Poems by Slave Gjorgjo Dimoski 

CLARIFYING LOVE
                            To D.
 
The things that fill up
the empty space, the temperature
that expands time
with yet another small illusion,
the erosion of feelings,
the late autumn drop
on the first spring flower,
the traders that trade with feelings,
the sleeplessness that shapes
the state of bodies, the shiny
particles that are missing
the desires, the boundaries
that often come between
my bloodstream and yours…
 
is it lost? or late?
is it changeable? or inexplicable?
fleeting – inexplicable – late?
unclarified? –
a purple sunset flows
into a purple river
that rises and subsides,
that listens in the empty space
in the empty purple space…
 
is it lost? is it changeable?
unclarified?
 
Translated from Macedonian by Daniela Spiroska
 
 
FIELD. BATTLEFIELD?
 
the letters from the old manuscripts
turned into tiny spiders
obscure the open skies.
 
caught in the net you
greedily devour the primal ozone.
 
and down there?
 
between the letters you are a stone crusher.
persistent and patient, affixed within yourself
you survive the hammer’s stroke:
 
the surge of the spiders-letters   
is shrouding the trembling field.
 
battlefield?
 
Translated from Macedonian by Daniela Spiroska
 
 
 

Slave Gjorgjo Dimoski (1959) – poet, essayist, and translator. He has authored sixteen poetry books. His poems and poetic cycles have been translated into over thirty languages and are included in anthologies of the Macedonian poetry and around the world. He has won the most significant poetry awards in Macedonia and several international awards. Slave Gjorgjo Dimoski is the founder and director of the Velestovo Poetry Night Festival, and has also served as the President of the Board of the Struga Poetry Evenings Festival. He is a member of the Macedonian Writers’ Association and the Macedonian PEN Centre.

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