The Morning Movers: community poetry from Serbia

The recent protests in Belgrade, Serbia reminded me this week of the community arts inspired programme, PASCO, we developed with Camilla Lokvig and Jelena Luetic between 2009 and 2012.  Camilla’s was an interesting story in that her first encounter of community arts practice in LIPA was very much against her will: its open, ambiguous and organic approach to developing a piece of theatre (in this case, an interpretation of Gunter Grass’s The Tin Drum) was completely contrary to what she had experienced before and propelled her completely out of comfort zone.  But before too long she had experienced the value of that practice and had become a firm and enthusiastic advocate.  So much so that she was instrumental in developing and producing the Community Arts fuelled PASCO Project with Jelena Luetic.

Based in the small town of Obrenovac, our first piece of work with local teachers, artists and students tapped into that enthusiasm and we created a small anthology of poetry (The Morning Movers) which reflected people’s hopes, fears and anxieties about their lives in Serbia in that time. Here are some fragments of that work:

Обреновац је соба без зидова.

Стиже јесен

Страствена

Шума

Померам

Себе у себи

Чекам

Obrenovac is the room without the walls

Fall is coming

Passionate,

Wood.

Move

Myself in myself

Waiting.

———

Вечера је била романтична, падао је снег.

Та слика остаје у мени.

Dinner was romantic, snow fell. 

That picture stays in me.

———

У земљаној постељи нема места са покретаче јутра.

Мисли – људи,

Силина покрета.

In soil bed there is no room for mover of morning.

Thoughts – people,

Vehemence of movement.

———–

Волим живот.

Сећање на догађај

Желим сјај љубави.

I love life.

Remembrance for event

I like love glow.

———-

Кад удахнути желиш

Дођи у град који лежи смештен на две реке.

When you like to inhale

Come into the city placed on two rivers.

——–

Облаци у шуми

Реке оптимизма

Снага у нади стварања

Нада. Жеља. Моћ.

Трава ћути!

Clouds in wood

River of optimism

Power in hope of creation

Hope. Wish. Power.

Grass is shutting up!

———

Добар човек бициклиста!

Планинаре завадио.

Ишла песма

„Има дана“

Сунце, вода – запевао! 

Good man this bicyclist!

Quarrels the mountaineers!

Song went on.

There are the days

Sun, water – he sang!

————-

Смех, свуда провод је, клупе у парку за љубав везује,

Срећан пар у биоскопу је,

Све је љубав,

Као цвеће лепо

Laugh, entertainment everywhere,

Benches in the park for love attached

Happy couple is in cinema.

Love is everything

Beautiful as flowers.

I’m not sure whether a similar anthology is being drawn together after the current protests: but I hope that someone, somewhere is collecting the poetry of the people who are shaping the country’s future.