Goran Stamenić
Goran Stamenić (1990.) is a writer and translator, working in the fields of poetry and language experimentation. His first published poetry collection Sveti magnet (Holy magnet, 2016, Treći Trg, Belgrade) deals with political uses of images and language. Ever since, he has been exploring poetic forms through mediums of translated texts, essays and music. Since 2014, he has been teaching creative writing to younger writers. His work has been translated to English, Welsh and German.
His residency in Caernarfon as part of the Ulysses’ Shelter programme including working with Iestyn Tyne on Welsh translations of his poems, an example of which can be found below:
A1 (English translation by Vesna Stamenković)
highway crumbles when, a blink ahead of us,
bride’s stone appears. by the end of the road hikers are resting in a church
prayers have long been written on the rocks in these parts
so that rivers would flow through the bushes
bringing forth beds of green bulbs,
so that someone would cut down the dynasty of rocks and gymnosperms
more sleepy than an army of crickets caught in resin
prayers for the magic of solemn children, their sweaters and the soles of their feet
so that it may all last and end and start again:
our tiresome roaming through other people’s valleys
eyes return to the bottom just in time to see
north narrowing down and suddenly vanishing from view.
A1 (Welsh translation by Iestyn Tyne)
mae’r briffordd yn briwsioni pan, amrantiad o’n blaenau,
dacw graig y briodferch. wrth ben draw’r ffordd mae cerddwyr yn gorffwys mewn eglwys
ers achau ysgrifennwyd gweddiau ar y creigiau yn y parthau hyn
er mwyn i afonydd lifo trwy’r gwrychoedd
fel bod gwelyau o fylbiau glas yn blaguro,
fel y byddai rhywun yn torri ar deyrnas y creigiau a’r hadnoethion
cysglytach na byddin o locustiaid wedi’u dal mewn resin
gweddiau am hudoliaeth plant difrifddwys, eu siwmperi a gwadnau eu traed
er mwyn i’r cyfan barhau a gorffen a dechrau drachefn:
ein crwydro blinderus trwy ddyffrynnoedd pobl eraill
ein llygaid yn dychwelyd at y gwaelod jest mewn pryd i weld
y gogledd yn culhau ac yn diflannu’n sydyn o’n golwg.
and a hybrid public event of readings and conversation.
His blog post on the theme of isolation can be found here
