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| Sunil Sharma |
Some good news in the stressful times.
This issue brings together a stunning selection of
the 45 of the best voices from the West. In the second edition, specially
curated by the celeb American poet Scott
Thomas Outlar, under the annual column: “Western Voices”, some of the
finest voices writing poetry in these challenging times can be heard speaking
directly to the heart through sincerity and empathy; reassuring, sanguine and
motivating words---the major tasks of great art across the time-space continuum.
No doubt, it is a bleak phase, bordering on the dark.
Things have changed dramatically over the last four months and affected all of us.
Borders are closed. Traffic is zero.
Offices are shut. Danger is real. A virus has wreaked havoc on the economies of
an integrated and interdependent world. As the shadow of the pestilence and death
continues to loom large over the nations, infections rise alarmingly, the
overall mood tends to grow pessimistic. Desperation is widespread. With no vaccine
discovered so far, the race of the homo-sapiens lives under the daily fear of
the invisible virus stalking the streets. Quarantine, self-isolation, plague,
COVID-19, lockdown, social distancing, containment---these words so far
functioning as cold and remote linguistic units have suddenly got a global
currency, immediacy, resonance and connect that is astonishing in terms of the
fast speed of overtaking other entries in the lexicon and the frequency of
usage and quick recognition across the various media and age groups. Limited
but most frequently used and recognized terms evoking dread and doom. Medicine,
disease, death, human will and creativity are all having their own immediacy,
vibrancy and colour, and, these clusters of meanings and practices are
happening simultaneously in the daily conversations everywhere.
Poetry is a powerful mode of reflecting the complexities
of such ugly realities. The angst and hope, survival and belief, in tough
times, are artistically conveyed by poetry. These signatures ably record the meaning
of human condition in most stressful circumstances. You will find these poems
uplifting in their individual tones and contours.
You will also find video poetry link, somewhere
else in this issue, where select poets respond to Corona in a most creative
manner. Grouped under the new section: Prose and Poetry Readings in the Time of
the Pandemic, some of the top-most authors in Hindi and English can be viewed
here, talking of sublime moments that give succor and hope. Hosted by Setu, it
is on the rolling basis.
Another initiative to serve serious art in various
forms to your PC, month after month.
The other regular features are equally enjoyable---general
poetry, prose, book reviews and translations, enough to keep you busy in the
lockdown, and beyond!
We thank guest editor Scott Thomas Outlar and all the featured poets in the special
section for their kind support to the open call, and also, to all the other
patrons of the journal that has registered so far, a whopping number of 1,384,696
page hits so far.
Take care.
Stay safe.
This will also pass.
Best,
Sunil Sharma,Editor, Setu (English)
Mumbai Metro Area, Maharashtra (India)
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