Poetry by BIPOC, Women,
Individuals with Disabilities and Non-binary Voices
Guest Editorial by
 |
| Candice Louisa Daquin |
This special issue of
Setu showcases poetry by individuals who identify themselves either as
Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), as women, as individuals with
disabilities or as non-binary voices. Current world demographics reveal that
women are 49.58%, Black people are 7.8 billion, Indigenous people are 6%, 1.3
billion individuals with disability and about 2% of the population in 27
countries identified themselves as non-binary in a 2023 survey. [1]
Obviously, statistics
never paint a whole picture, and likely there are many more than these numbers
who identify as such. Ultimately these groups are not a minority but a
flourishing major part of society but despite this their voices have
historically been marginalized. Hence our enduring efforts toward visibility.
Human nature prevents
some of us from recognizing and accepting the distinctive diversity of others. As
a species we have the potential of generating bias and fear in our brain
synapses, consequently shifting to a “fight-or-flight”[2] mode rather quickly when
encountering ‘difference’. Princeton university researchers, Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov have concluded
that it takes only 1/10 of a second for us to make a judgement about someone
based on optic perceptions.[3]
 |
| Sangeeta Sharma |
The
questions this issue wishes to address include: what attracts the interest of
our poets and provides an impetus for them to express themselves? Are they
addressing bias, injustice, violence, abuse or seeking the lost bonds of
camaraderie, or lamenting over the digressing environmental richness? Do they
yearn for spatial connections with cherished or disliked places or people, or
are they engrossed in imaginary fascinations with non-human species or beyond
in space? Or is magic their main poetic stay?
 |
| Anita Nahal |
Or are
they articulating their personal lives and beauties or challenges therein,
prejudices, and world views towards them or others? Or are they writing poetry
about love, loss, survival, family, parenthood, various “isms”, music, dance,
sports, food, travel, etc.?
Also,
are these poets expressing in realism or surreal terms? What kind of semantics
do they employ? In what forms do they create poetry—free verse, prose, haiku,
ekphrastic, etc.?
Perhaps
none of these themes or styles can be expressed in a vacuum and poetry
outpourings are simply an amalgam of related or unrelated thoughts, feelings,
and expressions.
This
extraordinary issue of Setu is, therefore, exclusive as it’s rare to
have a collection of so many minority voices in one issue…thirty in all! We
have retained the variances of American, British, and other forms of English be
it, to offer a smidgeon of linguistic variety and flavor. We have also
preserved the different grammatical usages because we believe that poetry is a
genre that allows us to experiment more with language than any other writing
medium.
“Although poetry should abide by most traditional
language rules, how a poet chooses to use them is critical. Whether they decide
to follow them or break them, they’re making a statement and conveying a
message with this choice.”[4] It’s that message, loud
and clear, of poetry by BIPOC, women, individuals with disabilities and
non-binary voices that you will find on the pages of this issue. We humans have layered identities within us, lapping
and overlapping just like in British mathematician John Venn’s Diagram, though
unlike his equal circles, our circles can change shapes and sizes depending
upon what is dear to us at a particular moment in time.[5]
We thank all the
contributors for their time and effort in submitting their precious creativity.
Without writers, we wouldn’t have any journals or books!
We also thank Setu,
Sunil Sharma, and Anurag Sharma for their support to the theme and hope they
don’t find any editorial gaffs! We did our best! It’s certainly hats off to us
three, as we worked from different global time zones, effectively employing
Zoom and emails to get our work done quickly and harmoniously. As three women editors for this distinctive Setu
issue, each one of us is unique, and we also represent a multitude of
divergences in our personal and professional styles which gelled extremely
well! In the end, another deep gratitude to our contributors and to
Setu!
[1] Published by Statista Research
Department and 9, J. (2023) Gender Identity Worldwide by country 2021, Statista.
Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1269778/gender-identity-worldwide-country/
[2] In the 1920s American
psychologist, Walter Cannon was the first to write describe the fight-or-flight
concept.
[3]
Wargo, E. (2006) How many seconds to a first
impression? Association for Psychological Science - APS. Available
at:
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/how-many-seconds-to-a-first-impression
[4] writingjournal_xdluy8. (2023, July 30). Do poems
need to follow grammatical rules? - letter review. Letter Review -.
https://letterreview.com/do-poems-need-to-follow-grammatical-rules/#:~:text=Poems%20don’t%20need%20to,a%20message%20with%20this%20choice.
[5] Nahal, A. (2016) Diversity
& Inclusion applied in layers (DIAL) model by dr. Anita Nahal, CDP, Society
for Diversity. Available at:
https://societyfordiversity.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/diversity-inclusion-applied-in-layers-dial-model-by-dr-anita-nahal-cdp/
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