Translated by Danijela Trajković
Marketing Fraud
it’s good that there are commercials
about great new things
where your consciousness travels to
removed from the courage of the decision
somebody else makes your decision
and tells you to believe in every word
which is paid per second for the duration
it’s good that there are commercials
how to know what to buy
even when you do not buy anything
because the beginning of all the beginnings
it’s based on lies
Philosophy Lessons
I have not told you about the world in the way
we have been taught about it
nor as seen by the eyes of others
everything loses meaning as the time passes
because other people’s lie is unsustainable
for a higher level of knowledge
even if we call it the truth
how to explain the notion of axiom essence
you remember your enthusiasm when
I introduced you to the first wise person[1]
you told me the ancient world was not dead
you see I had to notice the majority
who have forgotten Aesop
in this fast and frantic time
forgotten New Testament
and uses the quotations
for the foundation of their wise books
I told you everything spreads over
as large as we choose alone
a path from you to me is not of the same length
as the path from me to you
none of us will ever measure that with certainty
so your town is lighter than mine
although we live in the same town
it has nothing to do with my periphery
and your center
perhaps has to do more with the times
of nights out
a daily carnival of masks
has survived for centuries
you do not realize it
but I’m going to tell you about one day
you know the day
when the company your mother
was working there went bankrupt
you were saying it would be
a half lesser of good things at home
I wanted to tell you that the value of all was fictitious
and watching the tear on your cheek
I was pretty sure
weight can not be determined
but still I only kept silent beside you
for a while
as doing something
appropriate and meant
[1] celebrities who write the fairy-tale stuff
A View From Two Rooms
on your relaxing sofa
I saw some drawings
in which one could stay forever
later few questions followed
I gave negative answers
in complete negation of everything
I managed for you to disappear
on my relaxing sofa
you saw the drawings with no meaning
after winning the affection
the questions were flowing out of me stereotypically
your no was giving some hope
then you said you were possessed by chaos
and that I did not even exist for you
like this to a nonexistent shape
you gave the formation
About the author:
Nenad Trajkovic (Pirot, Serbia, 1982) is a Serbian poet, essayist, literary critic and translator. He graduated from Faculty of Law, University of Kragujevac, Serbia. He has published three collections of poetry, Traces (2008), I’m Taking You to the Museum (2011), and Wind From The Tongue (2016, for which he got The Rade Tomic Prize). His works have been widely published and translated into English, German, French, Polish, Macedonian, Slovakian, Russian and Bulgarian. He is a founder and editor of an online international literary magazine Pisanija. He lives and works in Vranje, Southern Serbia.
