BORCHE PANOV

 

BORCHE PANOV

 

Benevolence Hanger

 

it stands like a stripped Christmas tree

with two buns instead of baubles

among the snowflakes

and tells us:

If you have something to give, hang it,

if you don’t have, take it

 

a good man has left what he owned on the street

and I was wondering what should we hang

as an offer for the children of the future

 

Matchstick

 

I have lit a matchstick in the middle of this winter –

a little bauble of warmth that hovers

in front of the Christmas tree in the dark hospital hall.

Lonely hall in the dead of night

and Christmas lights that twinkle like good and bad memories.

Homeless people have found their homes in the waiting room.

Used to sleep with the sleeplessness, they are sitting like patients

that have never got to be examined by the doctor.

How strange it is, this emergency department:

the Christmas tree in the hall twinkles on our faces

and presents to us all that we would rather hide.

For instance, that love is like the misery.

As much as we want to hide it –

we will never be able to make it happen,

just as much as the consciousness –

dragon nest that flashes in our head,

yet it’s not fire like it is in the riddle of my grandmother,

nor is a station at which all those who travel nowhere

are waiting and living,

but they constantly switching their places from which we all depart.

I have lit a matchstick in the middle of this winter.

A little bauble of warmth

that hovers in the middle of the Christmas tree

in the long hospital hall

and the big, silent snowflakes among which I return home…

 

A Tea Like May In December

 

It will start to smell like tea as it is May in December

the children will close their eyes and their mothers will hide again

and the children will seek for them and they will find them again

with such a game only

the love can be found in the house and in the town

decorated with Christmas lights

or unknown, destroyed and smoked by bombs

 

the children

are closing their eyes and counting 

and they don’t want anything from us –

but to smell the scent of a tea steaming from us like May in December

 

Poetry From Borche Panov

Is Translated From Macedonian Into English

By Daniela Andonovska-Trajkovska: 

 

BORCHE PANOV

 

BORCHE PANOV was born on September 27, 1961 in Radovish, The Republic of North Macedonia. He graduated from the ''Sts. Cyril and Methodius'' University of Skopje in Macedonian and South Slavic Languages (1986). He has been a member of the “Macedonian Writers’ Association” since 1998. He has published: a) poetry: “What did Charlie Ch. See from the Back Side of the Screen” (1991), “Cyclone Eye” (1995), “Stop, Charlie” (2002), “Tact” (2006), “The Riddle of Glass” (2008), “Basilica of Writing” (2010), “Mystical Supper” (2012), “Vdah” (The Breathe of Life) (2014), “Human Silences” (2016), “Uhania” (2017), “Shell” (2018), “A Room of my Time Zones” (2021); and several essays and plays: “The Fifth Season of the Year” (2000), “The Doppelgänger Town” (2011), “A Dead-end in the Middle of an Alley” (2002), “Homo Soapiens” (2004), “Catch the Sleep-walker” (2005), “Split by its own Nose” (2006), and “Summertime Cinema” (2007). He has also published poetry books in other languages: “Particles of Hematite” (2016 - in Macedonian and Bulgarian language, published in Bulgaria), “Vdah” (2017 – in Slovenian, published in Slovenia), “Balloon Shaving” (2018 – Serbian, published in Serbia), “Fotostiheza” (“Photopoesis, 2019 – Bulgarian, published in Bulgaria), “Blood that Juggles with 80000 Thoughts” (2021 in Croatian, published in Croatia), “Underground Apple” in Arabic language published in United Arab Emirates in 2021 by Rawashen Publishing House, and “Underground Apple” in English language (translated by Daniela Andonovska-Trajkovska) and published in Netherlands by Demer Press in 2021, “Dandelion Cadence” (co-author) published in India (2021). His poetry was published in a number of anthologies, literary magazines and journals both at home and abroad, and his works are translated into English, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, French, Catalonian, Mongolian, Uzbek, Albanian, Romanian, Polish, Italian, Arabic, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Danish language. Panov works as a Counselor for Culture and Education at the municipality of Radovish, and he is also Arts Coordinator for the “International Karamanov’s Poetry Festival”, held in Radovish annually (the first edition of the festival was in 1967). He has won several literary awards such as: Premio Mondiale "Tulliola- Renato Filippelli" in Italy for his book “Balloon Shaving” (2021), International Award of Excellence "City of Galateo-Antonio De Ferrariis" (Italy, Rome, 2021), Premio "Le Occasioni" in Italy (among 662 participants), and Sahitto Literary Award 2021 (the first awarded among several distinguished and famous authors who have received important literary awards such as Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize).