Poems by Jovica Ivanovski

MIDDLE-AGED
 
Minute by minute we are wiser,
yet we can drop dead within a second.
The length of the day depends on
                              the night and the evening.
There’s no experience that’s unfamiliar
(which is why we are as curious as kids).
The teenager in us refuses to
meet the old man within us.
We are sprinters who
                              run the lap of honour.
We do not look for the exit, quite the opposite,
we enjoy walking the maze.
We are still at the start,
a step away from the end.
 
Translated from Macedonian by Kalina Maleska
 
INVESTIGATION
 
They lie like logs
on the marriage bed.
Both on their back, without snoring.
The do not move, do they breath?
Two corpses smothered by
the stench of their own thoughts.
Were they naked, an autopsy could immediately
                              be performed on them.
Married partners that in time have become
next of kin (as if cousins).
They have not copulated for two years.
Were they old, they would at least touch.
Perhaps they fear their instincts,
as if physical contact will
force them to shameful acts,
to incest, to sin.
They lie like logs.
Spread on the bed, though not dead.
Poor souls, more pitiable
only when
awake.
 
Translated from Macedonian by Kalina Maleska
 
 
 
 
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Jovica Ivanovski (1961) – poet. He is the author of seventeen poetry collections and a few collections of selected poems in Macedonian, English, Slovenian, Serbian and Croatian. His work has been translated into more than fifteen languages. He is a recipient of the Miladinov Brothers Award at Struga Poetry Evenings Festival (2019).

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