Poem

Predrag Lucić

Side by side

Širok Sokak

Milton Manaki
Is caught in a cross-fire:
Bronze partisans
Fight knights of the Jedi

The war is raging
The Red Star versus
Lucas’ Star Warriors
The revenge of the Sith
Or
The revenge of Tito
Whichever prevails!

And in the heat
Of the battle
A somebody-nobody
Neither a partisan nor a knight
A specimen of a sort
And a flabby one indeed
Enters the frame shouting:

This is the Slovenian consulate.
Photographing the premises
Is not allowed!

I lower my camera.
Hey, Manaki, do you hear this idiot?
I say.

But Manaki hardly flinches
And silently takes his shot.
Maybe he knows

Maybe he knows
That the day shall come
When some chargé d\'affaires
Will order him in a flat voice
To put away his camera
For security reasons
And to step away immediately
Manaki

It’s all ready for the final shot
The idiot is about to step into the frame
And I somehow fear that even Judgment Day
May feel very much like this

Some junior clerk from Saint Peter’s Office
Will turn up and order everyone to part in peace
Since no gathering has been announced
Not even in the Kedron Valley
Or on the Mount of Olives
Or at the Golden Gate

And may angels pray as they should
That the wire be removed
Because if the municipal serviceman turns up
Then God help them
For Doomsday will be nigh

Širok Sokak: the main street in the town of Bitola, Macedonia, where today a number of consulates and embassies are situated. Milton Manaki (1882–1964): Macedonian cinematographer and a pioneer of what once used to be known as “Yugoslav cinematography”. His monument still stands in his native Bitola where he lived and died.

Širok Sokak

Milton Manaki
U unakrsnoj vatri
Brončanih partizana
I vitezova Jedija

Traje rat zvijezda petokraka
I Lucasovih zvjezdanih ratnika
Osveta Sitha
Ili
Osveta Tita
Pa tko se osveti

Kad je najnapetije
U kadar ulazi
Nekakav štajaznam
Ni partizan ni vitez
Nekakav primjerak vrste
Poprilično dežmekast

Tu je slovenski konzulat
Viče
Nije dopušteno snimanje objekta

Spuštam aparat i pitam
Je li Manaki
Jesi li čuo budalu

Manaki ne trza
Šuti
I hvata svoju sliku
Jer možda zna

Možda zna
Da taj dan će doći
Kad će mu otpravnik poslova neki
Konfekcijskim kazati glasom
Kameru svoju da skloni
I iz sigurnosnih razloga
Odmah da se makne
Manaki

Sve je spremno za posljednju sliku
Budala tek što ne uleti u kadar
A ja sve nešto se bojim
Da i Sudnji dan bit će takav

Da doći će nekakav tamo
Niži pristav iz ureda Svetoga Petra
I narediti da svi se raziđu u miru
Jer nitko nije prijavio nikakav skup
Ni u Kedronskoj dolini
Ni iznad nje
Ni na Maslinskoj gori
Ni pred Vratima milosnim

I anđeli da lijepo se mole
Da sklone tu razapetu žicu
Jer dođe li im komunalni redar
Vidjet će i svoga Boga
I Sudnji će vidjet mu dan