Elvira Kujovic was born in Novi Pazar, Serbia. She has studied English Literature and Law. She started writing in 2013 and published two poetry books. The first book was published in Berlin in 2016 and bears the name “Ein Gedicht schreit auf aus meiner Brust”. The second book was published in Belgrade, Serbia and bears the name “Love and fear”. She has won an award for poetry writing in Italy and has participated in numerous poetry festivals. Her poems are translated into mainly English and Italian.
Photo credit: Janko Ferlic
Recyclers of Evil
By Elvira Kujovic
Translated from German by Nejla Kujovic
The evil lives deeper than just in the head
it must have roots in the heart
it must have nested in it.
Slowly and safely
it grows into our stomach
so that it would come out
from our mouth,
from the eyes it will spout,
from the ears it will hiss,
from the skin and each pore
it will scream.
The evil possesses the man
in a whole
and at one moment,
a man is no longer a man
not even a devil anymore,
only evil, only evil,
unintelligent evil.
Stupid, vulgar, low thoughts
are not man-like from his birth,
we collect them from somewhere,
from one of the paths of our life.
I have no idea when and where
we have found and carefully watched them.
Each of us come across our way
that dirt
and pick it up.
We are the recyclers of evil
which again and again
rises in us,
but always in a new shape
from our skin it bursts.
Photo credit: Christian Langballe
I Forgot You
By Elvira Kujovic
Stone in the chest,
tears in the eyes,
night in the tatters,
and you in my thoughts.
The lone man stood in the rain,
dog was in the bucket
and the trampled flowers cried.
The last smoke fled, somebody ran away
and my heart beats strong,
stronger, stronger than ever,
while one shadow passed by
and I thought it was yours.
My hand covered my mouth
and hid my heart deep under the skin
wet from the rain,
one tear touched my face,
and the dog went away,
the lone man, met and hugged somebody
the flowers cried sadly again
and the stone turned into the sand.
The tear evaporated from my eye
the shadow disappeared
like darkness in the dark
my heart stopped beating
and I forgot you.