I am Basheer Alhamdani.I am an English language teacher,writer and a poet.I like all kinds of poetry,but I prefer love,war and political poetry.I am from Yemen.The huge and devastating war going on here since seven years has made me write alot of poems about war and its bad consequences.I also write poems about love and political matters in the world.I hope that this amazing platform will make other poets know me and my poetry well.And I am sure that Poets and Writers will be my special window to publish my first poetry book.

I am an emerging/aging transfemale writer based in Salem, MA. Recently, I retired from a 30-year career in educational publishing to refocus on my writing. I am also transitioning, as well as trying to accelerate the emerging and slow down the aging. My poems have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, The Aurorean, Ibbetson Street Press, Italian Americana, Main Street Rag, Pegasus, Pine Island Journal, Poetry Depth Quarterly, U.S. Catholic, Late Knocking, Z Miscellaneous, and Poetpourri. My fiction has appeared in Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Mollyhouse, Once Upon a Crocodile, Sledgehammer Lit, All Worlds Wayfarer, quip literary review, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Fiction on the Web, 96th of October, and The Broadkill Review.

I have been writing short stories for over 60 years with publication of stories in Playboy, Cosmopolitan and Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine 1960 to 1980. I've recently started seriously writing short stories again with publication of 11 stories in magazines including Fabula Argentea and Mystery Magazine. Most of what I have written was published under my pen name, Stan Dryer. To see what I've published, visit my blog at www.standryer.com.

In my writing I am now moving more towards more "literary" writing where I address more serious topics. I'm looking for a group that is seriously interested in the short story as a vehicle to show the guts of human interaction. I do not need encouragement to write. I do need members in the group who are not afraid of solidly criticizing what I write. I would try to provide similar criticism myself. I would hope to see manuscripts that are thoroughly grammar and spelling checked. However, I will comment upon use of grammar and punctuation as I believe that the use of grammar and punctuation should be an integral part of a writer's style. 

In the writing groups I have worked with, I try not to simply correct what I see are problems in the writing but to explain what I see is the problem. 

I am pretty new to writing. I always enjoyed it growing up but never really put any time into it. Once i started commuting to work by train I picked up reading again and made me fall back in love with the writing process. Being an ironworker by trade i have no schooling or training in writing but constantly trying to learn new techniques and skills through youtube and other outlets. I am looking to join a group of writers that I can bounce ideas off of and learn new things. I am also very open to criticism.