I asked Zarko if he knew the poet Radmila Lazic, translated by Charles Simic (see earlier post) and he said he did know her and that she is an important poet of her generation (which would also be my generation). Then he suggested another Serbian poet, living in Germany, whom he likes as well. It turns out that she writes and publishes in Serbian, but also writes in English. Here’s a poem that caught my attention:
Fratricidal
Let’s go out to the field
where blood is drizzling sizzling
on the snow white bright
on the snow glassy glossy
blood hurries and scurries
the throat hisses
the hand misses
blood is leaking
the hand is seeking
the nails are scratching
the brain is retching
the soul is oozing
the eyes are snoozing
the nerve winced
the meat is minced
We are slaughtering us lively:
he killed my brother and father
i killed rather his mother
he killed my cattle in one rattle
he jibed with my tribe
with his name i did the same
he followed the taints
and cursed my saints
Drill to kill
kill and thrill
murder further
slay and flay
cherish to perish
By hook or by crook
an eye for an I
shove the dove
leave the olive
and thou shalt
thou shalt
thou shalt
thou shalt shovel thy neighbour
as thyself
– See more at:
http://www.recoursaupoeme.fr/jelena-radovanovi%C4%87/fratricidal#sthash.WxxTa1GK.dpuf
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About Scott Abbott
I received my Ph.D. in German Literature from Princeton University in 1979. Then I taught at Vanderbilt University, BYU, and Utah Valley State College. At Utah Valley University, I directed the Program in Integrated Studies for its initial 13 years and was also Chair of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy for three years. My publications include a book on Freemasonry and the German Novel, two co-authored books with Zarko Radakovic (REPETITIONS and VAMPIRES & A REASONABLE DICTIONARY, published in Serbo-Croatian in Belgrade and in English with Punctum Books), a book with Sam Rushforth (WILD RIDES AND WILDFLOWERS, Torrey House Press), a "fraternal meditation" called IMMORTAL FOR QUITE SOME TIME (University of Utah Press), and translations of three books by Austrian author Peter Handke, of an exhibition catalogue called "The German Army and Genocide," and, with Dan Fairbanks, of Gregor Mendel's important paper on hybridity in peas. More famously, my children are in the process of creating good lives for themselves: as a model and dance/yoga studio manager, as a teacher of Chinese language, as an ecologist and science writer, as a jazz musician, as a parole officer, as a contractor, as a seasonal worker (Alaska and Park City, Utah), and as parents. I share my life with UVU historian Lyn Bennett, with whom I have written a cultural history of barbed wire -- THE PERFECT FENCE (Texas A&M University Press). Some publications at http://works.bepress.com/scott_abbott/
THE GOALIE'S ANXIETY 