Photography by Taylor Butler

The Birth of Venus 

Spring is a beautiful season that symbolizes beauty of change and growth to a new version of ourselves, I have experienced growth in me with the support of a dear friend who understands the struggles and the darkness we all go through, I’ve understood the power of words and poetry and how it can add value in our daily live therefore I present this poem for the love of beauty, flowers and nature that colors our eyes and add that spirit of freedom in us. 
Hope we all have a beautiful rebirth this spring season.

Amira Hassan

Spring is coming, 

the change of the weather is in my soul. 

I’m reaching closer to you, 

the rhythms of the sun and  

greys of the clouds are on my mind. 

I was in my twenties when I first met you. 

That year was a turning point for me, 

11.11 writing came to birth. 

In august, I was reborn. 

Venus was my alter ego, 

her voice inside of me.

She inspired me to write 

poems from the heart that 

I never knew I could write. 

I kept you in my diaries 

hidden away from the magnificent world. 

My mysterious pleasure in life 

that kept me warm 

on the coldest nights. 

I was reborn 

from that darkness that surrounded my days, 

to see the shining light again. 

Looking up with a hopefulness 

that things will be alright again, 

I had endless creativity bursting to be heard. 

You‘ve listened to my heart,

shared your days with me and talked all day long. 

Your love for classical art and traditions inspired me. 

I love hearing your beautiful voice, 

making me dream of hearing you sing the opera. 

Oh honey,

What a beautiful way to start your day. 

I still hope to feel your hand in my hair, 

on those midnights, 

when you are on my mind and 

I feel closest to you. 

Dreaming of you makes me feel whole. 

Talking to you makes me feel desired. 

The intimacy we had was divine,

the present became my motivation 

to be a better person for you. 

Talking about my past was so bewildering for me, 

but you made me feel comforted and reassured. 

Being with you is like exploring the seasons. 

I feel I’m in a wild twilight meadow, 

surrounded by orchards and flowers on a midsummer day. 

I discovered new sides of friendship with you 

You are as savory as an apricot freshly picked from the tree, 

the gentleness in your voice comforts me, 

the kindness of your soul fascinates me. 

The fire and drive in you became my value and 

you’ve created an aesthetic as beautiful as your soul.

To me, you are rain, books and coffee.

When I hear your voice, I fall in dreams. 

Remember you are the sun, 

I believe in us and always will be 

I will always love you.

Amira Hassan is a passionate poet working as an editor with the Uncoiled magazine. She discovered writing in her early years when she received her first diary as a gift, she continues to write down her thoughts and dreams in self-healing methods on her Instagram page. Her way of being is to become a legend that inspires generations to come with her words of wisdom, romantic poetry, and creative content. Amira believes in discovering the soul, exploring human desires, and reaching more for self-expression of freedom as a way of life. her collection of poems ” Letters from the Heart” are published on the uncoiled magazine website, you can read them here.

Short Bio of Amira

Taylor is a budding photographer from Australia, currently based in Edinburgh. Her work aims to capture the beauty of life around her and turning it into everlasting moments of time.

About Taylor

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Amira Hassan – Instagram

Taylor Butler – Website

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

Inspired by her life and emotions, Matilde Milano creates what she calls “Visions”, usually figurative scenes characterized by a key component: the silence – places and people appear surrounded by a quiet atmosphere.
The main focus of her art is to convey and share her feelings, using a metaphorical and often poetic language. This originates from the need to tell her experiences, even though in guarded and allusive ways, giving birth to cryptic images.
Most of her work is heavily influenced by symbolism and by the natural world, both always present in her creations.

Untitled by Matilde Milano

Flicker

“Flicker” is about a relationship where I was giving more than they were, especially at the expense of myself. It’s about choosing myself even when it hurts.

Anna Samson

The light flickers once
I can’t do this.
It flickers twice
I’m gonna be sick.
It flickers three times
I don’t love you anymore.
The lights fade to black.
I can feel you watching me in the dark,
trying to understand where it all went wrong.
I’m grateful you can’t see me right now
or you’d see how much this is hurting me too.
We were supposed to be forever
but I can’t keep tending our candle,
while my flame blows out.

