Translated from the Serbian by Ana Božičević
I returned to town
to find them standing
between
the gallery and the café
stiff, staring at the concrete
and waiting for midnight to draw the blinds on
another day
I returned and saw masses
of lifeless young flesh
on the streets and sidewalks
mangy leering
cats
that eat out of anyone’s hand
and only talk about themselves
O, how well
I knew the town
I was born
how I felt despair pulse
each mote of dust
born and dying
in this place I also belong to
I wanted to vanish
smash with my fist
the window of the claustrophobic
submarine of consciousness
and lift from my shoulders
the weight of the ocean
on whose floor I run
still
with the sure step
of an ancient habit
I stood by them
swallowed the small sour carton
and joined in that moment of silence
I stared at the concrete
and breathed in cigarette smoke
the town groaned
under solitude’s stampede
shoes of all shapes and colors
fell from the sky
& I kissed the ones
I love best
black pointy stilettos