Poems by Gordana Mihailova Boshnakoska 

WRITING
 
When men write
everybody at home is quiet
they act
as if they don’t exist
Nobody is allowed
in the writing room.
 
When women write
everybody wanders around.
The granddaughters show
their new dresses,
they hang them somewhere
between the verses.
The daughter asks:
“is this salt enough
for the potatoes that boil”
and they hang somewhere
between the verses –
in the potatoes that boil.
When women write
men ask them about their ties,
if they are good for this or that occasion.
The neighbors ask to borrow some flour or eggs
to fry the “Parisian schnitzel”.
These question marks dishevel the texts
of the women that write them.
 
When men publish books
everybody at home celebrates
the women make cakes,
the others at home
buy wine and whiskey
and everybody is happy
about the new book.
 
When women publish books
everybody at home wonders
when was all of this written, they ask.
“Cinderella, Cinderella did it”
The women who write respond.
 
 
Translated from Macedonian by Elizabeta Bakovska
 
IN THE BOOKSTORE
 
 
At the bookstore exit the salesman stops me
and he asks me and he tells me
“I don’t know if we still have your books”,
and I don’t even know that there were my books here
and I think, in which language were these books published,
if they exist in a language at all,
some books of mine, and which books are those,
I want to ask the salesman,
and he only smiles and says,
“I’m sorry, there are no more of your books,
we have translated books by other authors”.
He hands me the latest bestsellers,
he pushes Coelho, Eco, The Da Vinci Code in my hands,
The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The English Patient.
I take the English Patient
because of its title, to be his nurse,
to heal his wounds,
via the words in the translation,
which I correct as I read it
and then, quite suddenly
I meet the publisher and I ask him,
in which language is this book published
and I return it to him.
He opens the book with my corrections
and tells me, surprised,
“but this is not ‘The English Patient’
and I respond, briefly,
it is “The Macedonian Patient”.
I leave him with the returned book in his hands.
He cannot understand the meaning
of my corrections.
I leave and I swear that I will never ever
enter the bookstores,
because the language in which I dream is not there.
 
Translated from Macedonian by Elizabeta Bakovska
 

Gordana Mihailova Boshnakoska (1940) – poet, prose writer, essayist, critic. She has published over fifteen poetry books and her poetry has been translated into several languages. She has also worked on TV shows focused on literature and fine art. Gordana Mihailova Boshnakoska is a recipient of the most important awards for poetry in Macedonia. She is a member of the Macedonian Writers’ Association and the Macedonian PEN Centre.


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