ZLATAN DEMIROVIC INTERVIEW

 

NILAVRONILL TALKING WITH

POET OF THE MONTH

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC

AUGUST 2023

 

NILAVRONILL: Welcome to Our Poetry Archive, dear poet. And congratulations as the poet of this month. I would like to know your personal views on literature or poetry in general.

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Literature is indivisible part of civilised life; without it we wouldn’t be able to step back in time and learn about history on Earth before us. It is also a part of our personal life from the time we’re born. Even our life is nothing, but the story written ahead. We are just re-writers, in the field of our recreation. Successful writers are helping others to wake up from the illusion of material existence, opening the path of inspiration in trying to find some higher life purpose.

NILAVRONILL: What are the factors that have influenced you immensely in the growing phase of your literary life. When, most probably you were not certain of your future as a poet or writer. Do you think society as a whole is the key factor in shaping up you as a poet, or your poetry altogether?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: I started playing the guitar and writing my first songs and lyrics as a very young boy, 6 years old. Since then, till now, my whole life has been a journey of experiencing the unknown based on inspiration. Turning back in time, I would mark the first factor, or significant circumstance that has influenced the growing phase of my literary life. I was a student, 19 years of age, as I got a part-time job in a publishing house. I was surrounded by books, feeling like a fish in water. Meeting with new topics like, Master and Margarita, The Magic Mountain, Siddhartha, Demian, Stepenwolf, The Alchemist, 1984, Solaris, and many others…It was my first break through… But the serious life situation which pushed me in long term process of writing was the war in my country. My exodus of seeking for refuge was hand in hand with my definite orientation on writing novels. It made me different, something like growing up overnight. 

 

NILAVRONILL: Is there anyone in your life, influenced you personally to develop your literary skills? Or inspire you to become a poet?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Absolutely, there are many writers, poets, also great songwriters, who influenced me. When it comes to prose, Russian writers Bulgakov and Gogol, made a big impact on my style, combining realism fiction and satire… You’ll probably be glad to hear about Rabindranath Tagore as one who deeply influenced me in the field of poetry and philosophy.

NILAVRONILL: Do you consider your literary life as an extension of your self-existence? If so, how it is related with the time around you?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: In my case, existence and time are very sensitive phenomena. My literary life couldn’t be extension, but only the essence, purpose and aim of my existence. The spiritual aspect of material existence is leading light on downward endless spiral journey in unknown. Time exists only as a continuum of infinite now. It is inseparable, unmovable, we are those who travel on journey of atomic molecular transformation into nonmaterial dimension in only one and stabile NOW. 

NILAVRONILL: According to you, what are the conditions to develop the creative soul of a poet in general?  We would like to know from your personal experiences.

 

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: The soul is creative itself, or it’s conditioned to keep the essence of creativity in this material world in general. So, it is a lighthouse that illuminates the highest values of living. The one who carefully listens and articulates all what has heard from his soul, could be called poet. Personally, I see creativity as the most valuable attribute of existence of all. 

NILAVRONILL: Do you think in this age of information and technology the dimensions of literature have been largely extended beyond our preconceived ideas about literature in general?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: If you consider dimensions of literature as a quantitative category, we can hypothesize that today we have hundred times more writers than 100 years back, or we are able to write (type and print) one book hundred times faster, using computer technology. On the other side, technology, or artificial intelligence can slow down our pure essence in soul connection.  It distances us from reading books by hiring us to digest data instead, also, we are losing a lot of time and energy on troubleshooting or improving and updating new technical skills. The speed of the creative process does not necessary guaranty a quality of creative work. Quantity doesn’t correlate with quality.

NILAVRONILL: As a poet, do socio-economy and politics in general influence your literary visions? If so how, and if not, why?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Poets, writers, or philosophers reflect a current social economic and political situation in the mirror of their creative works.  Primarily, in the “primitive” tribal community, their task was to show how to live in the best harmony with nature, to help in finding some solutions for survival, trying to explain all the mysteries of life and the Universe.  In the modern age, it has become the opposite, a reversal process of bringing us back to our lost connection with Nature, not only in the way of living, but in the field of alienated science. Poetry is always the first who doesn’t know border in shaping a trajectory for any fundamental change. As a poet, I am highly influenced by the socio-economic impact on people’s lives. The less we have political power, or economic tools, the more we are profiled to create a virtual solution for a change.

NILAVRONILL: Do you consider, your national identity as an important factor to influence your literary creativity? Is your national identity an incentive for you to find your own literary voice?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Absolutely. It is our core, traditional heritage, without it, any soul-connection wouldn’t be possible. Our collective consciousness echoes through each of our words, reflecting memories of accumulated feelings as intuitive knowledge. National identity defines our style, sense of humor, love for truth, craving for freedom, the fight for the preservation of customs etc. As a refugee from my country and culture, I had to rebuild my inner fundamental core life library, creating a parallel network of multilingual emotional connections and brain plasticity, which ultimately helped me in new, different perception of the world.

