Vladimir Martinovski (tr. Milan Damjanoski)


POEM WRITTEN IN WATER

Near the Forbidden City, Beijing,

An old man with a brush 

Writes verses on the ground. I ask 

My friend to hurry up and translate it

Before the poem disappears into thin air! He takes  

A sip of water and translates in one breath:

—Only what you would write in 

Water, spared from your lips 

On a blistering hot day—only that 

Is worth writing down! All else

Is better left to evaporate into the air—

Only to return with the next rain.

Translated from Macedonian by Milan Damjanoski

ПЕСНА ОД ВОДА

Близу до Забранетиот град 

еден старец со четка на тлото 

пишува стихови. Го молам 

пријателот да ми преведе брзо, 

додека не испарила песната! Отпива 

од водата и преведува во еден здив:

– Само тоа што би го запишал со 

вода, која би ја одвоил од уста 

во најжешкото пладне, само тоа 

вреди да се запише! Сѐ друго е

подобро да се пушти да испари.

И да се врати со следниот дожд.

PERSONAL BESTS

In an Olympic year

I broke at least

seven personal bests:

1. Meeting with a mama bear:

my bicycle in a flash turned into

a racing motorcycle.

2. Meeting with a snake:

jumping as high as the first

cumulonimbus in sight.

3. Meeting with a liar:

taking flight to the farthest

hidden truth.

4. A race with time:

chasing after thirty

final deadlines

5. Fighting myself:

five knockouts of my ego

in the first round.

6. Meeting with a baby:

a sprinting dive to

the real me.

7. Meeting with you:

a heart-rate that no living soul

can ever measure!

Translated from Macedonian by Milan Damjanoski

РЕКОРДИ

Во Олимписка 

година соборив барем

седум рекорди:

1. Средба со меца: 

точакот за миг стана

тркачки мотор. 

2. Средба со змија: 

скок во вис до првиот 

кумулонимбус.

3. Средба со лажго: 

лет до најдалечната

скришна вистина.

4. Трка со време: 

бркање на триесет 

крајни рокови.

5. Борба со себе: 

пет нокаути на его 

во прва рунда. 

6. Средба со бебе: 

нуркачки спринт до

вистинското јас. 

7. Средба со тебе: 

пулс што никој жив не може

да го измери!

TWO SEAS

No one knows where exactly

one sea ends 

                 or where the other begins

  or where the border lies

or what marks the meeting point

of their warm and cold streams 

small and big 

(harmful and harmless) fish

No one knows which one 

changes its color faster

(at sunrise and sunset)

or which one 

is better for diving 

and which one 

is better to give yourself over to the waves

No one knows which 

of  the sunken ships and submarines

         has been downed in one or another sea

or which one has lost 

        more fishermen and sailors

Nor which one of them yields us 

more seafood on a daily basis

We don’t know which one heals our wounds quicker 

which one we forget slower on our way home

which one clears our thoughts faster

which one wipes away our sand castles slower

which one shall give up sooner

its last grain of salt

which one shall be slower to release the last 

starfish to return

back to the sky

Translated from Macedonian by Milan Damjanoski

ДВЕ МОРИЊА

Никој не знае каде 

             точно завршува едното 

                     а каде почнува другото море

            ни каде е границата 

во која се мешаат

        нивните топли и студени струи 

              мали и големи 

       (опасни и безопасни) риби

Никој не знае кое од нив 

                    побрзо ја менува бојата

                              (на изгрејсонце и зајдисонце)

             ни во кое од нив 

                    е подобро да нуркаш 

            а во кое да им 

                    се препуштиш на брановите

               Не се знае ниту дали 

                    потопените бродови и подморници

                       биле погодени во едното или во другото море

Ниту во кое од нив исчезнале 

                             повеќе рибари и морнари

Ниту од кое од нив секојдневно си земаме 

                повеќе морски плодови

          Не знаеме кое побрзо ги зацелува нашите рани 

                кое побавно го забораваме кога одиме дома

                                 кое побрзо ги бистри нашите мисли

                     кое побавно ги урива замоците од песок

                                     кое побрзо ќе ни ја даде 

                                          и последната грутка сол

                     кое побавно ќе ја пушти и последната 

морска ѕвезда да му 

            се врати на небото

Vladimir Martinovski (1974) is a poet, short story writer, essayist and translator from N Macedonia. He teaches Comparative Poetics at the Sts Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje. He is the former president of the Association of Comparative Literature of Macedonia, member of the Executive Board of the International Association for Semiotic Studies and member of the International Comparative Literature Association and the European Network for Comparative Literary Studies. He is the recipient of the national poetry award, the Brother’s Miladinovci Award (awarded by the International Festival Struga Poetry Evenings, 2010). His poetry has been translated into English, Albanian, Bulgarian, German, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian, Serbian, French, Croatian and Czech languages. He was invited to the China-Balkan Exchange Program – Beijing Poetry Festival in 2011.

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.