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      • Issue XXX February 2020
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  • Collaborations
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      • Sylvia Plath by Dr. Nidhi Mehta >
        • Chapter-1(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-2(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-3(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-4(Sylvia Plath)
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        • Chapter-6(Sylvia Plath)
      • Prose Poems of Tagore by Dr. Bina Biswas >
        • Chapter-1(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-2(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-3(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-4(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-5(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-6(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-7(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-8(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-9(Rabindranath Tagore)
      • Kazi Nazrul Islam by Dr. Shamenaz Shaikh >
        • Chapter 1(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 2(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 3(Nazrul Islam)
      • Kabir's Poetry by Dr. Anshu Pandey >
        • Chapter 1(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 2(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 3(Kabir's Poetry)
      • My mind's not right by Dr. Vicky Gilpin >
        • Chapter- 1 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-2 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-3 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-4 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
      • On Poetry & Poets by Abhay K.
      • Poetry of Kamla Das –A True Voice Of Bourgeoisie Women In India by Dr.Shikha Saxena
      • Identity Issues in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel by Dr.Arvind Nawale & Prashant Mothe*
      • Nissim Ezekiel’s Latter-Day Psalms: His Religious and Philosophical Speculations By Dr. Pallavi Srivastava
      • The Moping Owl : the Epitome of Melancholy by Zinia Mitra
      • Gary Soto’s Vision of Chicano Experiences: The Elements of San Joaquin and Human Nature by Paula Hayes
      • Sri Aurobindo: A Poet By Aju Mukhopadhyay
      • Wordsworthian Romanticism in the Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: Nature and the Reflective Capabilities of a Poetic Self by Paula Hayes
      • Reflective Journey of T.S. Eliot: From Philosophy to Poetry by Syed Ahmad Raza Abidi
      • North East Indian Poetry: ‘Peace’ in Violence by Ananya .S. Guha
    • 2014-2015 >
      • From The Hidden World of Poetry: Unravelling Celtic mythology in Contemporary Irish Poetry Adam Wyeth
      • Alchemy’s Drama: Conflict, Resolution and Poiesis in the Poetic Work of Art by Michelle Bitting
      • Amir Khushrau: The Musical Soul of India by Dr. Shamenaz
      • PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME: POETRY'S EROTIC ART by Elena Karina Byrne
      • Celtic and Urban Landscapes in Irish Poetry by Linda Ibbotson
      • Trickster at the African Crossroads and the Bridge to the Blues in America by Michelle Bitting
    • 2015-2016 >
      • Orogeny/Erogeny: The “nonsense” of language and the poetics of Ed Dorn T Thilleman
      • Erika Burkart: Fragments, Shards, and Visions by Marc Vincenz
      • English Women Poets and Indian politics
    • 2016-2017 >
      • Children’s Poetry in India- A Case Study of Adil Jussawalla and Ananya Guha by Shruti Sareen
      • Thirteen Thoughts on Poetry in the Digital Age by Mandy kAHN
    • 2017-2018 >
      • From Self-Portrait with Dogwood: A Route of Evanescence by Christopher Merrill
      • Impure Poetry by Tony Barnstone
      • On the Poets: Contributors in Context by Donald Gardner
      • Punching above its Weight: Dutch Poetry in English, a Selection, 2013-2017 by Jane Draycott
  • Print Editions

Poems by Mite Stefoski ​

​ 
1.
 
ЦAРИГРАД
 
 
Од дворецот прудолу се тркалаат глави.
Црвјето што со сласт ги глода
обезглавените трупови на побунетите
ја разболува царштината.
Се тркалаат глави
од столнината кон покраината.
Од краината кон столнината.
На некој мост на кол наденати
им зборуваат на минувачите:
„Наведната глава не е вредна за сечење.“
Глави и гласини се тркалаат.
Од краината кон столнината.
од темнината кон светлината.
Како раздувани глуварки
отсечените глави на побунетите
шетаат по царштината.
 
 
 
Istanbul
 
Heads are rolling downhill from the castle.
The worms that with relish gnaw on
the headless corpses of the rebels
make the kingdom ill.
Heads are rolling
from the capital to the province,
from the province to the capital.
On a bridge pierced by a stake
they talk to passersby,
“A head bent low is not worth cutting off.”
Heads and rumours are rolling.
From the province to the capital.
From the darkness to the light.
Like blown dandelion seeds
the severed heads of rebels
are walking around the kingdom.
 
Translated by Marija Petrovska and Douglas Skinner

2.
 
