Stories in own voices and poems from outside the mainstream are especially close to my heart. Which is why it was such an honour to be shortlisted for the Heroine's Anthology Global edition poetry prize.
This prize and subsequent collection features poems from women about women. Heroine's Anthology is a series of poetry collections edited by Dr Sarah Nicholson. Each collection has a distinct theme and this particular edition was for global poetry.
I really wanted to feature poems about famous Sri Lankan poets but from behind the keyboard, the best I could do was find translated poems from our near neighbour, India. My poem, pathika, features lines of poetry from three different Indian poets interspersed with an ode to those poets, written by me. It's the first time I have incorporated poetry from other poets and it was fun to use my love of research to write a poem.
You'll notice that I have deliberately not said 'female' poets. To do so implies that the term 'poet', excludes women. And that women poets are somehow unusual or an aberration when in fact, more women write poetry than men. A fact that isn't often reflected in poems featured in journals, prizes awarded or books published. One day the term poet will encompass the whole spectrum of humanity and all will be given a pen to write their own story.
In the meantime, check out this fabulous anthology for some incredible voices, writing their stories into the pages of our shared herstory.