Blog

During each residency, guests will publish blog entries through which the interested public will be able to track their journey through the locations included in the project.

Ulysses's Shelter 1 (2018/2019) residents: Christos Armando Gezos, Greece, poetry; Lena Kallergi, Greece, poetry; Vasileia Oikonomou, Greece, poetry; Thanos Gogos, Greece, poetry; Lara Mitraković, Croatia, poetry; Jasmina Mujkić, Croatia, poetry; Goran Čolakhodžić, Croatia, poetry; Antej Jelenić, Croatia, poetry; Urška Kramberger, Slovenia, poetry; Denis Škofič, Slovenia, poetry; Aljaž Koprivnikar, Slovenia, poetry; Katja Gorečan, Slovenia, poetry.
 
Ulysses's Shelter 2 (2020/2022) residents: Maja Klarić, Croatia, poetry; Maja Ručević, Croatia, translation; Dino Pešut, Croatia, prose; Marija Andrijašević, Croatia; prose & poetry; Katja Grcić, Croatia, poetry; Josip Ivanović, Croatia, translation; Eluned Gramich, Wales, prose; Steven Hitchins, Wales, poetry; Lloyd Markham, Wales, prose; Elan Grug Muse, Wales, prose; Dylan Moore, Wales, prose & non-fiction travel writing; Morgan Owen, Wales, poetry; Maša Seničić, Serbia, poetry; Nataša Srdić, Serbia, translation; Danilo Lučić, Serbia, prose; Goran Stamenić, Serbia, prose; Katarina Mitrović, Serbia, poetry & prose; Vitomirka Trebovac, Serbia, poetry & prose; Dejan Koban, Slovenia, poetry; Davorin Lenko, Slovenia, prose; Katja Zakrajšek, Slovenia, translation; Tomo Podstenšek, Slovenia, prose, novel & short stories; Uroš Prah, Slovenia, poetry & translation; Ana Svetel, Slovenia, poetry & prose; Thomas Tsalapatis, Greece, prose; Marilena Papaioanou, Greece, prose; Dimitris Karakitsos, Greece, poetry; Filia Kanellopoulou, Greece, poetry; Nikolas Koutsodontis, Greece, poetry; Iakovos Anyfantakis, Greece, prose.
 
Ulysses's Shelter 3 (2022/2023) residents: Sven Popović, Croatia, prose, translation; Marina Gudelj, Croatia, prose; Tibor Hrs Pandur, Slovenia, poetry & translation; Ajda Bračič, Slovenia, pose; Sergej Harlamov, Slovenia, poetry; Tonia Tzirita Zacharatou, Greece, poetry; Marios Chatziprokopiou, Greece, poetry; Ivana Maksić, Serbia, poetry; Ognjen Aksentijević, Serbia, poetry & prose; Jake Butttigieg, Malta, poetry, prose & translation; Matthew Schembri, Malta, poetry, prose & translation; Jan Škrob, Czech Republic, poetry & translation; Marek Torčik, Czech Republic, poetry & prose; Esyllt Angharad Lewis, Wales, translation & prose; Ruqaya Izzidien, Wales, translation.

 

Marios Chatziprokopiou: I HAD YET TO MEET HELIOGAVALUS

The Doctor said:

“Maybe there’ll be no need for

an Operation.

Maybe with some toning exercises

at the gym

they’ll be fine.”

At some point, age fourteen,

I palpated them

And out came a thick white liquid

like milk

                    I was frightened

                    I was glad

 

[ and what if I am really a woman?

since a persistent itch between the legs

since the moistened skin, seems about to break open?]

 

The Doctor

ordered tests. I was hoping

for female hormones, in a diagnosed

legitimate

rescued body.

 

Mother came with the test results

[a murderous banner]

in hand: “A Man,

good and proper!”

 

[Have I ever seen her more overjoyed?]

 

And: “look at this hair growth”, a family friend

pointed at me – back seat, a Sunday ride.

The thighs thickly sprouting, forest-like

while on the flabby torso breasts

jingled.

 

                                    “And if we go through

with the operation?”

 

“The operation

will take care of esthetics, long-term”, said the Doctor,

“Though when the shirt comes off – something all too easy for a guy –

two white scars

will be visible.”

 

Under the nipples.

Under the puffy,

as if milk-filled, nipples of the adolescent. 

 

A heaven-sent in winter

the snugness of clothes.

But there comes

spring, there comes

the outdoors season, of humid heat   

                              Season of sweat

 

                                                                         season of bad-aid!

 

                                                        [ Besides,

mother too, at fourteen, tightly bound

her breasts in a wrap, to avoid being

unwittingly

provocative ]

 

Oftentimes

the pain.

Now, I know, it’s called

angina pectoris. Then, I thought

It was the breasts breaking out.

 

                                                        [That little girl had said as much – summertime,

before junior high school, at the village

uphill on the way to grandma’s;                    

     she stood stock still:

                                                                               “it hurts

                                                       my chest hurts as it’s growing”.

 

A few days before she had cried

over the first blood, her mother being complicit comforting

for the crime of being a woman. And:                                                     

“I want a boy cousin

not a girl!”

 

She’d said it one night she had me to herself. We were dancing Lambada. “How

can I explain? Mind

how you dance, mind

how you do your hair, how

we play princesses!”

 

I couldn’t make sense of it. She also said

“Gypsies devour children”. “The Turks

get earthquakes from God for their just desserts”. Plumb, carefree children. And, already, fear in orbit. The slaughter

merely imminent ]

 

But for now

“Gym. Gym. And toning exercises”, recommends the Doctor

Because the operation, indelible mark. “Gym.”

The father too roars, bright red:

“And not another word about operations”.


IMPRESSUM

 

Sandorf - publishing house founded in 2008, engaged in Croatian literature and literature in translation, and in a wide range of books in humanities.

 

Center for Research and Promotion of Urban Culture (CIP) is a non-profit association that has existed for twenty years. Established in 1998, it operates in the areas of culture and art, urbanism, youth mobility and social dialogue.

 

Editor in chief: Ivan Sršen

Managing editor: Jana Smrekar

Editorial board: Matko Abramić, Thanos Gogos, Sena Zereyak
Graphic editor: Nikša Eršek

Website maintenance: Nabukodonozor d.o.o.

 

 




 

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