Spring Portrait, Courtesy the artist Nikola Golubovski

Don’t go with your hair wet
(to the city centre)
to meet the girl
who is twice younger
than your driver’s licence.

Don’t go with your hair wet
to all the bars of the world
(Why do you dress up at all
when even the sparrows know
what kind of unpresentable mess you’ll be
upon your return two days later.)

Don’t go out with your hair wet
to face the heavy-weight champion,
the spring carnival,
the sunset cocktails,
and do not go out on Mondays, by all means.

Don’t go out with your hair wet
to our former small town,
with friends who are no longer there,
with girls who are already grandmothers,
with the ghosts of the 60-ties.

Don’t go out with your hair wet
into this automobile desert.
Facing those gusty winds
with the sun soaring over you
and the dogs barking behind you.

Don’t go out with your hair wet
don’t stroll by the bookstore in flames,
by the tourist agencies,
by the black shoeshines,
don’t go out to get the cigarettes, no way!

Don’t go out with your hair wet,
you might catch a cold.

 

Translated from the Croatian by

Jovica Ivanovski
JOVICA IVANOVSKI (1961), Macedonian poet and literary translator, born in Skopje. One of the most prolific poets in the Balkans, Ivanovski has published nineteen collections of verse and has been widely recognized as a “great ironist” of the contemporary Macedonian poetry. His poetry has been translated into fifteen languages and published in many anthologies of contemporary Macedonian poetry published in Macedonia and abroad (Six Macedonian Poets Arc publications, UK, 2011). He is also а columnist, a screenplay writer for the TV show Speak Macedonian and has written lyrics for rock bands. He has participated in many literary festivals and residences in Europe. He is a member of the Macedonian Writers' Association. His book Čovek (The Man) won the prestigious Brothers Miladinov Award at the Struga Poetry Evenings in 2019. He lives and works in Skopje.

Damir Šodan
DAMIR ŠODAN is a poet, playwright and translator, born in Split. He has published seven collections of poetry, three books of selected plays as well an anthology of Croatian neorealist poetry and the anthology of contemporary European poetry, Are There Any Poets in Monte Carlo (Croatian PEN, 2022).

Nikola Golubovski
Nikola Golubovski was born in Skopje, Macedonia. His artistic journey began with watercolors and evolved into working with oil and acrylic paints. After an early interest in Renaissance masters, he gravitated toward Impressionism and Abstract Realism—genres through which he discovered the freedom of unlimited creative expression. This marked the beginning of an endless journey through imagination. Golubovski earned his degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, where he also completed his master’s studies. Over the years, he has participated in numerous exhibitions both in his home country and internationally. His work is now held in private collections across the USA, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, India, Australia, and beyond. Deeply personal and emotionally driven, his paintings are a reflection of his life experiences and inner world.