ВАРВАРИТЕ ДОЈДОА                                                         
– спротивна песна
 
Плоштадот повторно е празен.
Варварите дојдоа.
Веќе ги снемува оние кои ги чекаа.
Но, кого барам лутајќи по плоштадот?
 
Сенаторите уживаат во некоја дебела сенка,
откако ги ,донесоа новите закони, со кои се реши дека
не постои она што постои,
постои она што не постои.
Разбирањето е неможно и непотребно,
послушноста бесценета и нема.
На крстовите уште висат недораспаднати
оние кои предупредуваа на доаѓањето, распнати
од оние кои ширум ги отворија портите од градот.
Знамињата ги изгазија со коњите и топовските лафети.
 
Одеднаш го снема сето неспокојство
што нѐ јадеше секој миг исчекување.
Рамнодушни, го лигавиме утринското кафе, во разговор
за новооткриената планета во соѕвездието Кентаур.
Зошто никој веќе не се возбудува од варварите меѓу нас?
Зарем непотребни беа сите стравувања од нив?
 
На престолот веќе седи некој поглавар од дојденците.
Зашто така стои напишано на пергаментот
кој му беше предаден од нашиот поглавар,
со пламен говор и восхит, цвеќиња и поклон.
Никој не рече ништо.
Доаѓањето на варварите беше нашето решение.
 
Лутам по плоштадот, барајќи го Кавафис,
со фото-албум по мишката. Фотографии од кои
се шири мирисот на нашите тела изгорени со напалм.
Зошто сега пак оваа збунетост, овој немир,
кога и онака безбедно сме раздолжени со домовите?
Ниту штрковите не се зачудија на дојденците.
Спокојно одомаќени на истите оџаци дремат во жегата.
 
Не знаеме дали варварите дојдоа заради нас, или и тие
подгонети од некои нивни варвари тргнаа наваму?
Но што да се прави сега во недостиг на тоа чекање?
Како да се живее сега кога варварите ги укинаа границите,
нема веќе земји и татковини, растоварени од секакви сеќавања?
А ние малкумина, не можеме да отидеме некаде другаде,
каде ќе бидеме нечии варвари.
Тие луѓе беа нашето конечно решение.
 
 
 
 
THE BARBARIANS ARE HERE
- A counter poem
 
 
The square is empty once again.
The barbarians are here.
The ones who’d been waiting for them are disappearing.
But who am I loоking for, wandering on the square?
 
The senators are indulging in the deep shade,
after passing the new laws, deciding that
what exists - doesn’t exist,
what doesn’t exist - exists.
Understanding is impossible and unnecessary,
obedience priceless and silent.
The crosses still hold the decaying bodies
of the ones who forewarned of the coming, crucified
by the ones who threw the city’s gates wide open.
Our flags were trampled by horses and gun carriages. 
 
The unease gnawing us in every moment of waiting
is suddenly gone.
Unmoved, we sip our morning coffee, talking
about the newfound planet in the Centaurus constellation.
Why is no one bothered with the barbarians among us?
Were all fears of them in vain?
 
The chieftain of the newcomers is already sitting on the throne.
For it was written so in the parchment
given to him by our leader,
with a blazing speech and praise, flowers and a deep bow.
No one said anything.
The coming of the barbarians was our solution.
 
I’m wandering on the square, looking for Cavafy,
with a photo album under my arm. Photos which
reek of the smell of our bodies burned by napalm.
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion
when we’ve safely paid off our homes anyway?
Not even the storks were surprised by the newcomers.
Peacefully at home on the same chimneys, they doze off in the heat.
 
We don’t know if the barbarians came for us, or moved here
they themselves chased away by some of their barbarians?
But what’s to be done now in absence of that waiting?
How to live now once the barbarians have abolished the borders,
and there are no longer countries and motherlands, stripped of all memory?
And we, so few, can’t go somewhere else
where we’d be someone else’s barbarians.
Those people were our final solution.  
 
 
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
 
 
 
 
 
Picture
Mite Stefoski was born in 1975 in Struga. Poet, writer of short stories, critic and publisher. He graduated from the Faculty of Philology at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje in the Department for Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. He has published essays about contemporary poetry and theory of fiction. He works as editor in chief at Aleph Publications and he is director of International Poetry Festival Ex Libris Skopje. Between 2012 and 2018 he worked as a director of the Struga Poetry Evenings Festival. 


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​VerseVille (formerly The Enchanting Verses Literary Review) © 2008-2022    ISSN 0974-3057 Published from India. 

