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Writer's pictureA Too Powerful Word

Slavica Gadžova Sviderska


Slavica Gadzova Sviderska (1984) is a poet, researcher, literary translator, doctor of

theory of literature. She is an author of the poetry books Infinity (2001), Letters (2012),

Politics of Love (2015), Bodies (2017), as well the studies Literature and the discourses

of power (2013) and Sense and Absurdity (2016). She researches the discoursers of

power and the political violence in literature. In 2012 she was awarded with “Enhalon”

prize at the Struga Poetry Evenings. In 2016 she won the prize “Karamanov” for the

poetry book Bodies. Her poetry is published in several anthologies of the contemporary

Macedonian poetry and translated into: English, Chinese, Italian, Czech, Slovak, Serbian,

Croatian, Bosnian and Albanian. She is founder and editor of the publishing house

Vostok. She translates poetry and prose from Slovak. She lives and works in Bitola, Macedonia.



MIGRANTS


Fourteen near Veles

run over by train

their bodies were invisible in the darkness

their sloping foreheads stuck on the rails

their coarse throats were dumb voices on the rocks

The dust of Hiran, Benadir and Mudug

of Kabul and Heart

evaporated from their pores

besides an unknown river

Their empty guts, smashed on the rails

filled the guts of the vultures




NEW JUSTIFICATION


To all drivers, taxi drivers

and airport workers

Forgive me

but

when I move elsewhere

I carry with me three lakes

the land around them

the sky over it

the clouds above it

the migratory birds through them

the song in their throats

the roads inscribed beneath their feathers

and the return

tattooed in their genetic code

the yesterday`s smiles

and the tomorrow's bread

That`s why my suitcase

is so heavy.




INFINITE HUNGER


I feed it

with my own flesh and blood

it's the only thing that exists

it becomes greater with every breath

with every look I take

I'm becoming miniature

as it grows

I become smaller

as it broadens

I become narrower

it shines

I become darker

neither can it be satisfied

nor it will be satisfied





ROADS


Too many bags and suitcases

old tickets and some feather of a dove

In which of them should I pack

The map for easier orientation

with instructions for taming the poetic perception

at border crossings

and passport stampings

where should I put

the geopolitical theory of my heart

to head south-northern

with two stamps

one in the passport

and the other on my skin

skin of an animal

waiting to be sacrificed


Translated by Mihajlo Sviderski

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