A WOMAN

Written by Risto Vasilevski

Translated from the Serbian by Sergej Macura

Narrated by Bill Wolak

Serbia

 

She lay naked on the glowing hot sand

away from a multitude of voices

carried from the sea and the land

thumbing through an ornate book

 

Her body grew red hot by the sun

and rippled in the light

like a cascade of unstained mountain water

 

I listed the names

to call her by

tried tongue-tied

to dive into her thoughts

sent waves of touch

to her most sensitive spots

which can’t help

betraying themselves

if they touch them at all

 

She did not defend herself

but she concealed the signs

of all that pleased her

 

Only before sunset

when my shadow stretched to the full

and covered all her beauty

did she turn around

smiled at me mysteriously

rippled the other

side of her body

 

As if she had felt the pressure

of my hands on her breasts

the pollen of my breath on her lips

in order to cool down from them

she stepped into the sunset water

sailing out to high seas

 

From there came

only the murmur of water

and washed over

all my being

 

 

Risto Vasilevski (1943, Nakolec, Macedonia)  is an academician, poet, essayist, literary critic, writer for children, anthologist, translator, publisher, who writes in the Macedonian and Serbian languages. To date, he has translated into the those languages: 36 books of poetry, two books of poetry for children, two novels in verse for children, and 28 books of selected poetry. His own works have been translated into 26 foreign languages.  He has translated from Macedonian into Serbian and vice versa, edited and published more than 80 books of selected poetry and prose works by other writers. In addition, he has translated and published more than 190 poetry, prose, drama and essayistic works from Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Turkish, Slovene and Ukraine into Serbian and Macedonian.  Vasilevski has edited and published 10 poetry anthologies, among which the three volume anthology „Lasting Legacy”, encompassing poetry by 18 national minorities and ethnic communities in Serbia, which was declared the publishing project of the year at the Belgrade International Book Fair. He is the recepient of around 50 major national and international awards, including: the World’s Golden Writer; the Golden key to Smederevo International Poetry Festival Smederevo Poetry Autumn (Serbia); the Little Nobel Prize, „Андреј Бел”, Crystal Feather (Russia) „Francesco Petrarca (Italia); the Poeta Laureautus,  „Braća Miladinovci” Award of the Struga Poetry Evenings, and many others. Risto Vasislevski is a member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Slavic Academy of Literature and Arts (Varna, Bulgaria), International Academies “Mihai Eminescu”, The Ukrainian Academy of Literature and Arts and the Russian Academy of Literature;  the International Writers Association  (Riga, Latvia), the Association of Writers of Macedonia, the Association of Writers of Serbia and the Association of Literary Translators of Serbia. He is founder of the International Poetry Festival „The Smederevo Poetry Autumn”. He edited several newspapers and magazines, and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Videlo journal, a member of the editorial boards of the magazine Mons Aureus and Literary Newspaper. He is Manager of the Publishing House „Arka” from Smederevo, with its publishing office in Skopje.

 

Zoran Ančevski and Sergej Macura are two of  Risto Vasilevski’s many English translators.