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