GORDANA KARAKASHEVSKA

 

 

Step By Step

 

When the road feels long

and your breath grows thin,

do not rush ahead—

begin where you are within.

Step by step,

breath by breath,

the quiet way through life

is never less.

When the sea rises high

and pulls at your name,

do not resist the current—

it knows your frame.

Slowly, slowly,

you learn to remain

without losing yourself

to the depth of the strain.

When the night feels endless

and the stars seem gone,

do not doubt their presence—

they were there all along.

Again and again,

they return to their place,

like a hidden rhythm

you begin to embrace.

Destiny does not shout,

it does not demand,

it moves like a tide

you cannot command.

It meets you in silence,

in pauses, in rest,

in moments you choose

to trust what is best.

So step by step,

and breath by breath,

you are not falling behind—

you are moving as meant.

And slowly you see,

without needing to prove,

that the path you are on

is the one you must move.

 

Paper Returns

Spring used to mean arrival.

Now it means my father

at the same worn table,

folding what time has left behind.

He cuts the air into shapes,

soft and precise,

as if memory itself

could be redesigned.

Paper birds gather quietly,

not asking to stay,

not resisting the wind

that takes them away.

The window is open—

the world moves in and out.

Nothing holds still long enough

to remove all doubt.

He speaks of a river

that carries without name,

where everything passes through

yet stays the same.

I speak of distances

that never belonged to me,

of moments that felt close

but refused to be.

Some birds return altered,

creased beyond repair,

holding fragments of stories

they once carried somewhere.

One lands near my hand—

my name, slightly changed,

as if even identity

can be rearranged.

Another drifts lower,

a version I once knew,

before the choices I made

became something I grew into.

We do not follow paths—

we recognize them late,

as patterns that repeat

without asking fate.

Destiny is not distant,

nor fixed in design,

it reveals itself slowly

in the turns we align.

Fold by fold,

return by return,

we become what we were

through the lessons we learn.

And in the quiet of this knowing,

without need to explain,

we understand the leaving

was also a way to remain.

 

GORDANA KARAKASHEVSKA

 

GORDANA KARAKASHEVSKA: She is a poet, essayist, writer, artist, photographer. She was born on January 31, 1973 in Pehchevo, Macedonia. She attends primary school in Pehchevo and high school in Skopje in EPU Boris Kiddrich. Since then, she has lived, worked and created in Skopje with the exception of a few years of her life when she lived and worked in Turin, Italy and they will leave a deep mark on her as a creative person and artist. She deals with art and in her free time with photography. She has been writing since she was thirteen years old, when she actively participated in regional competitions in art and literary works. For her, writing is a way of life and art is a universal language. She writes poems and short stories, both in Macedonian. Italian, Serbian and in English. Her poems have been translated into other languages and published in domestic and international online groups, magazines as well as anthologies. She has published the following books: Poetry: "A Broken Poet and Other Poems" (2021), "House of Paper" (2022), “The way of the water” (2024). Prose: "Signor Giordano and Reflections on Doubts, Dilemmas, and Questions and Some Other Small Grains" (stories, 2021), "Undressing in the Year of the Goat" (novel, 2021). She is currently working on her second novel with the working title "The City, the River and the Lake" and hopes that she will be able to publish her books of poetry and short stories next year. She has had several joint and several solo art exhibitions in Turin, Italy and in her hometown. In her free time, she is engaged in photography, visiting exhibitions in galleries, museums and other cultural events, theater, cinema, opera and ballet, in a word she lives for art and art in all its forms. She is a participant in the International Literary Festival, World literature academy Encyclopedia of writers and poets from the whole world 2021 and is represented in the anthology World encyclopedia poets and writers with three short stories. Her poetry has been published in the multilingual international literary magazine for poetry and prose from around the world "ARCHER" (ARCHER) in the April-May 2021 edition of the Association of World Writers (AWW) which is published. On June 6, 2021, he participated in the TEERANDAZ INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF POETRY - an international poetry festival organized by TEERENDAZ, a multilingual literary magazine that hosts Macedonian poets. - On May 15, 2021, the online magazine Academy of the heart and mind published her picture Liguria and her poem Spring. - She is the winner of the first prize at the competition of NIU "MIIC" D.O.O Pancevo, written on the occasion of International Women's Day, March 8, 2021, with two paintings, a painting on canvas, "Where are we going" and "Pregnant Woman". - She had several joint and several solo art exhibitions in Turin, Italy, one solo exhibition in Skopje and one solo exhibition in her hometown. - From March 24 to 27, 2013, she had her first exhibition of black and white photographs at the MKC. With prose and poetry, she is represented in the magazine "Contemporary", in the literary supplements Lik and Kolibri of the daily newspaper "Nova Macedonia", as well as in many electronic editions. From September 30 to October 2, 2022, she participated in the International Poetry Festival in Saranda, Albania. She is a participant in the jubilee edition of 60 years of Racino meetings in Veles, North Macedonia in June 2023. Guest at the 13th International Poetry Festival Poetic Syntheses 2024 Bitila, North Macedonia. Guest at the 61st Racino meetings, Veles, June 2024. She is the winner of the GALAXY International Award for unpublished poetry for 2021 - "Premio Internazionale per la Galaxia della poesia inedita" 2021 (secione una poesia in lingua Spagnola - menzione d'onore per Gordana Karakashevska -"Domani") honorary award for the song "Tomorrow " in Chile on May 29, 2021. - She is the winner of the Recognition for winning the third prize for the short story "Debutante" at the award contest for a short story announced on the occasion of World Book Day November 2022 by the House of Culture "Ilinden" Demir Hisar.- She is the winner of the Commendation Award for the short story "For Health and Joy" at the third literary competition for a short story "Telling a Photo 2022" of the Fund of the Holocaust of the Jews of Macedonia.- She is the winner of the Poetry Contest of the third edition of the Poetry Race 2023 with the poem "My race".- At the first competition for best unpublished literary work, announced by the Department of Creative Writing at the American University College Skopje in cooperation with the publishing house Ars Lamina, (September 2024) the jury committee unanimously decided second prize to Gordana Karakashevska for the poetry selection “Brshlen”. Some of her poetry has been translated into English, Italian, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Spanish, and Indian languages and has been published in print and online anthologies.