WHEN THE FIREFLY IS GONE Page #2

WHEN THE FIREFLY IS GONE is a book, significantly and distinctively diverging from the contest of domestic and even regional - Balkan, literary publications by being written in three languages: in Serbian, English and Arabic. WHO IS THE POET, DE FACTO? Saša Milivojev, acts from the shadow, from some kind of poet’s sanctum and a kind of bunker. He is, on some part, boyishly incorrupt and supremely regally aestheticized. On the other side of this reflexive quill, he is livid, valiant, trenchant and semantically extreme. At times it may seem that his poetry bleeds into a kiss, at times it bites vividly sinking its teeth.

• Poetry

								


SPASOJE Ž. MILOVANOVIĆ (Dramatist):

"Saša Milivojev transforms his affinity for different forms of artistic expression into verses with skilful precision, amazing us with his musicality, picturesqueness, and the multiple meanings of each chosen word. The modern expression and structural complexity of his verses make him one of the most gifted poets..."

DANICA AĆIMAC (Actress):

"Of all artists, I have always loved poets the most, not because they have dedicated their poems to me, but because a poet is an intermediary between God and people. The poetry of Saša Milivojev is very unusual; it extends through several dimensions and stimulates some new senses in the reader. He communicates with abstract worlds in which he finds his peace. Because of his unrequited love - a love he gives unconditionally, he runs away finding refuge in various religions. He communicates with the universe, nature, and people leaving, whom he sees through his "dirty windows". He communicates with fairies, Allah, and almighty gods who have bestowed upon him the gift of a lonesome healer. Nine/Evening/A bright speck soars/Darkness from the sky/The spinning of a wedding dance. I read once that a firefly is programmed by nature to shine at nine oclock in the evening only. Sašas poem depicts the spinning of a wedding dance and a multitude of those bright specks moving in the dark. To me, it looks like the eternal floating of celestial bodies."

ZLATA NUMANAGIĆ (Actress) - RTS TV, Belgrade, 20.10.2006.

"I have been acting for so many years that I cannot even remember all the poems I have read on various poets' nights. I do not even remember when was the last time I had stage freight as I did at the promotion of the book by Saša Milivojev 'The Secret behind a Sigh'. It was primarily because of his very mature, serious and philosophical poetry, and on the other hand, I was not indifferent when I saw the audience - the Ethnographic Museum was full. No one would expect that a twenty-year-old Serbian poet could draw such attention from a Belgrade audience."

OLJA IVANJICKI (Painter):

"When I walk into a bookstore I do not look for books by famous authors who have already proved themselves in the belles-lettres. I usually pay attention to new names and books that have appeared quietly, without any pomp. All those books have different fates that are entwined with our lives. On the floor below a book shelf I saw a book with a cover of an angel writing verses in his own blood. I lifted the book, wiping the dust off it. The book was by a Saša Milivojev. I glanced through a couple of symbolic verses full of dramatic conflicts of the lyric subject and a dark picture of the world. It was enough for me to buy the book and take it home, hoping that I would find a ray of light in it, but I was disappointed with the lyrical exaggerations. However, when I turned the last page of the book, I realised that the author was very young and forgave him right away. More than two years later, he called me saying that he wanted me to hear his poems. He read a couple of poems that took my breath away. I saw a firefly that was gone and moved away from him like "The light speck/And the shore remains deserted," the shore on which the young poet was carrying the light in his hands and had the role of a healer."

ŽIŽA STOJANOVIĆ (Actress):

"He is unusually mature for his age; associational and deeply emotional He can soar into the heights, and descend carefully, when appropriate. Saša Milivojev is in love with poetry and beauty, unorthodox and uncatchable..."

EVA RAS (Actress):

"When I first met Saša Milivojev, I wondered what had become of us, what we had done to not understand a child, a twenty-year-old poet, how come we had allowed him to be so sad, that he felt all the burden of this world as if he had to carry it all by himself. I read his poems, but not out loud. Ages ago, everyone would read poems aloud, but in the fourteenth century Saint Augustine discovered a way of reading poems to himself only, and was therefore burned at the stake as a devil. I read Sašas poems like Saint Augustine did. I realised how sad this child was and that we should support him, as he is only twenty and needs to work on his poetry more."

LJUBOMIR KOKOTOVIĆ (Painter):

"I have a feeling that I have already seen what Saša Milivojev wrote in his poems, and I am trying to convince myself that "that has always slept deep inside me."

Translated by ALKEMIST - European translation agency
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