KATICA KULAVKOVA
b. 1951

Born in Titov Veles. Studied literature in Skopje: works at the Literature Institute of the Philosophical Faculty in Skopje. Several volumes of poetry and some literary criticism. Has been translated into Serbo-Croat. She translates from Serbo-Croat and French. Winner of two prizes.

THE MYSTERIOUSNESS OF YOUR TONGUE
The tongue is never sufficient unto itself

The hymens of words are bursting
spattering blood - an unlyrical saliva
penetration lubricated in sagacity.

Fragrant lances sink inside
but right inside
the tongue's anagram is
an insatiable game
from my gullet to yours

The more archaic
the more festive
the dialect of love
the hymn of the lips
the red forecourt of the throat

give it to me
spirally
spiritually
ritually
honey-baked
peasant bread, tongue-bread
tongue on the spit, earth rust-red
take it from me
give it to me!

We think up lingual digressions
excursions to pure regions of the world
reciprocal situation plays:
The god of our tongue is dead
(therefore he's God)
now we have every right
to reshape him
to change him
between us, so that magnanimously
we're consumed by fire

both in dream
and in reality.

THE NECK
- a neuralgic spot -

The neck - a gateway to Mycenae
(not all the tombs are open to the public)
from the dregs of the subconscious - history
there turns its objects of value
forward and backward
art not for art's sake
the twentieth century arrives unexpectedly

The general bewilderment is not enough
to change woman's appearance
the provocation of her neck
"In certain conditions
the archetype is detrimental to..." or
"The cult is organic matter: it is not lost
- it is transformed", etc.

news that makes us happy:
youthfulness of appearance (Modigliani)
vines of a new kind of beauty
- and Tsvetayeva's invisible fingers
on the back of a long stubborn winter
a mime of silent protest

all in all
the anti-grammar of despair
- know thyself

moreover (by association from the neck)
straits which pulsate - hope squeezed tight
a gorge in which a double bass groans
and manly argonauts
from other worlds
do not abandon their pursuit
the entry into woman is infinitely long

your will be done
your free will!