Anthologist: Mirza Purić
Preface: Marko Pogačar
Translator: Asimina Xirogianni
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Martina Vidaić, Mateja Jurčević, Davor Ivankovac, Dinko Kreho, Lucija Butković, Alen Brlek, Antonija Novaković, Marija Dejanović, Darko Šeparović, Monika Herceg
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A few words as preface or millenia in crouched start position
The young poets featured in this volume appeared in the poetry scene during of the past decade, except for Dinko Kreho, whose debut was published a bit earlier. They belong to the younger generation of Croat poets, who got off the ground (or are still underway) after my own generation – ignoring the fact that I am the same age as several of the poets included in this anthology. All of them – again, with the exception of Dinko Kreho – published their poetry debuts after participating in two of the most important Croatian poetry awards: the Goran Prize for Young Poets, which is awarded to the best poetry submission by an unpublished poet not older than 30 years and the Na vrh jezika Prize for poets under 35 years of age. In my capacity as member of the committees of both awards, I had the opportunity to watch all these poets since the start of their careers, and my own view of the poetic terrain – and my own choices, for that matter – wouldn’t be very different than those of Mirza Purić, who is a literary translator with an unusual awareness and interest for poetry. Nevertheless, I ought to mention a few more names, whose omission would render the unabridged version of this poetic selection incomplete: Marija Andrijasevic, Mario Glavaš, Željka Horvart Čeč and Goran Čolakhodžić.
Even a quick glance at the poems reveals a rather diverse range of poetic styles and trends. Nevertheless, all poets share two common grounds: their style has been developed mostly in accordance with the domestic poetic canon. Those youngest among the ten poets, in particular, demonstrate several poetic parallels and common points of departure that become denser as the selection of writers becomes narrower and narrower.
The confessional glance of Martina Vidaić extends from the porous base of the body to the superstructure of alienation. The style of Mateja Jurčević is typified by fragmentary associative slaloms. The poems of Davor Ivankovac blend the melancholy of the plains together with the neurosis of the digital age. Dinko Kreho’s epigrammatic letters are rooted in the essentiality of language. The analytic and dystopian imagination of Lucija Butković submerges into zootechnics. Alen Brlek resorts to classical wordplays and exploration of small glitches in the lexical and semantic web of language. The hero in Antonija Novaković’s verses displays a shimmering collage-like quaintness as he becomes lost in the great animal that is the city. Marija Dejanović’s lines traverse multidimensional symbolic lattices. The bourgeois subject of Darko Šeparović embraces the neoexistentialism of the end of the millennium. Genealogy, microhistory and female emancipation are shifted in the captivating metaphors of Monika Herceg.
This selection offers readers a potential yet clearly vibrant view of the status of younger Croatian poetry at the second decade of the 21st century. As Lawrence Ferlinghetti would advise, surrender to it, dear readers, with open eyes and open minds.
Marko Pogačar
