Petar Penda – Page 2 – Fevers of the Mind

Poetry from Petar Penda : Madness & Futility

Madness

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.”
W. Shakespeare, Hamlet

All men and women are mad and
Only madness can keep us normal
In this frantic world.
Some hide their madness 
by religious zeal and fervour,
Others by art and craft,
Gardening and meticulous housekeeping,
Then by arranging books in colours
And by keeping the order of all things,
Pencils, diaries, post-its and pins.
And the rest of us, obvious lunatics,
We can't hide our chaotic minds: 
They are seen in the mess on our desks and bags,
Our wrinkled clothes and discordant colours,
Shabby, underlined books with dog ears.
This madness has a method in it,
This madness saves us from the world.


Futility

The strength of mind is opposed
To the weakness of the body
A rock is turned into dust
When the pain comes from
The source of its joy.
The pain and joy collide 
And crash the stone
In little particles
Irreversible pieces
Useless to you
Nuisance to me
And to the world.

But there must be some sense
Of this irredeemable transformation
A sense which escapes us.
And this escape makes the pain bigger
And we ask vain questions
why us and what this life is for.


Bio: Petar Penda is a professor of English and American literature (University of Banja Luka) and a translator. His translations have been published in renowned journals in the USA and the UK. His poetry was published by "Fevers of the Mind", " Lothlorien Poetry Journal", "A Thin Slice of Anxiety", "Trouvaille Review" and others.

May Poetry Showcase from Petar Penda

photo from pixabay

Night Night sends the chill and clouds Dreams and the quilt Mysteries veiled by the dubbing of the rain And the cunning of darkness. Memories and desires strived To come to the daylight and Bring the revelation about What is hidden underneath. But the night's grip is strong And it takes all possessions Leaving the vagueness and hope That someday dreams will be revealed And give the meaning of the sea Why it sets us free And hills mountains and rivers Make us their prisoners. The Fervor Arms cut the sea with tiny splashes The head dips in water, occasional bending for air Legs evenly propel to speed the body And life moves in through each pore. He and the sea are tied in the Gordian knot Entangled in the mutual whirl of confusion And affection beyond reason The lunacy which gives them the sanity. Lovers doomed to stay together The passion marked by strength The body's blows against the water The exchange of rough gentleness. Sea Drive Morning dew evaporates by force of the still sun A calm sea is the sky's mirror A glassy surface Feeds its depths and Brings the fervor. Water cannot resist The lure of the heaven And its misty body rises To reach the air The longing is quenched By the invisible kiss Soft and furtive. Bio: Petar Penda is a professor of English and American literature (University of Banja Luka) and a translator. His translations have been published in renowned journals in the USA and the UK. His poetry was published by "Fevers of the Mind", " Lothlorien Poetry Journal", "A Thin Slice of Anxiety" and "Trouvaille Review".

2 poems from Petar Penda : Betrayals & Looking Back

Betrayals

A breeze touches his face
And stirs the unfathomable, 
Buried in the invisible
Depths of the past.

In fear, he doesn't want
To know what it is.
Let the dead remain dead,
And may the living be oblivious.

But life is inexorable
And sends him back to the time
When his parents
Betrayed him for the first time.

Later, betrayal after betrayal,
Brothers, sisters, lovers and friends.
He also betrayed many and himself,
And left the sea for the river.

Now he looks at the fast-rolling river and
Wonders if it would take him back to the sea.

Looking Back

The wind stirs the glassy surface 
And the even perfection is alive,
The water heaves and murmurs,
Woken up from its quiet sleep.
It tells you of joyous departures,
Of leaving your old world and
The rapture of meeting the unknown, 
Freedom to create your new self,
Face fears and purge the enemies within.
The sea is mighty and inciting,
Calling you to force the moment.
But one more look around and 
You freeze, fearing if you ever return, 
You'll be alien to your home.


Bio: Petar Penda is a professor of English and American literature (University of Banja Luka) and a translator. His translations have been published in renowned journals in the USA and the UK. His poetry was published by "Fevers of the Mind", " Lothlorien Poetry Journal", "A Thin Slice of Anxiety" and "Trouvaille Review".

3 Poems by Sandrijela Kasagić (translated by Petar Penda)

3 poems by Jadranka Milenković translated by Petar Penda

3 Poems by Sandrijela Kasagić (translated by Petar Penda)

Lake, Cloudy Day, Mountains, Tibet, Scenery, Landscape

photo from pixabay images.

Never did I

Never did I beat my head against the wall when I wished it.
Never did I jump out the window when I thought I could do it.
Never did I get out of myself when my chest almost burst out.
Never did I experience bad things from insomnia when fully awake.
Never did I experience good things from insomnia when fully awake.

Never did I fall when my legs stumbled.
Never did I even scream when I felt pain.
Never did I tell the truth though I swear I did.
Never did I dare tell the truth.
Never did I feel utterly happy.
Never did I either feel utterly sad.
Never did I entirely love.
Never did I entirely give myself to anybody.
I didn't dare to.
Or wanted to.
And I hate it when others say they did.
There are no more selfish and darker beings than people.

Dreams

I dream of Tibet
And of a blanket
On the top of the world

I dream of a morn
Of the respite of my
Memento mori

I dream of harmony
I dream of the sea
And I vanish in the agony

I dream of distance
Of the unknown
Of someone

Confession

She plays Confession
Softly, on the guitar
And I want to admit
Nothing is the way I wanted
Dreamed and desired

Air, fire, earth and water
Aren’t what they were
Heraclitus doesn’t know it’s our fault
For all is worse
And the sea
Rises
Avenges
Threatens
To crash
And drown all

There is no place on earth
Joy, light, and quiet love
For there’s no more true love

Bio: 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. She is currently working on her first collection of poetry to be published in 2022.

Translator: Petar Penda @PetarPenda1 on Twitter is a University Professor of English and American literature, translator.

2 poems from Petar Penda : Betrayals & Looking Back

3 poems by Jadranka Milenković translated by Petar Penda

photo from pixabay

DOWNHILL

A pen sails down the pain
alarming freedom by which 
the day’s schedule doesn’t rule
nostalgia and a little bit of light
harsh and infatuating passion
for dead-end streets
if I’m a field of love
why do flowers laugh?


FROM A MAGIC GRAIN

He laid an iron bar on my hands
Who?
The evil God of Time
I hit weak, crumbled concrete under my feet
Below it is damp soil
I’ll plant a fast-growing tree
I’ll go to see a Sharp-Teeth Giant
The iron bar is with me
Broken teeth grow from the warm soil
New people grow
The Wind’s Queen scatters them to the world’s seven sides
Again spring
So many new stories


SOMETHING

In a swayed dingy
Now close then far from the shore
Tossed by trident waves

Salty we swim 
Retreating

Later on the shore
Among slimy jelly-fish
We curse the horned wind  
It’s coming near

We keep thinking about it

A stranger said that
Luck is confined there
In a damp bag
Tied with a rotten rope. 


Bio: Jadranka Milenković is an acclaimed novelist and a poet, born in 1969 in Pula, Croatia, and now lives in Niš, Serbia. She has published three novels, a collection of poetry, and many short stories in literary journals. Her stories and poetry were published in several Balkan and Russian journals and were awarded prestigious regional prizes.
Jadranka is the founder of the club "Too Strong a Word", which gathers young people interested in literature, philosophy and arts. Her work in the club encourages young people to read, appreciate and write poetry and fiction and have an interdisciplinary approach to literature by emphasising its connection with philosophy and arts in general.  

Wolfpack Contributor: Petar Penda

2 poems from Petar Penda : Betrayals & Looking Back