Poetry & Words

Nasvidenje: An Original Poem

The Poetry Pub is hosting a November Poem-a-Day challenge. I’m not sure I’ll participate every day this month, but we’ll see! It’s good to stretch my writing muscles in a non-commercial, non-blogging way. You can see the prompts for each day of the challenge here, on The Poetry Pub’s Instagram account. The first prompt was “hello”, and here’s what I wrote —

hello 
is the opposite 
of what i said
standing in the mist.

i was seven, 
and Slovenia 
was simultaneously 
two months old
yet also centuries.

Se usmili.

Babica wore her 
best calico
her best apron
and the string of pearls
matched the pearl of tears
sliding down her cheek.

revolution slunk
behind the rising sun.

she said the opposite of hello
as the willow arms dipped low
and brushed me with dew.

Se usmili, Gospod.
Se usmili.

i walked backwards down
Taborska Cesta,
leaving behind
the bread on the table
the sparrows in the bushes
Tito in his frame
over the door
in the market
with the gap-toothed shelves.

the magpies on red clay
were frozen
breadless before dawn.

Nasvidenje
is what i said
standing in the mist.

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