002

in one of my villages (yes, I’m a hillbilly)
lives a knucklehead.

during the war he composed
folk-decasyllables
dedicated to president Tudjman.
that was then a popular hobby
in my homeland.

that, naturally, did not stop others
from considering him a knucklehead.

except for old Ivan who would say:
“True, he’s a knucklehead, but, by God, everything falls into place for him.”
he meant rhyme.

despite his ignorance of
the trends in contemporary poetry,
it cannot be denied that Ivan is
de facto an artist.

his peaches are always the fullest.



P.S.    my apologies to the people of Naklice
               who don’t share my opinion regarding Ivan’s peaches.
               I wrote it because of the punch line.

P.P.S.    my apologies to Ivan because of the apology to
               the people of Naklice.
               I wrote it so that
               the punch line would not seem too cheesy.

002

002

u jednom od mojih sela (da, ja sam seljačina)
živi jedan redikul.

za vrijeme rata bavio se pisanjem
narodnih deseteraca
posvećenih Tuđmanu.
to je tada bio popularan hobi
u mom zavičaju.

to, naravno, nije spriječilo ostale
da ga i dalje smatraju redikulom.

osim starog Ivana koji je govorio:
“Ma je redikul, ali, bogami, sve mu se slaže.”
mislio je na rimu.

unatoč njegovom nepoznavanju
trendova u suvremenoj poeziji,
ne može se poreći da je Ivan
de facto umjetnik.

njegove breskve svake godine najbolje rode.



P.S.     ispričavam se svim stanovnicima Naklica
               koji je dijele mišljenje o Ivanovim breskvama.
               to sam napisao radi poante.

P.P.S.    ispričavam se Ivanu zbog isprike ostalim
               stanovnicima Naklica.
               to sam napisao da poanta
               ne djeluje prejeftino.