Interpreting trauma through verse

In 1949, the German philosopher and social theorist wrote, “to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” He questioned how poetry could serve to interpret and find meaning in the deep suffering and cultural trauma that followed the Holocaust.

However, in 1965, Holocaust survivor Charlotte Delbo created a powerful trilogy, Auschwitz and After, which includes None of Us Will Return — regarded as an essential poetic testament of life and death in the camps. Lawrence Langer, a notable Holocaust scholar, describes Delbo’s poetry as a “classic of Holocaust literature.”

Throughout history, poetry has often been used to interpret and understand traumatic experiences. As an educator and #MeToo scholar whose work focuses on the 1947 Partition and the representation of gendered violence in India’s popular culture, I frequently incorporate Delbo’s poetry into my freshman classes to demonstrate poetry’s power to heal and foster a sense of community.

Silencing female survivors

Delbo’s example is an important one — as a woman and survivor, she published a series of poetic memoirs when there was pushback against writing about her experience during the Holocaust; and she is also among the few classical author-poets from Holocaust literature. 

I worked on #MeTooIndia for years and learned that victim-survivors of trauma are often subject to silencing, ostracization, and erasure for speaking up against the perpetrators. Women in South Asia continue to face erasure of their voices due to shame, izzat (honor), and patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes that prevent them from expressing themselves.

It is no surprise that before Lopamudra Basu and Feroza Jussawalla’s work on Sing, Slivered Tongue: An Anthology of South Asian Women’s Poetry of Trauma in English, few poetry collections existed that explored contemporary women’s voices so powerfully.

Giving women a voice

As a scholar who works on the Partition and the representation of gendered violence in popular culture and in the 1947 Partition Archive, memoirs are scarce; very few women’s accounts exist of what happened during that cataclysmic time.

Hence, Basu and Jussawalla’s poetry anthology is significant for giving voice to women who are often silent or silenced about their traumatic experiences. Their collection explores issues like rape, divorce, separation, the pandemic, and political marginalization. It highlights how women’s voices are perceived in our society. Whether in South Asia or the diaspora, women are often confined to stereotypical gender roles, and their anger or frustration toward social, political, and cultural issues is frequently dismissed as hysteria or needs to fit the archetype of nurturers and caregivers.

Historically and culturally, women are often silenced or blamed for experiences like rape, sexual violence, divorce, or separation. So it’s no surprise that many major publications overlooked the opportunity to publish this timely and powerful collection. Kudos to Yoda Press, an independent feminist and queer Indian publisher, for releasing this anthology focusing on non-mainstream, alternative titles often ignored by larger publishers. 

This collection is one of the first to include nuanced voices of South Asian poets from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the diaspora, offering snapshots of their experiences. 

Healing Through Poetry 

Robert Carroll, a poetry therapist and psychiatrist at UCLA, writes in ‘Finding the Words To Say It: The Healing Power of Poetry’, “In the United States, many people are scared of poetry. They have had bad experiences with it in school. People often believe that poetry is difficult or inaccessible or not relevant to them.”

His article states that poetry is a natural form of healing because it offers a soothing experience and brings relief, especially in times of extremity. Carroll shares that after the September 11 attacks in 2001, a New York Times article described how people found consolation through poetry in unimaginable ways.

Carroll writes that poetry allows subjects to discuss taboo topics such as death and dying. As a poetry therapist, he uses poetry and voice to help people access the wisdom they already possess but cannot find in ordinary language.

Carroll’s argument offers insight into how, in South Asian communities, talking about difficult topics or even seeking therapy is often stigmatized because talking about mental health and trauma is perceived as weak in South Asian cultures. 

A nuanced take on trauma

In their introduction, Basu and Jussawalla write, “This is not a collection of poems that solely focus on the pain of trauma but is meant to show how women adapt to and prevail over trauma.”

Often, when traumatic events are discussed or written about, there’s a tendency to sensationalize them, emphasizing the perpetrator more than the victim-survivor and their story. More often than not, stories do not explore the aftermath of the trauma itself.

This collection provides a complex, nuanced view of trauma; more than sixty female poets demonstrate how poetry can be a powerful tool for processing traumatic experiences. 

Usha Akella’s “Naming” stands out as a tribute to the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape survivor, with an unforgettable stanza that reads:

“women as petroleum, she the wick/ keeping the flame burning”

Soniah Kamal’s poem, “Dear Desi Mothers,” is an impactful piece that uses repetition to highlight the quirks of a mother-daughter relationship. I love the line,

“Stop emotionally blackmailing your daughters.
Stop manipulating your daughters/Into getting married to anyone at all.”

Seetha Lakkshmi’s “To Grow Up As Closeted Dalit Queer in India’s Metropolitan City” reflects the range of South Asian women’s experiences captured in this poetry collection. And Shyamasri Maji writes about her pandemic experience in a poem aptly titled “The Home-Going Bus In The Time of COVID-19,” drawing attention to the intersectional inequities that existed in India at that time. 

Read this collection

If you love poetry, this collection is essential reading. While many well-known South Asian poets like Rupi Kaur are popular on Instagram, this anthology demonstrates that poetry is universally accessible — anyone can pick up a pen and write inspired verses.