My Voice

The changes that are taking place in every aspect of life are so rapid that it is not easy to feel or comprehend them. Language and literature are the worst affected areas in this respect. The amusing thing is that it is not easy to sense the changes in these areas. Before these changes come to us as emotional shock, we need to do a rethinking.

We all accept that a literary creation can be more effective if it appeals to more than one sense organ. For example, the language of a film is understood more easily than the language in a book. In films which demand the service of the senses of sight, hearing and feeling, our language and expression becomes multi-dimensional. I feel if we include all of these faculties in our languages and literature, we can win back the glory of the written word.

There is no doubt that web journals and web books are ideal for this purpose as this medium calls into service more than one faculty. And in the future this will give a bigger canvas for languages and literature. A number of web journals are entering the scene every other day and I feel this change will transform the mode of learning of languages and literature. Certainly Kritya is serving literature in this form regularly and very soon will complete a year in this direction.

For this issue we got paintings from N Marion Hage, who is a poet/artist/writer who lives in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the United States. He is involved in ‘Compassion Acts,’ and is a member of ‘Friends for Peace.’ He also does inspirational speaking and writes for ‘Westsider Magazine’. When asked about his art, Mr. Hage said, “There is one thing more enjoyable than creating, and that is sharing what you have made with others. I have always been a people person, and love to make others smile, and touch people’s hearts. If my art can accomplish that, then I have succeeded in life. As far as art goes, I like vivid colors. I do abstracts because I am not very good at creating much else. With words, I also like to paint pictures, and write things that will cause others to think. Art feeds the soul of the artist and those who enjoy what he creates.”

I hope and wish that Kritya’s readers will enjoy his colours in the poetry pages.

The sketches in Kritya are very meaningful. These were sent by a young poet, artist and a regular reader of Kritya, who is joining our Hindi section as a member of the editorial board. Ajeya who lives in a place covered with ice most of the time, can bring us so much meaning in the form of sketches. We hope and wish for more artistic expressions from Ajeya.

This time we got some beautiful paintings from Bonni Reid, who is a wonderful artist, can be reached at 109-1230 Haro St Vancouver, BC 604 685-4305. Her web site is http://homepage.mac.com/bonni_reid/

I hope that this artistic change will add more interest for Kritya’s readers.
The Editor’s Choice this time is Mani Rao, a very powerful voice in contemporary poetry. Her poems are punctuated by the depth of thoughts and tenderness of imagination. She has a particular vision of poetry; I hope Kritya’s readers will relish her poetry with inner joy.

In the section “Our Masters” we have taken the Japanese poems selected by our young poetess Soufi Mosafavi. She is not new to readers of Kritya as they have read her poems in Kritya-3. The important thing is that the paintings for this page have been made by Soufy herself, which shows her perfection in painting too. In the section “In The Name Of Poetry” we will be reading an article written by Annie Finch, “Technology and Inspiration: Introduction to a Poet's Craft,” which will certainly be very interesting and informative. As usual we have a good selection of poems in the section- “Poetry in Our Time” which will be a sumptuous feast in poetry.

Dear readers, very soon we are going to complete one year, as this is the tenth issue, and I personally feel that Kritya has progressed this far because of the love you have showered on her.

With best wishes to all readers

Rati Saxena