Matilde Milano is an artist based in Turin, Italy.
She graduated at the “Renato Cottini” art high school and thereafter she studied for her painting bachelor at the Accademia Albertina of Turin, where she discussed her final dissertation on March 2023. She also attended the “Faculdade de Belas Artes” of Lisbon (Portugal) for one year (2021/2022), as part of the Erasmus+ project. She took part in a few collective exhibitions in Italy, like “I colori delle emozioni” (at La Certosa, Collegno, Turin), “Works 1” (Cooperativa di Consumo e Mutua Assistenza Borgo Po e Decoratori, Turin), “L’arte e l’iconografia infantile” (Biblioteca
“Passerin d’Entrèves”, Turin) and “HERE” (Cavallerizza Reale, Turin), in Portugal, where she showed her work during “Galerias Abertas das Belas-Artes” (Faculdade de Belas Artes, Lisbon) and “POP UP Belas Artes” (Nada Gallery, Lisbon) and in United Kingdom, with the latest “Canyon” (RuptureXIBIT + Studio, Hampton Wick, London).

About Matilde Milano

Anna Samson (they/she) is a desi, queer, disabled writer, poet, and disability and mental health advocate. Their work has been published in Incite Magazine, Wishbone Words Magazine, McMaster Unspoken, and Project Wellness Magazine. They live near Toronto, Canada and spend most of their time reading, writing or hanging out with their pets.

About Anna Samson

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Anna Samson – Instagram

Matilde Milano – Instagram

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

Moving particles, almost silently seeking their unstable place in the scene, in a slight movement or in a gust of air. Bringing distinct sounds, in the midst of an immense silence that permeates them.

Let’s Float by Shee Gomes

Burn it Softly

The two poems I’m submitting came after a long hibernation. They are separate, but entwined, coming from a rebirth of my writing practice. It was quite something to find that spark again. Before them I’d just write things down and forget what they are. After a while, something shifted—I was compelled again to come back and find truth in them. To make them poetry again. That perseverance and evolution has kept me warm through the winter. I hope the reader feels it too, or at the very least, finds something they need.

Ananta Prayitno

Reclaimed by the sea 
I dream in saltwater
and wanton kelp.

Is it Janet or is it Darren?
Is it down by Nehalem,
throwing rocks into a small pile
to make up for not knowing? 

Is it ritual trains looping 
through the city middle like passing tide
between bookcases,
between rocking horses, 
between sitting next to someone 
who’s wearing my shoes?

There I go again,
staring quiet into the solemn how
so I can digest it more and more.

In Kembang I give myself a single rose
and burn it softly,
before passing out to Gareth's voice.

Here’s how I used to repeat it 
as if I was really sure:

I will stand in Sutro surreality
and fall into the waves so hard 
my bones shatter.

Then just like that 
all my morbid thoughts exclude.

About the Artists

Ananta Prayitno is an Indonesian writer imported to Chicago. His work can be found with beautiful days press, Anklebiters Publishing, and Maritan Press, among others. He is @ananter most places and would love to say hi.

Short Bio of Ananta

Sheila Gomes Based in Brazil, with a degree in Digital Design, she began her work in visual arts the same year she graduated from college in 2009. Shee has been showcasing her work in a variety of exhibitions, collaborations and projects, with curated works featuring international books and magazines.
Her work consists of non-objective painting with expressive colors and brushstrokes that seek harmony and a certain sonority in each composition as a way of translating her perceptions of the world. For Shee, art transcends cultures, concepts, ideals and time itself, connecting us with all that we are. Her purpose is to unveil the new, and expand this connection.

Short bio of Sheila

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Ananta Prayitno – Instagram

Sheila Gomes – Instagram

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

My work generally manifests somewhere between dream, memory and mundane reality. Painting remembered coasts from landlocked Berlin, I often aim to seduce both viewer and myself by warmer, more colourful scenes. The pieces I’ve submitted were painted in winter, longing for summer, and preparing for re-emergence in Spring. 

“Abstand on the Feld (Endlich lass es frühlingen)” by Shivani Luithle

Awakening

This piece is the closest words can come to describing the feeling of when you first realize it is spring. It’s the moment when you walk out on your front porch and feel the freedom, peace, and refreshment of the changing seasons. 

Ashley Tripp

I stop. When did it become spring?
I take in a deep breath. Rebirth. Renewal.
For the first time in a long while, the air is fresh and clean.
I can faintly smell the grass blowing in a gentle wind,
not the harsh gusts of winter, but
the soft breezes that play with the strands of my hair.

I know later I will have to detangle them,
but for now I let them roam free.

In the background, I can hear the rustling of the leaves.
Freshly grown, emerged
thanks to the return of the warm air,
the spring rain, and the sun.

