Marija Knežević
Translated from the Serbian by Sibelan Forrester
To be a thing
without use value.
To be a thing that gains value over time
though no one knows why.
To let yourself be called
a decorative item.
To hear that you’re superfluous.
To hear they can’t make it without you.
To breathe inside yourself.
To change owners.
To be unpossessed.
To be an object of admiration.
To change locations,
to avoid migration.
To be satisfied.

To be a ship.
Face turned to the sea floor to be
on both sides of the deep.
To leave a trace
not for eternity.
To sail in.
To sail out
the same way.
To be loved in harbors.
To be a ship.
To love
the better part of life in open sea
to dream of harbors.

To avoid waiting. To move
always by the same path
from harbor back towards it.
Entranced by the nets on deck.
To transform cargo into stories.
To be a ship.
To bear yourself without effort.

To be kin. To anyone.
To men, women, algae,
tigers leaping at a deer,
lotuses settled in their own tears,
islands, caves who have at least one
chamber unexplored
to be related.

To love you
and never to learn it.
To be always suddenly
new joy and unexpected pain.

To avoid existence.
A drop
on your skin
that’s already a memory of touch.
The drop’s already another drop.

To be actually never.
To be now.
Singularity in passage.



Početak Kartografije

Biti stvar
bez upotrebne vrednosti.
Biti stvar koja vremenom dobija na vrednosti
a niko ne zna zašto.
Dozvoliti da te nazivaju
ukrasnim predmetom.
Čuti da si višak.
Čuti da se bez tebe ne može.
Disati u sebi.
Menjati vlasnike.
Biti neposedovan.
Biti predmet divljenja.
Premeštati se,
izbeći seobe.
Biti dovoljan.

Biti brod.
Licem okrenut dnu biti
na oba kraja dubine.
Ostavljati trag
ne večan.
Uplovljavati.
Isplovljavati
na isti način.
Biti voljen u lukama.
Biti brod.
Voleti
veći deo života na otvorenom moru
sanjati o lukama.

Izbeći čekanje. Kretati se
uvek istom stazom
od luke ka njoj.
Zabavljen mrežama na palubi.
Pretvarati tovar u priče.
Biti brod.
Nositi sebe bez napora.

Biti rod. Svakome.
Muškarcima, ženama, algama,
tigrovima u skoku na jelena,
lotosima nastanjenim u sopstvenim suzama,
ostrvima, pećinama čija je bar jedna
odaja neispitana
biti orođen.

Voleti tebe
a to nikad ne saznati.
Biti uvek iznenada
nova radost i neočekivani bol.

Izbeći postojanje.
Kap
na tvojoj koži
koja je već sećanje na dodir.
Kap je već druga kap.

Biti zapravo nikad.
Biti sad.
Jednina u prolazu.
from the book BREATHING TECHNIQUE / Zephyr Press
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