Dark Hours
The skin you see
I stretch for kilometres
In the dark hours
Of my anxiety
The hair you see
I dye twice
To hide the greyness
Of my age
The mouth you see
Still learns every day
To pronounce warily
The desired and expected
The head you see
Well in this head
There's the Battle of Waterloo
The Normandy landings and
The Battle of Kosovo.
There are days I hardly survive
One time I surely won't.
Lilla
Lilla,
When I feel the heartstrings of life within myself,
I write a poem about your former self.
You were, I fear,
Lilla, dear,
My first time to a city, to the sphere,
You were also my first despair,
My first loss of face,
My first jump over the fence,
Lilla, dear,
You were, I fear,
To what I aspired,
Fantasized and wanted,
But I was timid.
And, Lilla,
My dear alter-ego, well-known,
Again, make it known
That I dare do
Whatever fancy can conjure
Only when I feel the heartstrings of life within myself,
I imagine telling it all
To your soul.
Bios: Sandrijela Kasagić (1973) teaches the Serbian language at the Grammar School in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has published several scholarly papers on syntax and stylistics, and writes short stories and poetry. The translation of her poetry was published in literary journals “Fevers of the Mind” and “Lothlorien”. She is currently working on her first collection of poetry to be published in 2022.
Petar Penda is a professor of English and American literature (University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina), literary critic, and translator. His translations have been published in renowned journals in the USA and the UK. His poetry and flash fiction have been published in “Fevers of the Mind”, “Lothlorien Poetry Journal”, “A Thin Slice of Anxiety”, “Trouvaille Review”, ” Amphora”, and other journals.
Fevers of the Mind 