Something Missing From This World

Ten years have passed since the 73rd genocide of the Yazidis, who have faced ongoing persecution, displacement and ethnic cleansing from their ancestral lands in the Kurdish regions. In wake of this new genocidal violence, new poetic voices have emerged in university campuses and IDP camps along the borders of Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. With globalizing forces compounding the erasure of their culture and traditions, the Yazidi poets in this multilingual anthology firmly stand their ground, their art a testament to Yazidi resistance and presence.

The poetic tradition of the Yazidis has historically preserved and documented instances of their traditions, dispossessions and erasures. This anthology joins in this chorus; it is its own act of witnessing to recount the 2014 genocide for future generations. It is also a documenting of their dreams, hopes, trials of the poets and their families, community-making practices as shown by how the editors and poets found each other and came together.  

Translated from both Arabic and Kurmanji, the poets in this anthology affirm that they, indeed, will not let Yazidi voices be missed from this world.