VALENTINA NOVKOVIĆ

 

The Magic Of Pain

 

We once loved each other around a fire

at the time of the full moon when sorcerers

changed teeth for grass what

they can whisper. That love cost us

habitats and now from the end to

the end of the world we go,

throwing dice on odd days.

 

We once loved each other while the wind was blowing

carried away happiness from paneled windows

behind which the children quarreled over the cake.

Now we pretend to be dumb when the sky asks us:

on which side of the world you have sold hearts

for a handful of fair spells?

 

We once loved each other on the tops

three-headed mountains into which no one

does not go away while spells about winged pain

do not learn. That is why we are pretending to be blind now

in front of what would us

in the abyss could summon.

The abysses of re-love.

 

Subscription To Love

 

If I have to lose you, so be it

on market day when traders

successful fog sales to ours

always hungry for desires.

Let it be late autumn, with a swarm

anxious wasps on each grain of grapes with sweetness

fed, so that unrest flows into eddies

as painters will never be able to do,

no matter how many palettes and colors they have.

 

Let it be

a short kiss of pain in the park across the street

in the morning that could smell on us. I will wear red that day

put on shoes with ribbons instead of decorations;

let my hair down to release all the elves from it

and some demon that still whispers:

„You subscribed to solitude the day when

 hastily said that there is no hug that would save you

warmed up.“

 

Poor

 

The crows blew up the remains of the burrito

some hazel eyes.

Rice, red beans, chunks

meat with avocado sauce...

How many extras are needed

to call water and flour differently?

Weakness this morning

the church doors were kissed.

The poor stand before the altar

they smile with their hearts.

 

VALENTINA NOVKOVIĆ

 

VALENTINA NOVKOVIĆ (Serbia), graduate philologist, poet, prose writer, literary translator. Editor in a publishing house. Published four book of poems (Timeless 2014, Drop by drop 2018, Riddles of Tenderness, 2020,Poems to the Heaven, 2022, which won the first prize at the Fifth Drina Literary Meeting) and one prose book (Two hours from reality, 2020), Winner of many awards for poetry and prose as well as for translations. The book of stories by the famous writer and translator Rahim Karimov, "Stories for youbg people" Alma, 2019, which she translated into Serbian, received the award for the best translated prose book in 2019 by Literary Translators. Her verses have been translated into 16 world languages, and the book Odgonetke nežnosti was translated into Romanian in 2022 (Leo Butnaru translator, Timpul publisher.) She has translated individual stories and poems of more than 300 authors into Serbian, interviewed all important creators around the world and interviews were published in more widely read newspapers or magazines for culture and art. Member of the Association of Writers of Serbia and Kazakhstan, the Serbian Literary Association, and many associations in the world. Editor and host of the forum "Literary Conversations".