet. For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Poems to which any value can be attached, were never produced on any variety of subjects but by a person, who being possessed of more than usual organic sensibility, had also thought long and deeply. The following lines by John Milton reveal the truth of this quote: The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way. It is my humble duty to express my gratitude and thanks to the international poets and creative artists. Many thanks for your kind and gracious support for this latest edition of TMR. No doubt, without the kind cooperation of all authors included the publication was not possible.
Best Wishes
SANTOSH KUMAR
Editor

Happy New Year. Hope the New Year 2024 brings peace and joy in the world. I have tried my best to include in the latest issue of TMR only those contemporary poems which express the inner heart and deep secrets of mind. Whatever we may think of the great importance of science and technology, we cannot deny the vital role of poetry inspiring the people. No doubt, all poetry lovers will appreciate the following lines about the exploited workers of England by P. B. Shelley showing the poet's widening sympathy for the poorest people:
The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge; another bears.
Sow seed,—but let no tyrant reap;
Find wealth,—let no impostor heap;
Weave robes,—let not the idle wear;
Forge arms,—in your defence to bear.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 to Jon Fosse, was presented by Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, on 5 October 2023. Congratulations to Jon Fosse, the Norwegian author, famous for 'his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable." It is my humble duty to express my gratitude to the authors published in this edition of TMR. Without their kind support and cooperation, it is not possible to publish this issue of the international journal TMR. Best Wishes to all creative artists and authors. Happy New Year 2024!
Best Wishes
SANTOSH KUMAR
Editor

Warm greetings and welcome. Like the past issues, this latest June 2023 edition of Taj Mahal Review is an humble attempt to publish remarkable and beautiful poems, short stories and haiku by authors from several countries. I have tried to include only those writings that have imaginative power and depth of feeling.  For many years I edited the international journal, standing up in the face of all obstacles, and have tried my best to find ‘great moment’  through the medium of poetry. Some day the world will awake and understand the sanctifying power of great poetry. For example, we may take Samuel Johnson’s following highly inspiring lines: Still raise for good the supplicating voice,  But leave to heaven the measure and the choice.  Safe in his pow’r, whose eyes discern afar  The secret ambush of a specious pray’r. All readers will certainly like the following sober, chaste and truly wonderful lines by the famous poet S. T. Coleridge: He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all. I feel quite obliged and grateful to all authors published in this edition of TMR. Without their kind and generous cooperation it is not possible to publish TMR. Thanks again.
Best Wishes
SANTOSH KUMAR
Editor

Happy New Year! Welcome to the latest December 2022 edition of TMR. This issue includes poems, haiku, short stories by some of the most impressive modern and postmodern authors. In choice of theme, and approach, the poets selected for this edition reveal the breadth of intellect and wisdom. The poems in the latest edition of TMR are written in a language notable for clarity of expression and precision.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 was awarded to the French author Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.” Congratulations to her for receiving the prestigious honor. It is good to remember these wise words of Adrienne Rich: “I guess what concerns me always is the need for a field, a rich compost, for any art to flourish. But however isolated or unheard you may feel, if you have the need to write poetry, are compelled to write it, you go on, whether there is resonance or not.”. John Milton always wrote when he was ‘compelled to write’. Paradise Lost was written during his blindness.

Despite intense suffering and loss of eyesight, Milton avoids overinsistence on  mood of sorrow in the following lines. He makes them live; and they live by virtue of  his  religious fervour, imagery and passionate feeling:

So much the rather thou Celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.

I shall be failing in my duty if I don’t express my gratitude and thanks to the poets and creative artists whose immense cooperation and kindness encouraged and inspired me in this task of editing the journal. Thanks again.

SANTOSH KUMAR, Editor