Andrej Al-Asadi (tr. Milan Damjanoski)


THE BLACK POEM 

Always black 

On black 

In black 

It unfolds 

Like a tear in the dark 

Or the backdrop of the stars 

Black is the courtyard 

Of her dreams 

And the black pillars 

Of her soul 

Like a black subterranean river

Black leaves 

Black butterfly 

That flutters,

A black thing on a black palm 

Resting under the shadow of the word 

Flashing her white smile for an instant 

Only to leave the black ink of her thought behind.

Translated from Macedonian by Milan Damjanovski

ЦРНА ПЕСНА

Секогаш црна 

На црно 

Во црно 

Се распетлува 

Ко солза во мракот 

Ил’ ѕвездена опачина 

Црно е предворјето 

На нејзините сништа 

И црни столбовите 

На нејзината душа 

Ко црна понорница 

Црно лисје 

Црна пеперуга 

Што се прпелка 

Црна таа в црна дланка 

Си починува во сенката од зборот 

За миг ја покажува белата насмевка 

И од мислата црно мастило остава.

WE, THE POETS 

We play with rhythm at the expense of grammar 

With emotions at the expense of symmetry 

We gamble on the moment, on the soul’s flight 

As if there is no past and tomorrow is nameless 

We cast two white dice against eternity 

And then we wait…

Translated from Macedonian by Milan Damjanovski

НИЕ, ПОЕТИТЕ

Си играме со ритамот на сметка на граматиката 

Со чувството на сметка на симетријата 

Се обложуваме на мигот, на летот на душата 

Ко да нема минато, а утрешницата е безимена 

Фрламе две бели коцки наспроти вечноста 

И чекаме…

REFUGEES (SALAM ALEYKUM EUROPE) 

Pebbles biting their heels like fangs

Encrusted sweat under the armpits 

Sticky bait for the thirsty flies, 

Still they press ahead 

With a glazed look pleading 

For a loaf of dry bread 

That can be soaked in the driving rain 

And kneaded on their hearts 

So, they can continue to press ahead 

And get to where white doves 

Speak Latin to the sky.

Translated from Macedonian by Milan Damjanovski

БЕГАЛЦИ (СЕЛАМ АЛЕЈКУМ ЕВРОПА)

Камчиња како песјаци в петици 

И закоравена пот под пазуви 

На која жедни муви се лепат 

Продолжуваат напред 

Низ матен поглед да молат 

За бар сува кришка леб 

Па во дожд ќе ја наквасат 

И од срце ќе ја протријат 

За понатаму да можат да продолжат 

Каде што белите гулаби 

Латински зборуваат со небото.

Andrej Al-Asadi was born in London, United Kingdom, in 1996. He is the author of poetry books: Midnight Blues (2014), Under the Dervish Sikke (2018), Empyrean Geometry (2019) and Everybody is a mirror to everybody (2022). For his collection of short stories, The Other Past, Al-Asadi won the award for the best debut prose manuscript “The New Ones” in 2018. He published his second book of short stories in 2021, The Morning of the Insomniacs. He has taken part in a number of poetry readings and events such as the Struga Poetry Evenings, Stih u Regiji (SUR) in Zagreb, Croatia and the 5th Patras World Poetry Festival in Patras, Greece. Andrej has been nominated three times for the prestigious Brothers Miladinov Award in 2018, 2020 and 2022. He was interviewed for the prestigious American magazine World Literature Today. His poetry has been translated in various languages such as Serbian, Croatian, Italian, English and Arabic. He is currently a member of the executive board of the Skopje Poetry Festival.

Milan Damjanovski (1977) is a professor of Literature at the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philology “Blazhe Koneski, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University.  He holds a PhD. in English Literature. He has translated from Macedonian into English works from prominent contemporary Macedonian writers and has worked for literary organizations such as Struga Poetry Evenings and the Macedonian PEN Reviews. His translation of the novel The Mark by Blazhe Minevski was nominated for the prestigious Dublin Impac Award 2013. He is the editor of Blesok Prose and has published a book of aphorisms, Status of Our Times, for Blesok Publishing.