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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Media Coverages
    • Copyright Notice
    • VerseVille Blog
  • Submissions
    • Poetry and Essays Guidelines
    • Book Review Guidelines
    • Research Series Guidelines
  • Masthead
  • Editions
    • 2011 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XIV November 2011
    • 2012 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XV March 2012
      • ISSUE-XVI July 2012
      • ISSUE-XVII November 2012
    • 2013 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XVIII April 2013
      • ISSUE XIX November 2013
    • 2014 Issues >
      • ISSUE XX May 2014
    • 2015 Issues >
      • ISSUE XXI February 2015
      • Contemporary Indian English Poetry ISSUE XXII November 2015
    • 2016 Issues >
      • ISSUE XXIII August 2016
      • Poetry From Ireland ISSUE XXIV December 2016
    • 2017 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXV August 2017
      • ISSUE XXVI December 2017
    • 2018 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXVII July 2018
      • ISSUE XXVIII November 2018
    • 2019 Issues >
      • ISSUE XXIX July 2019
    • 2020 ISSUES >
      • Issue XXX February 2020
      • ISSUE XXXI December 2020
    • 2021 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXII August 2021
    • 2022 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXIII June 2022
      • ISSUE XXXIV December 2022
  • Collaborations
    • Macedonian Collaboration
    • Collaboration with Dutch Foundation for Literature
  • Interviews
  • Prose on Poetry and Poets
    • 2010-2013 >
      • Sylvia Plath by Dr. Nidhi Mehta >
        • Chapter-1(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-2(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-3(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-4(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-5(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-6(Sylvia Plath)
      • Prose Poems of Tagore by Dr. Bina Biswas >
        • Chapter-1(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-2(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-3(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-4(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-5(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-6(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-7(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-8(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-9(Rabindranath Tagore)
      • Kazi Nazrul Islam by Dr. Shamenaz Shaikh >
        • Chapter 1(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 2(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 3(Nazrul Islam)
      • Kabir's Poetry by Dr. Anshu Pandey >
        • Chapter 1(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 2(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 3(Kabir's Poetry)
      • My mind's not right by Dr. Vicky Gilpin >
        • Chapter- 1 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-2 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-3 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-4 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
      • On Poetry & Poets by Abhay K.
      • Poetry of Kamla Das –A True Voice Of Bourgeoisie Women In India by Dr.Shikha Saxena
      • Identity Issues in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel by Dr.Arvind Nawale & Prashant Mothe*
      • Nissim Ezekiel’s Latter-Day Psalms: His Religious and Philosophical Speculations By Dr. Pallavi Srivastava
      • The Moping Owl : the Epitome of Melancholy by Zinia Mitra
      • Gary Soto’s Vision of Chicano Experiences: The Elements of San Joaquin and Human Nature by Paula Hayes
      • Sri Aurobindo: A Poet By Aju Mukhopadhyay
      • Wordsworthian Romanticism in the Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: Nature and the Reflective Capabilities of a Poetic Self by Paula Hayes
      • Reflective Journey of T.S. Eliot: From Philosophy to Poetry by Syed Ahmad Raza Abidi
      • North East Indian Poetry: ‘Peace’ in Violence by Ananya .S. Guha
    • 2014-2015 >
      • From The Hidden World of Poetry: Unravelling Celtic mythology in Contemporary Irish Poetry Adam Wyeth
      • Alchemy’s Drama: Conflict, Resolution and Poiesis in the Poetic Work of Art by Michelle Bitting
      • Amir Khushrau: The Musical Soul of India by Dr. Shamenaz
      • PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME: POETRY'S EROTIC ART by Elena Karina Byrne
      • Celtic and Urban Landscapes in Irish Poetry by Linda Ibbotson
      • Trickster at the African Crossroads and the Bridge to the Blues in America by Michelle Bitting
    • 2015-2016 >
      • Orogeny/Erogeny: The “nonsense” of language and the poetics of Ed Dorn T Thilleman
      • Erika Burkart: Fragments, Shards, and Visions by Marc Vincenz
      • English Women Poets and Indian politics
    • 2016-2017 >
      • Children’s Poetry in India- A Case Study of Adil Jussawalla and Ananya Guha by Shruti Sareen
      • Thirteen Thoughts on Poetry in the Digital Age by Mandy kAHN
    • 2017-2018 >
      • From Self-Portrait with Dogwood: A Route of Evanescence by Christopher Merrill
      • Impure Poetry by Tony Barnstone
      • On the Poets: Contributors in Context by Donald Gardner
      • Punching above its Weight: Dutch Poetry in English, a Selection, 2013-2017 by Jane Draycott
  • Print Editions