My First Publication in Miracle E-zine

Today is a great day for me. My poem The Great Mansion is published in fifth issue of Miracle E-zine. This is my first international foot print. Wohooo! This has made my work known globally. 

Link to read the issue: Miracle E-zine: Issue Five, April 2013. This magazine is currently for sale. Click 'Preview' and turn to Page 5, you will see my name listed under Poetry. Click here to go to Miracle e-zine

Here is how it all started. Two months ago, Melissa Fry Beasley, editor at Churn Magazine, contacted me when she visited my blog. She is already a published poet. Her first words of encouragement were:

Your poems are good enough to get them published in poetry magazines 

and gave me a long list of websites, which are essentially online magazines/journals looking for poetry submissions in their upcoming issues. And I also wanted a greater audience for my work to be showcased. Her words drove me to start looking into the sites right away. So I am indebted to her forever. I would have never known about this publishing world (apart from my blog) if she hadn't contacted me.

Most of the online magazines (e-zines) don't accept previously published work. So I searched hard for magazines which considers them. I read submission guidelines of each of the sites that showed up in search results. And then there was this Miracle E-zine. It accepted previously published work. So I wasted no time is submitting four of my poems. I wasn't too hopeful about my poems getting accepted but it was worth a shot. I got a reply from the editor a week later saying:

Thank you for sending your work to our magazine. I was really pleased to read your work and "The Great Mansion" has been put up on the short list for the magazine's fifth issue which will come in April

I was overwhelmed by this reply. I kept my fingers crossed. On 31st March, I got another reply congratulating me that my poem has made it to the final list and is selected to be published in the fifth issue of the magazine. I screamed with great joy! I called up my family and friends to share this news. And now that its finally out, I thank you so much for your support and inspiration in keeping me going in delivering better.

Light of Hope

Out of a dreadful nightmare, I was awakened.

There was nothing but darkness around me.

"Hello? Anyone here?" I cried; my voice weakened.

Although I knew there was no life in my vicinity.

Sitting all alone in a place entirely unknown,

I am gasping for air, it’s getting hard to breathe.

In appalling fear, my mind is slowly getting blown

In bits and pieces which I am unable to concede.

It’s so dark I haven't a clue of where I am:

It may be a room or a monstrous dungeon.

Or the deepest hole on earth which is damned,

Or have my eyes gone blind by a lethal poison?

How long I have been suffering here; I don't know.

I am not aware whether it is day or night.

Why on earth am I thrown here, so down below,

In this death hole without pity surrounded by fright?

My memory is erased but not completely,

It is making me recollect only my sinful nature,

Oh Lord, please have some mercy on me;

Give me a quick death instead of this torture.

Along with the pain, I see something up in the sky:

Hazy images of my immoral deeds flash in my mind.

Those tormenting pictures brutally jab my eyes

Reminding me of what I did; thus leaving me maligned.

There is not a drop of tear even when I begin to cry.

Instead, my eyes burn when I think of my heinous sins

I shamelessly committed which took many, many lives.

Thus I deserve to be in this gloom which I am rightfully in.

Then I felt a gentle breeze in my hair, I lifted my head up.

Is that the smell of freedom or am I lost daydreaming?

There it is! I see a gleaming dot: The Light of Hope.

Thank you, God, for showing the way out of this suffering.

I got up, but my weak legs don't allow me to stand.

With that guiding light, a new soul has given birth inside me;

I stumbled and fell down, this pain I have to withstand,

And start crawling toward the only hope I could see.

I began walking slowly placing one step after another,

Without losing sight of that faint glow of light I gained.

Thankfully that graceful speck is growing bigger and bigger,

I ran as fast as I could to escape but I fell down again.

On the way, my mind reminds me of everyone I abandoned,

But I cannot lose focus on my goal of begging for mercy; 

Because now I must endure for my sins to be forsaken.

I am going to make it; it’s not too far and I will be free!

As I see the rays at my feet erasing my disgrace.

Since I am about to enter that enlightening space,

My eyes are dazzling jubilantly with confidence,

Making me wear a beaming smile of benevolence.

The glimmering spot is now a giant ball of glow;

My eyes are pierced by its first rays of light.

I shut them hard out of pain I must undergo,

As I haven't seen such a blessing on me so bright.

At last, I am out and into the lamp I stepped in;

It wasn't a surprise to see the burning of my dead skin.

"I am finally free!" I shouted with great relief,

Seeing my teardrops at my feet was hard to believe.

Now that I have realized the reasons for my incineration,

The unwavering dot was the only thing that offered salvation.

This light has now made me follow the path of self-righteousness,

To work for well being of all mankind begging forgiveness.