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      • Prose Poems of Tagore by Dr. Bina Biswas >
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        • Chapter-3(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-4(Rabindranath Tagore)
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        • 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 Vele Smilevski 

THE ECHO BOOK
(Addressing)
 
You are, merely coincidentally,
At the great passage
And, splashed by the sour smile
Of the irredeemable cynic Lucian Blaga,
You hear the footsteps of the prophet.
 
America: prophecy!
Europe: prophecy!
The distant echo of William Blake
Meets you on the way.
 
Whilst among the bars of the tongue
You rifle for words
Laying them from door to door
You unintentionally cut a lock
From Paul Celan’s hair.
 
(Out of the fire of joy
To the new embitterment
Louis Aragon shuts the windows
Defending himself from the red winds).
 
While you measure
The boundaries of the emptiness
That faces you with the Selfness
With the mountain being there only for you
At the other side, leaning on a cane with his left,
Waves with his right hand Miroslav Holub.
 
(Furtively, wearing white gloves on his hands,
In the small shop in Cambridge
Ted Hughes is stuffing cave birds)
 
While you sketch studies of the objects
Which you make clay imprint with
Before you crushes the world of Zbignjev Herbert.
 
(Be patient,
Behind the border of the days past
Alexander Blok etches heart in a birch tree).
 
While you fall asleep in the bed of the late hour
Mark Strand persistently claims:
This is the right hour!
 
Lonesome among ancient trunks
You hear the violin of Marin Soarescu,
And then Jean Paul Gilbert
Lengthily interprets you the face of gentle death.
 
(Blue water gushes in the memories:
From the bridge of Nezval
You see a woman in plural).
 
While you’re taking a rest in the breathing shade
You sense the still-folded breath of Yves Bonnefoy
And you breathe out, breathe out, breathe out.
 
While you travel to the station in desert
You hear the voice of Joseph Brodsky
Silently written between the covers of the Echo Book.
 
That is not the end.
That is only a beginning.
 
Translated from Macedonian by Ana Topencarova
​

 
THE CAGE BOOK
                              My age, my beast, is there anyone
                              Who can peer into your eyes...
                                                            Osip Mandelstam
 
I can see myself in the beast’s eyes
Locked in my cell
In my plentiful wasteland
And I memorize the whole faithfulness
That I have expressed to myself
Walking through those long corridors
Through the veins with still warm blood.
 
Who would now recognize me
In this cage of words and metal
Under the skin being only mine?
 
(While I reflect the tongue of the beast
While I secretly walk the disease in the beasts
While I brick myself dream by the beast
While I compose the epistle to the beast
While I send pursuit for the beast
While I conclude alliance with the beast
Through the keyhole of the book
I am being read by beasts, beasts, beasts.)
 
I am now alone between these covers
In this architecture of assumptions
On the source of light
That reaches me sidelong
In the scrutiny of the bridge
Under which there flows
Long flows the attempt
To paint someone’s death.
 
(While I lament in the blood of the beast
While I roar with the mountain in the beast
While I return the world by the beast
While I leave my legacy by the beast
While I hanker to hell for the beast
While in fur I fall asleep with the beast
Through the keyhole of the book
I am being read by beasts, beasts, beasts.)
 
Whoever would recognize me in this cage
Of words and metal, with reek of fresh
Urine of an animal celebrating its freedom?
 
Whoever would recognize me in this cage
With mountain of an ocean, with shelves of bones
In which freedom is slaved?
 
Whoever would recognize freedom?
 
Translated from Macedonian by Ana Topencarova
​
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Vele Smilevski (1949) – poet, literary critic and essayist. He is the author of over fifteen poetry books and two novels, as well as books of essays, literary criticism and several works in the field of journalism. He worked as an expert counselor in the Macedonian Literature Institute and as a professor in the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Law, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. He has compiled several anthologies of Macedonian poetry and monographs on the history of Macedonian literature. Vele Smilevski is the recipient of the most important awards for poetry in Macedonia, including the state award for life's work. His poetry has been translated into many languages. He served as the president of the Macedonian Writers’ Association and the president of the Board of Struga Poetry Evenings Festival. He is the Chief editor of the Sintezi Magazine and an editor of the Dijalog Publishing. He is a member of the Macedonian PEN Centre.


​​


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​VerseVille (formerly The Enchanting Verses Literary Review) © 2008-2025    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
    • 2023 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXV August 2023
      • ISSUE XXXVI December 2023 Indian Poetry
    • 2024 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXVII October 2024 Bengali Poetry
    • 2025 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXVIII January 2025 Balkan Poetry
  • 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