Jasmina Topić

Slutnja zime

SLUTNJA ZIME

Polako, leto se završavalo pljuskom kiše.
J.Hristić

Uvek, na kraju, mora biti taj pljusak.
Zamišljena međa između lakoće i ozbiljnog –
Završili smo svoja putovanja,
željni sunca i igre – svega!
Još jedno leto iza nas, i more,
veliki sentiment, u kojem bi se mogli udaviti.

Napuštali smo naše zimske kaveze,
kao obavezu održavanja plamena u peći,
drhtavicu smetova, svet u snu.

Završili smo s pejzažima,
kroz prozor autobusa u suncu,
svetlucavoj vodi zalaska.
Dok putem isplovljavamo
ka dobrim starim sobama vidim nestvarni su...

Gradovi, kao preslikani, na vodi.
U noći, dok duša spava otvorenih očiju.
Gradove u kojima smo mogli poživeti,
daleko od svojih, vraćajući se sebi.
Isprali nakupljenu kišnicu otrova.
Na trenutak odložili maske.

Patetika roni iz vozačevog kasetofona,
ka zavičaju.
U istoj sobi počeli, u istoj okončaćemo,
S ponovnom slutnjom zime.
Prisećajući se lakoće,
stvarnosti svojih udova...
U senovitom kutu sobe ta maska čeka.



WINTER FOREBODINGS


Slowly, the summer ends with a rain shower.
J. Hristić

Always, in the end, must come that rain shower. Here
on the imaginary border between the light-hearted and the serious—
we’ve ended our travels,
eager for sun and fun—for everything!
Another summer lies behind us, with its big sea,
a large feeling, in which we could have drowned.

we left our winter cages behind, as if
under an obligation to keep the furnace firing,
for shivers of snowdrifts, a world in a dream.

we’ve finished with landscapes, fading away into the distance
through the window of the bus , gleaming over water in the sunset.
As we rise above the water on the road
towards home sweet home, I can see the vistas are unreal…

Cities, appear in silhouette above the water.
At night, like ghosts we sleep with eyes open.
In cities where we might have lived
away from our loved ones, we return to ourselves.
we have washed away the poisoned rain.
we have put our masks aside for a moment.

Pathos emerges from the driver’s cassette player,
towards our homeland.
we began in the same room, we’ll end in the same room,
but now with a new foreboding of winter.
Remembering the lightheartedness,
the reality of our body parts…
In the corner of the room, in shadows, that mask awaits.



Translated by Biljana D. Obradović



NOTE: Video (You Tube) contains a different translation

About Jasmina Topić

Jasmina Topić is a Serbian authoress mainly focused on writing poetry, but she is also established as an occasional short prose and essay writer; literary reviewer; editor/editor in chief of two significant projects. She started a contemporary poetry edition called "Najbolja" ("The Best") in 2012 and is in-charged in (co)editing as well as book design. She cooperates with the Youth Center in Pančevo as editor-in-chief of the publication "Rukopisi" ("Manuscripts") since 1998 - a collection of young poets and short-prose writers from former Yugoslavia, published annually. Jasmina Topić has seven sole-authored poetry books and several stories printed in journals and specialized thematic books (listed below). Furthermore, she has been continually publishing articles, columns and essays for journals (paper and online) throughout the ex-YU region. Her poetry is often presented in a multimedia context and she managed to present it through video-works in a DVD called "The quiet renewal of the summer" (2008) and also with audio CD "Languages of Poetry", in several languages - prepared for the final exhibition of the AIR program in Graz, Austria (2014) (available on Soundcloud).
Jasmina Topić had the opportunity to be called on a few Artist in residence programs: the "Milo Dor" stipend from KulturKontakt (Vienna, Austria, 2008), Kamov residency (Rijeka, Croatia, 2012), "Tirana in between" (Traduki program, Tirana, Albania, 2013), RONDO residency (Graz, Austria, 2014) and Create in residence (Baltic centre for writers and translators, Visby, Sweden, 2014). At the end of 2019. she was a resident in Krems, Austria, as a part of the writer's exchange project between Austria and Serbia.

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