Teesta Review: A
Journal of Poetry, Volume 9, Number 1. May 2026. ISSN: 2581-7094
Editorial
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| Theme: Folklore |
As reductive
as the category – ‘North East’ is, it is also convenient. Not just because the
chicken neck geographically sequesters us away from the mainland but also
because our racial, social and cultural ties are ancient and undeniable – even
with our brother, the recently added eighth, Sikkim who stands like the uvula
always affected as breath moves through neck to find voice. And what are these
ties? An indigeneity, if not of common origin, then at least shared in tenor
and manifest predominantly in the institution of folklore. When I was given the
honour of being the first person from this region to guest edit Teesta Review,
I was excited to showcase poetry and writing from my part of the country, where
creative expression is deeply tied to folklore. For us, ‘folk’ or community is
central to our being and the expressions produced thereof. Not simply in or of
the past, but even today, in the ways proverbs, personal narratives, stories,
jokes, urban legends are generated from and circulate through contemporary
life.
In this
issue, readers will hear the voices poets from the 6 of the 7 sisters and the 8th
brother – unfortunately, there were no submissions from Tripura. And even
within each state – effort has been made to represent different voices,
insiders, outsiders, and those in between. Beyond intra-regional variation I
hope that perusing this curation will offer readers a glimpse of the deep
recesses of our poets’ experiences and imagination. Recesses that challenge
notions of folklore as only oral, or tied to indigeneity or antiquity, offering
instead enough familiarity to confirm its universality and therefore, the ties
that bind us.
Guest Editor
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