Poem - Gloves, Poetess - Valentina Novković, (Serbia)

Gloves

Valentina Novković, (Serbia)  

Mother, 

You've been planting violets

And wild strawberries for too long, 

But I can't smell them

From spring to spring. 

You promised me that

One sunny summer we would go

On a journey to dreams, 

We would laugh at the foxes

And wolves who forgot about

The primal hungers.

We will take birch sticks

And use them to make houses

For birds that will not fly south

This year.

Mother, the clouds resemble the donuts

You made for me on those evenings

When the wind would bypass our home, 

The clouds also resemble the frequent moments

Of happiness that you were able

To weave into my braids, 

Saying how warriors hide weaknesses

In their dreams. 

When I stare at the stars long enough,

Mother, 

I see a ball of wool

With which you will knit me gloves

For every winter that

Separates me from you.

Biography:

Valentina Novković, (Serbia) graduate philologist, literary translator, poet and prose writer. Editor at the publishing house Liberland Art and Vračar, translator of works by Russian- and English-speaking authors. Her verses have been translated into 22 languages, she is the winner of many prizes for poetry and prose, she is represented in more than 20 world anthologies. Editor and presenter of the Literary Conversations program. 

She translated into Serbian 15 books by authors from all over the world: Leo Butnaru, Arslan Bajir, Hosiat Rustamova, Kuchkor Narkabil, Mai Van Fan, Eduard Harents, Rahim Karimov, Ali Aliyev and many others... She interviewed more than 200 authors from of the rural world and they were published in relevant periodicals in Serbia. More than 300 poems and stories by authors from all over the world have been published in Serbian literary magazines, and an anthology in which these authors will be represented is being prepared.

Published books: 

Timeless, 2014, poems, 

Drop on dry land, 2018. Parthenon, 

Riddles of tenderness Liberland Art, 2021, 

Heavenly songs, Ace publishing house, 2022, 

Unrest, peace, 2023,

Two hours of real life, 2020, stories

Memories, 2024, (Parthnenon) a novel dedicated to her deceased father.

Winner of many prestigious awards in the field of translation and literature. Naji Naman Award for 2023, first prizes at the international festival in Alanya, 2023, winner of the award for International Cooperation of the publishing house from Pennsylvania, winner of the award of the Karim Karimov Foundation for 2022, winner of the award of the Association of Literary Translators of Montenegro for the best translated book for 2019 and many others prize for poetry, prose and translation. Editor of the literary program Literary Conver

sations at the Milutin Bojić Library in Belgrade