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Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan

Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan is an acclaimed Macedonian poet, essayist and literary critic. He graduated from the Comparative Literature Department, Faculty of Philology ("Blaže Koneski") in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. He works in the National and University Library ("St. Clement of Ohrid") as a Head of the Sector Bibliographic Centre and Referral Centre. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Macedonian literary magazine "Stremež" and a consultant for Macedonian poetry to the director of "The Other Voices International Project" ― an anthology of world poetry, included in the World Poetry Directory of UNESCO.

His books include "Нешто се слуша" (Something Can Be Heard, poetry, 1995), "Визии. Глагол"  (Visions. Verb, poetry, 1997), "Веда" (Lightning, poetry, 1998), "Постојното, плимата" (The Constant, the Tide, literary criticism, essays and studies, 2000), "Клатно" (Pendulum, poetry, 2001), "Небесни стражи" (Heavenly Guards, poetry, 2004), "Посоки и огледи" (Directions and Reflections, literary criticism, essays and studies, 2006), "Синтакса на светлината" (The Syntax of the Light, selected poems, volume 91 in the project "Macedonian Literature", 2008).

With Maja Apostoloska he edited an anthology of Macedonian poetry with religious, biblical and apocryphal motifs, published as a special issue of "Stremež." He is also the compiler of an anthology of Macedonian youth poetry entitled Unidentified Celestial Bosom (2001).

He won The Enchanting Poet Award for excellent contribution in poetry writing, given by The Enchanting Verses International poetry journal. His books were shortlisted twice for the most prestigious Macedonian poetry prize, Miladinov Brothers, and once for the Dimitar Mitrev award given by the Macedonian Writers' Association for literary criticism and essays. His poetry has appeared in many literary magazines and in a number of anthologies and has been translated into several languages. He is a member of the Macedonian Writers' Association, The Poetry Society and of the World Poets Society.



Feast

Insane darkness insatiable darkness
casts its black anchor into the cold sea
and spreads out in gruesome waves
then, as an endless vibration
fells marble pillars,
gnaws shapes
mutes kingdoms
tears the clouds
blankets the East
blatantly snatches
light's sidereal milk
and everything goes down the tubes
insatiable darkness
ugly darkness
insane darkness
immense darkness
infinite



From Above

The angel brandishes
      readings aflame,
the locks of the night
      spreading
      like a cloak

Ready to expire
on a frail shoulder

A boundless verb
      with a crystal pin
extracts dark bruises from the cold bed
      that long ago covered
      the child

From above it removes them,
singed

To leave
the gates of the vault
behind its hard heels



Hey, Mister Sadducee!

He who endlessly spreads out
in white waves
around shabby pillars

He who recklessly sways
the branches of the black tree
rooted in the hot crater

He who faultlessly threads
through the rusty nets
of glances

 ― is gone?!

Translated into English by Marija Girevska
Published in The Macedonian P.E.N. Review, Summer 2007 (ISSN 1409-813X)



Here We Are

We crumble the night on a golden plate
and spatter the milky rhythm
of the spirit

Shall we find it
Shall we remove
the root

The moon peers at us
The sticky strands tie
our frail arteries in knots

Bitter are the shadows of the barbarian key
when the sieve that bears us
decays

This dark onrush will not settle
in our nucleus
We rage!



Momentum: The Border

The footsteps lying weary
at the treacherous threshold,
they hesitate:
shall they choose death as their darling ―
or the raging storm?

O,
slaughterers,
scars,
river beds!

A sting loves the milky soul:
a gentle hand
twists a silver dagger,
like a medal for earthly rituals
at the red spring

Let a dark shriek rise
always



The Abyss Embraces Us

In the brain's furrows
lies the strange hound, ailing to the core
and growling

at curiosity, poor puppy!
The heavy molasses
on its paws sticks ...

We fall, endlessly we fall
and bring forth incensed wasps.

And the crystal lady,
there she goes!

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