My Voice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With immense joy and excitement we bring to you the June Issue of Kritya. For years Rati Saxena has kept the journal alive with her unabiding enthusiasm and love for poetry. Mary Oliver wrote “Poetry isn’t a profession, it’s a way of life. It’s an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that”. The diverse range of poetic voices in the current issue carry with equal force and intensity the burden and gift of life. Their poems not only breathe in and out with unease, uncertainty but also display remarkable self-control. Poet Yang Jijun from China writes in his poem “The Chimney” about this uncertainty “We’re on the road towards death/ever since our birth,/ putting on airs…” And poet Bengt Berg from Sweden in his “Winter Poems” talks of “the simple sadness of winter”. Edina Barna with a delicate poignancy asks” Who will take care / of my wounds,/ when the sun is going to sleep?” Translation of Classical Tamil poetry Kuruntokai by A.V. Subramanian brings out the essence of love in all its hues. We also offer poems of Juan C. Tejes from Uruguay- Holland and a Moroccan poet and artist Mohammad Hajji Mohamad. Poets write and recreate landscapes of desire and dreams. They speak of the incorrigible pain and the pleasures of love, longing and living. They are voices from disparate lands, but collectively they strive to bring all under one umbrella of loving and giving. Translating poetry is an act of giving with fidelity and I hope these poems are able to carry the words, images and tone with responsibility. Readers are invited to listen to these voices.

Ranu Uniyal

Dr Ranu Uniyal
Professor
Department of English and Modern European Languages
Former Head (2019-2022)
Director, Institute of Women Studies, University of Lucknow (2015-2016)
Commonwealth Scholar, University of Hull, Kingston Upon Hull, UK (1988-1992)
Board Member PYSSUM A centre for people with Special Needs (since 2005). pyssum.org
University of Lucknow
Lucknow, UP, India – 226007