Overthereness
Anyway
I didn’t want to
wake you
we've said our
goodbyes so many times
I just took off
my shadow
and spread it on
the bed like a bridal veil
don't be
surprised if you see it
hand-in-hand
with yours
afterwards
unflinching
darkness
embraced me
its lightness
now mine too
from here I can
see what I have left behind
for the first
and perhaps the last time
everything is so
clear
as if sung by my
mother
and ordered
in the manner of
my dad's starched handkerchiefs
and modest
like my
brother's smile
Recognizing
familiar things
at this moment
makes tolerable
the transition
to the antithesis
of all the
hesitations
that had
consumed me
like underground
water
of all the
questions
Delta
Obituaries on
trees
like autumn
leaves
the wind plucks
them
one by one
and blows them
away
children run
after the leaves
jump to catch
them
in paper boats
death sails down
the river
it will meet
itself
in the big water
brimming with
life
EMILIJA TODOROVA
EMILIJA TODOROVA is a Macedonian
Australian writer. Born in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1989 she migrated to Australia
where she has held various executive managerial and leadership positions.
Emilija started writing and freelancing while still living in her homeland. She
was a regular contributor to a couple of newspapers, as well as the Third
Programme of Radio Skopje and was one of the founders and Deputy Editor of a
youth magazine for popular science. Emilija has won numerous awards in
Macedonia, former Yugoslavia and Australia for poetry written in the Macedonian
language, as well as awards in Australia, the United States and Italy for
poetry and other literary forms in English. For her collection of poems Gravity
Emilija received the 2022 Stojan Hristov Award for best poetry book by an expat
at one of the world’s largest and most reputable international poetry festivals
- Struga Poetry Evenings. In the same year she was a runner-up in the
prestigious Nova Makedonija short story writing competition. Her poems have
been published in literary magazines and periodicals, and her work included in
several anthologies, almanacs and poetry selections. Emilija translates from
English, Macedonian, Serbian and Bulgarian. For exceptional achievements in her
career she has been awarded, among others, the Australian Public Service Medal
and a medal for advancing multicultural Australia.
Hermoso
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