This Morning
Charles Simic

Enter without knocking, hard-working ant.
I’m just sitting here mulling over
What to do this dark, overcast day?
It was a night of the radio turned down low,
Fitful sleep, vague, troubling dreams.
I woke up lovesick and confused.
I thought I heard Estella in the garden singing
And some bird answering her,
But it was the rain. Dark tree tops swaying
And whispering. “Come to me my desire,”
I said. And she came to me by and by,
Her breath smelling of mint, her tongue
Wetting my cheek, and then she vanished.
Slowly day came, a gray streak of daylight
To bathe my hands and face in.
Hours passed, and then you crawled
Under the door, and stopped before me.
You visit the same tailors the mourners do,
Mr. Ant. I like the silence between us,
The quiet—that holy state even the rain
Knows about. Listen to her begin to fall,
As if with eyes closed,
Muting each drop in her wild-beating heart.

Maja's reading recommendations:

Snippets of Serbia text and illustrations by Emma Flick
Note from Maja: this one is funny!

The Balkans: A Short History by Mark Mazower

Dictionary of Khazars by Milorad Pavić (famous Serbian novelist)Prince of Fire by Milorad Pavić 

The Prince of Fire: an anthology of contemporary Serbian short stories edited by Radmila J. Gorup and Nadežda Obradović with a foreword by Charles Simic. A couple stories can be read online here. 

Through the Embers of Chaos: Balkan Journeys by Dervia Murphy
Note from Maja: * This is a very old but fun book, bicycle journey through the Balkans!

Goodbye Eastern Europe by Jacob Mikanowski

Poetry by Charles Simic (Serbian American poet)