BORCHE PANOV

 

 

Gilgamesh

 

when

with a third of a man

transparent fibre roots

towards the sky I was sprouting

when with bitter fruits

the wisdom of the Earth

with two thirds of love

I was tasting

Oh, Gilgamesh, my brother

even today

I cannot escape your fate

- one third of a man

and two thirds of a yearn

I am

Constantly

 

The Morning Line

 

Every morning a man with a little white dog

goes out in the street

shaded by the graphite pencil of the dream

 

the belt of the awakening pulls the man

and the night unties the dippers of the light

until the baby of the day starts cooing

 

the soft morning light started to snow

on the branches over the roofs and on the horizon

and walks with a light step over the footprints and paws.

 

a man and his little dog in the distance

become a white dot and an echo that comes back

to the pencil whence the morning line untangles

 

Wolf  

 

1.

poetry is just like my little dog

when she is happy, she rears up on her hind legs

and she is howling with a hoarse voice to make me remember

that she used to be a wolf

and me – a cave man

 

2.

poetry has a growling stomach

but she never shows that she is famished

the most important thing for her is

to jump on the empty chair

and to be a part of the family around the dining table

Translated From Macedonian Into English: Daniela Andonovska-Trajkovska

 

BORCHE PANOV

 

BORCHE PANOV was born on September 27, 1961 in Radovish, The Republic of North Macedonia, and 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), “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 - Bulgaria), “Vdah” (2017 – in Slovenian - Slovenia), “Balloon Shaving” (2018 – Serbian - Serbia), “Fotostiheza” (“Photopoesis, 2019 – Bulgarian - Bulgaria), “Blood that Juggles with 80000 Thoughts” (2021 in Croatian - Croatia), “Underground Apple” in Arabic language (UAE, 2021), “Underground Apple” in English language in Netherlands (2021), “Dandelion Cadence” (co-author) 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 more than 40 languages. Panov works as a Counselor for Culture and Education at the municipality of Radovish, and he is also an Art 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), Sahitto Literary Award 2021, and “Predrag Matvejevic” in Croatia for his book “Balloon Shaving”.