I can hear children down the street playing,
taking advantage of one of the first warm days of the year.
They yell back and forth to one another.
Their words are indecipherable as they run around and laugh.
A smile crosses my face as I remember
what it was like to be a kid in spring.

For a moment, all is right in the world.
The air is warm,
the breeze is refreshing,
and the entire earth seems to hum
with hopefulness.
It doesn’t matter what’s going on in my life.

For this one moment, the entire world seems to align
for the sole purpose of bringing me
immeasurable peace and pleasure.
In that moment, I swear
all my problems have solutions.
I feel like a new person,
unburdened by life.

I want to close my eyes, to breathe deeply
and fully immerse myself in this moment.
To forge it into my memory.
To store it up in my heart.
I try to grasp for something solid
to anchor myself in the moment,
something that I can hold onto when life is rough.

I want to remember the coolness of the breeze,
in the heat of the summer
and the warmth of the sun
in the cold of the winter.

But my eyes stay open,
trying to make this moment last as long as possible.
My brain turns like a puzzle,
trying to figure out what exactly brings this peace.
But the organic combination of
sights, sounds, and smells of spring
are indescribable.

Perhaps that’s what makes this moment so special.
What makes it feel like a rebirth, a baptism of renewal.
This moment can’t be held onto.
I can’t take it away for later.
The only thing I can do is to fully live now.
To be present and take it in.

Perhaps that is the true benefit of the rebirth.
It can’t happen forever.
It can’t be held in one place.
I exhale and finally close my eyes.
I make peace with that.
In a way, it makes it more special.

I continue on with life, but a piece of me has changed.
I may forget the moment,
but I don’t forget the feeling.
And like an old friend,
I wait for it every year to come back.

About the Artists

Ashley Tripp is an artist & writer from the rolling hills of Kentucky. She uses her passion for both outlets to share how she sees the world with others, hoping to inspire them. 

Short Bio of Ashley

Shivani Luithle (b. 1992) grew up in Australia, before landing in Berlin as a teenager. Her mother (Australian, born Fijian to family who once left India by boat to become sugar cane farmers in the Pacific) and father (born in German-occupied Poland to Bessarabian Germans who settled shortly by the Black Sea) spoke little of their family history and experience of changing home. After interdisciplinary studies of art in London and Denmark, Shivani now paints from her home studio in Berlin, exploring themes of belonging, identity between cultures, and the climate crisis.

– Short Bio of Shivani

Follow them on Social Media

Ashley Tripp –  Instagram Website

Shivani Luithle – Instagram Website

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

The Sky from a 18th floor project window. 
People often think that when you look out a project window in New York City you won’t see anything beautiful and most of the time you don’t. 
I caught these beautiful skies that left me at a loss for words. 
I’m sharing them with an audience so that they too can see something beautiful out of a project window where you often see so much ugliness. 

The Sky from a 18th floor project window by Magdalena

I hate calling the midwest humble

The two poems I’m submitting came after a long hibernation. They are separate, but entwined, coming from a rebirth of my writing practice. It was quite something to find that spark again. Before them I’d just write things down and forget what they are. After a while, something shifted—I was compelled again to come back and find truth in them. To make them poetry again. That perseverance and evolution has kept me warm through the winter. I hope the reader feels it too, or at the very least, finds something they need.

by Ananta Prayitno

Follow them on Social Media

Ananta Prayitno – Instagram

Magdalena – Instagram

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

This art piece represents a version of mother land holding and hugging the land I grew up in–the feeling of wanting to show people how beautiful and important this piece of land is and wishing people took immediate action to protect this land that is currently being exploited, gentrified, and displaced.

”Rooted Love” by Dulce Maria Lopez Gonzalez

Dulce López is an artists, immigrant from a rural village in México, and a UC Berkeley alumni. She carefully and intentionally develops political and social statements through art and media. She strives to bring awareness to issues affecting historically marginalized communities, mobilize people, support social movements, make art accessible, unite people across borders, and visualize her community’s herstory and identity.

Irina Tall (Novikova) is an artist, graphic artist, illustrator. She graduated from the State Academy of Slavic Cultures with a degree in art, and also has a bachelor’s degree in design.
The first personal exhibition “My soul is like a wild hawk” (2002) was held in the museum of Maxim Bagdanovich. In her works, she raises themes of ecology, in 2005 she devoted a series of works to the Chernobyl disaster, draws on anti-war topics. The first big series she drew was The Red Book, dedicated to rare and endangered species of animals and birds. Writes fairy tales and poems, illustrates short stories. She draws various fantastic creatures: unicorns, animals with human faces, she especially likes the image of a man – a bird – Siren. In 2020, she took part in Poznań Art Week. Her work has been published in magazines: Gupsophila, Harpy Hybrid Review, Little Literary Living Room and others. In 2022, her short story was included in the collection “The 50 Best Short Stories”, and her poem was published in the collection of poetry “The wonders of winter”.

Follow them on Social Media

Irina Tall Novikova – Instagram

Dulce Maria Lopez Gonzalez – Instagram

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

I was recently diagnosed with PCOS and have been having complex feelings about my womb. It’s meant to give life, but it’s defected and might not be able to. There’s a lot of uncertainty there and fear, but hope too. I’m hoping in creating floral wombs I can manifest the possibility of life in my own internal organs.

”Womb Bloom” by Erica Diane

Whir (2022) holds up a mirror between the man-made and natural world by exploring the relationship between fiber art and botanic textures. Needlework has served as a collective outlet for working through trauma for centuries, just as gently observing the organic movement of nature has. Whir invites the audience to soften their gaze and “stop and smell the [flowers]” as the visuals weave together creating their own moving textile, a dance celebrating the meticulous ease and stillness in healing repetition. Through the use of soft images and the historically domestic, feminine, practice of fiber arts, Whir rejects the idea that gentleness and strength are antithetical.

Creative Video by Theadora Nedvins

You can watch the video on this link – Vimeo

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Theadora Nedvins – Instagram

Erica Diane – Instagram Website

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

‘Hackberry Leaf Litter and Tangled Branches“ – Michael Romano

When a tree loses its leaves, they are not lost forever. In fact, those leaves decay so that they can feed the tree again, being reintegrated into its being as it grows the next season. These photos are multiple exposures of trees and the leaves they lost, or really, the leaves they have yet to reclaim. Even as they rot beneath the roots, they are still a part of the tree, and they will be reborn into it as verdant energy again.

– Michael Romano

In Another Life

in another life,  
I would want to be  
a tree,  
as free as I could hope for, 
and take root in the deep unknown.  

in this life, 
I also want to be  
a tree; 
born and reborn from ashes,  
from darkness, 
yet sprouting strongly 
more than I could ever expect and grow high  
above all odd.

“in another life” is inspired by a resilient soul, much like a tree, and its ability to endure hardships, to resuscitate, to continue growing, sprouting, thriving, and rising above all.

– Poet’s Note

‘Hackberry Up and Down“ – Michael Romano

Follow the Artists on Social Media

Michael J. Romano – Instagram / Website

N.T. Anh – Instagram

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.

These Images embody the feeling of stepping into Spring. Seeing the colors of a sunset drift into the night, the sunshine pouring out from the clouds, the flowers blooming once again. The longer days, ample light and warmer temperatures erg me to be outdoors creating art. I hope these images resonate the feeling of joy that only comes with Spring.

– Photography Taylor Butler

“Carn Fadryn”

My poem ‘Carn Fadryn’ is inspired by a small mountain in North Wales. I wrote the poem on a log cabin trip with my family and felt moved by the incredible scenic views around me. The poem ponders upon the subtle changes in nature which completely transform a landscape and your perception of it. The mountain is a fixed moment in nature, reflecting the ever-changing. I want the audience to take away the fleeting moments happening each day and the importance of paying attention.

– Poet’s Note

Clouds kiss the summit
to gently conceal its dimensions.
Idly perched between meadows,
winds and contemplation,
to greet the sunken land in song.
Tinted luminance scurries
over wire and low hedges,
to fall gracefully out of sight.

A halo gifted by the gods
to pierce the grey ripples.
Tremors embrace these brittle hands,
stabbed gently by anguished wind.
Leaves pirouette into shadow,
the branches oblige in succession.
Chittering echoes of timber 
grace the sleeping land. 

As dawn emerges, 
birds waltz upon the open sky.
A landscape uncoiled from darkness,
in the offering of golden pools.
Flowers painted with light,
cohesion scattered like seeds.
I gaze towards a small mountain
that once roamed the ether.  

Follow them on Social Media

Benjamin Parker – Instagram

Taylor Butler – Website

Rebirth – April 2023

Explore works of art and literature from around the world inspired by the beginning of Spring, the changing of the Seasons, and the anticipation we feel after the standstill of winter.