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| Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy |
EDITOR’S MUSINGS
It’s that time of the year when women poets across the
globe, Setu and I bond over poems that celebrate womanpower!
Out of curiosity, I Googled the meaning of the word
“womanpower” and stumbled upon these interesting meanings and insights:
“the collective strength or potential for work,
activism, etc. of the women in a given group, area, nation, etc.”
In American English,
“1. potential or actual power from the endeavors of
women
the utilization of womanpower during a great national
emergency.
2. the influence exerted by women as a group, esp. in
the work force and in social and political activities.”
During the Covid-19, “womanpower” gained an all-new
dimension when women held their flock and family together with their innate wit
and wisdom, and their ingenuity and patience.
Post-pandemic too, this womanpower has been silently behind the revival
of hope, liberation and renewed activity. It was also a 2-year period when
humanity as a whole and women in particular, were driven increasingly inwards
to accept with equanimity and sensitivity, the many challenges that had been
thrown at them and find solutions with calm and peace.
While the pandemic drove us all into a solitude that
was not of our asking or making, post-pandemic too, this solitude especially
the solitude of the soul has persisted for us womenfolk. While our body and
mind were back at work with vim and vigour, our soul continued to delve deep
within for answers to many questions of revival and survival!
We at Setu, have always believed that women poets not
only add feminine mystique to their worldview, but also invariably apply a new
prism each time to anything that impacts their world!
We, therefore, zeroed in on the unique theme of SOLITUDE
OF SOUL, that we were certain, our select women poets would have
experienced during the pandemic and post-pandemic too, but in a “different”
way, and decided to tap their collective creative energies to unleash their
thought processes and share their unique take on the theme of SOLITUDE OF
SOUL.
For me personally, as the Guest Editor of Setu, March,
2023 Women’s Special Edition, there have been great learnings, as I had the
first-hand experience of reading poems that let me into the soul of the women
poets as they shared their insights on their own SOLITUDE OF SOUL, that
also took me on my own journey within.
Women’s Special Edition Theme: Solitude of Soul 2023
Poetry: Women Poetry: Solitude of Soul 2023: Authors
Congratulations Guest Edigor. PADMAJA, Paddy and thank you for my inclusion in XEGU Mazine April, 2023.
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