World! Believe me! It will come Very soon And I shall call it My Day And I shall trust That it exists Just like His smile His words Exist Just like My poetry In its wilderness Exists Just like Everything But myself Exists Translated by Alma Jeftić
Memories, stones of the past in a motionless foundation Build us for an eternity Memories, birds of the north open the doors of darkness, and the doors of light, and again fly south Memory, colorful rugs Woven with threads of cobweb Spread out for flight Flight Flight from the foundation. Translated by Keith Doubt
I’d prefer to watch with delight the mastery of a crow as it cracks a walnut (the hidden substance reachable only by shattering a world) and then drops it from above a busy city intersection and then waits for the boring cars to pass so that she can feast on it I’d prefer to go to the Botanical Garden of […]
The day and sky above, In their proper places. A neat image for survival. It’s good, I say, It’s good. Bones under the ground, A table on the ground, A fruit bowl on the table. Grapes and plums. We’re in the shade of the tree, Wind in the tree-top, slow, so we can feel its breath. We do not watch […]
Street lamps were burning on all sides and the decorated trees were shining bright. Petards, rockets, fireworks. The celebratory shooting made the atmosphere relaxing, almost home-like. I told her about a Dane to whom, over beer and in miserable English, I’d tried to explain why I wasn’t going home for Christmas. We pressed against each other in the cold, tiny […]
Lord, who brought me to this moment unseen guide me farther still to my final wish Do not leave me, tired and alone in the middle of the road my cheeks are pale and my thoughts dangle helplessly like my arms Lord Let the new blue morning Lift up my tired thoughts Let a surge of fresh red blood pass […]
Never had I much … Never had I lacked … Yet … I shared In the village of Vrpolje, near Trebinje, there is a necropolis comprising eighteen stećaks. One of them bears an inscription indicating that it is the resting place of Prefect Medulin. The inscription indicates that he was not a rich man, though he always did good deeds. […]
When I was a student of philosophy before the war, I was puzzled by one aspect of Socrates’ teaching. Namely, in Plato’s dialogue the Gorgias, Socrates, in discussion with Polus, says that injustice is the greatest evil. To Polus’ question whether he would rather suffer injustice or to do injustice Socrates replies that he would not want either, but if […]
This paper provides a brief overview of the position of philosophy in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last thirteen years. Philosophy is studied on five philosophical faculties or universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo (The University of Sarajevo), Faculty of Philosophy in East Sarajevo (The University of East Sarajevo), Faculty of Philosophy in Tuzla (The University […]
Here lies Ahmat Stuk on his noble land. Let it be known that since my brother carved this stone and it was laid in the field upon me, never a traveller on earth nor a star by night will lose its way. In my death I have become a waypost. In the 1192nd Year of Our Lord, in the month […]
The National Museum in Sarajevo is a unique monument, not only of culture, but also of an innovative concept of interdisciplinary collaboration between the humanities and social sciences. It was established in 1888 as a showcase of the new Austro-Hungarian rule following the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It brought together the study of geography, geology, archaeology, and folklore; it […]
There have been only two successful, indigenous Communist-led revolutions in Europe’s history. The first was the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and the second and last was the revolution in the western Balkans, specifically Yugoslavia and Albania, that took place during World War II. Whereas the first of these revolutions has generated an enormous quantity of scholarly literature in the English […]
This is a short catalogue of my passions linked with Bosnia: this is not a nostalgic narrative, but rather an overview of texts, people, and things that largely determined my life. As an only child who lived on books in a Belgrade family of limited means, I enjoyed considerable privileges. Among other things (once they had taken out a cash […]
Like a bird sitting On the right Hand Oops Flies away My bird Translated by Keith Doubt
He should have a tranquil face saying how you were together once and how those times glow beyond all other times. There should be two women you two have pleased countless times, whose little laurels of fat tremble delicately when they smile. There should also be a beach, a pebbled beach, and a couple of kids gazing at the pebbles […]
Throughout its existence, Bosnia has been a religiously pluralist society. The various Christian churches, Judaism, and Islam, plus numerous syncretic forms, as reflected in one language and their various experiences with it, have contributed to this plurality. In the modern era, this means that Bosnia is considered an anomaly, because its pluralist culture does not readily fit into modern nation-based […]
[One] Here lies Berko Miotoš, on his noble land. If you would my tombstone overturn, overturn it, but spare your arms and legs. This stone is too heavy to move, and far too heavy to overturn. Its weight has blistered my bones. If you would still tread my bones Do, and the Good Lord and I shall forgive, but do […]
The Extravagant State Structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina The extravagant state structure inaugurated by the Dayton Agreement resulted in, among other things, a series of negative effects on the education sector. According to a recent study, “From the very beginning, the Constitution created a decentralized, asymmetric, and defective education management system that has undermined unity in educational policies, common educational goals, […]
This hand says to you stop And contemplate your own hands. Translated by Keith Doubt
With hand raised to endless sky To great monuments around me I say All daily words entangled by the grave Which ensnare me in painful motion Pain magnifying on the way To the one Stop I say to the sun That scorches my scalp To the ground that holds me firm To the day that leaves again To the ancient […]