NILAVRONILL: In between tradition and modernism, which one influence you most and why?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Modernism attracts, initiates, and determines my creative activity. It is understandable process of striving for progress and new forms of expression and promotion. Tradition is something that always brings us back “down to the ground” reminding us how things should be, or, even more, indicating where a change in values ​​should occur.

NILAVRONILL: Do you think honest literary criticism has much to do with the development of a poet and the true understanding of his or her poetry?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Criticism helps us in reconsidering our self-esteem, or pinpointing some areas for change, even provokes numbness of comfort to wake up from being caressed with hymns. In my case, criticism has nothing to do with determination of using clear power of inspiration and synchronicity, which is above any realm of critical observations.

NILAVRONILL: I would like to know, whether your contemporaries inspire your writings in any way.

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Very much. Many of them helped me to make sure that what I do is exactly what I must do. It helps me to strengthen my tools and open new fields of interest for the unseen. More so, I don’t have a problem of comparison in terms of confidence, as I’m firmly on my way. The art is innovation, uniqueness, and there’s nothing to compete with, but only yourself. As a publisher, I use to share manuscripts, translations with various authors around the world. I’m fortunate that I have some close friends, top poets, whom I can treat as my personal English language editing advisors, or sometimes even co-creators.

NILAVRONILL: Do you believe, literature can eventually help people to uplift human conscience?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: Historically, literature plays the main role in raising consciousness. It is above all big political or social changes. Without literature and philosophy, society wouldn’t make any move from old forgotten tribal and shamanic way of life organization. I call it esoteric literary-philosophic civilizational movement. Basically, each great book is directly involved and reflects in raising a global consciousness. 

NILAVRONILL: Humanity has suffered immensely in the past, and is still suffering around the world. We all know it well. As a poet or even as a literary person, how do you foresee the future of mankind?

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: As a literary person, I would say it like this: As we can see, all big happenings throughout history look like and are like each other. Official history and science don’t offer any explanation for that. So, who other than the writer is there to offer solutions. The history of civilization is not something that can go spontaneously. It must be some scenario for that, and some “authors” or “directors “somewhere behind the scenes”.  In literature we recognize different genres, like drama, melodrama, or tragedy. We can just speculate what kind of scenario we are part of. All these happenings are ruled by a narrow group of people, or minds, from the shade. Our thoughts are not even ours. We just think that we are thinking beings, like ego related subjects, but our brains are only relays processing messages from infinite higher intelligence, or some middle force which could appear between. Btw, the whole Universe is composed of electromagnetic particles of light. All around us is thinking think, which, as invisible substance permeates the infinite space in constant unmovable NOW. Tesla called it Ether. In Nature, everything is happening in cycles, based on Universal laws. The future of the world directly relies on Cosmic Cycles of energy.  Before us, there were civilizations which totally disappeared, thanks to those cyclical processes. Regarding the actual situation, we are sinking fast to a similar end. It looks like a kind of big “natural reset “of civilization, which wouldn’t be the first nor the last one in history. That’s why we know very little about ancient civilizations on Earth. I am afraid that after the incoming Natural Cycle of Earth-Cleansing, the possible new future generations will also know very little about us...

NILAVRONILL: We are almost at the end of the interview. I remain obliged to you for your participation. Now, personally I would like to know your honest opinion about Our Poetry Archive. Since April 2015 we are publishing and archiving contemporary world poetry each and every month. Thank you for sharing your views and spending much time with us.

ZLATAN DEMIROVIC: I was privileged to be present in OPA already several times before, thank you for that. So, I paid attention to each of your releases, and, out of my own professional curiosity, evaluating the quality. I’m really impressed with the high technical level of presentation, very professional approach, consistency, perseverance in improvement, and will highlight the sense of maintaining a good relationship with the authors. All in all, CONGRATULATIONS.

ZLATAN DEMIROVIĆ Bilingual book writer, novelist, critic, internationally acknowledged poet, and trilingual translator (English, Czech, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbin languages). * The founder of PRODIGY LIFE ACADEMY and author of the PRODIGY LIFE PROGRAM, which serves as a platform for spiritual and personal development. * Founder and Editor in Chief of PRODIGY PUBLISHED-USA * Founder and Editor of PRODIGY MAGAZINE-USA Translated into: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Hindu, Bengal, BCS (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian), Albanian, Dutch, Hausa Nigerian, Arabic, Aleut (Alaska), Pakistan, Bahasa-Indonesia, Kurdish, Persian, Azerbaijan, Tajik, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hebrew, Punjabi, Slovenian, Czech, Slovak, Tamil, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Nepali, Assam, Vietnamese and more, on the way.