Vinko Kalinić was born 1974 in Split, Croatia. He is a writer, journalist and human rights activist. He lives on the island of Vis. He is the editor of the internet portal My island of Vis, which is dedicated to life on the island and the Mediterranean culture.
Also on facebook Vinko Kalinić daily writes his poetic diary, which tracks more than 2 100 fans.
We are sitting there one opposite the other, the sea and me
neither I understand the sea nor the sea understands me
there is nothing between us except the fog that bothers us
wholeheartedly
and that is so, nothing that divides us into two seas
which are equally blue, endless and deserted
only one conjunction is between us – two stranded
estranged and sleepless twins
Vinko Kalinić
© Translation by Darko Kotevski, Melbourne, Australia
Sea God and the wind rose
You live inside my head
and I know that
I even remember the moment
when you stopped to be a woman
and became my destiny
carelessly you passed through my morning
flirty, fragile, wild and happy,
with a smile, contagious like a plague
you have passed through,
like winds which come
and pass by,
and come again
unknowingly
nor what their names are
neither why they blow
nor where they go
and me, I was standing
as I am standing now
soundless
and still
watching you growing
and how you became much bigger:
bigger than the street you were walking down
bigger than the harbour that embraced you
bigger than the sea which was returning
the echo of your divine voice
bigger than the sky which was bowing
to you
and to your shadow
-bigger than everything
that has ever been
and that will ever be
you live in my head
and I know that
you just appear like a shadow
flirty, fragile, wild and happy,
like has never been nor will ever be
any other woman
and you grow
until you grow up bigger than everything
what is live in my head
when you are quiet like the summer mistral
and when you’re wild and cold like a storm
and when you’re crazy and warmer than a scirocco
-it’s always the same rose
the one that passes through some of mine
ancient flowed mornings
with a smile, contagious like a plague
wild and happy, the one that offers hands
so it could create some form from nothing
to create some meaning from total senselessness
and I’m standing – standing the same way
I was standing still like a statue
that ancient flowed morning
-morning that was more solemnly than any other! –
I’m standing still today as I will be standing
even after three million years
you live in my head
and I know that
the same way I know
-if anyone will be ever searching for me? –
they will find me one morning
in the thousand particles of the petrified brightness
in the shadow of your shadow, in the red hot ashes
like some crumbled
ancestral sea God,
like the sand
I will be everywhere,
where, on that morning
your foot was stamping
Vinko Kalinić
© Translation by Darko Kotevski, Melbourne, Australia
Published with the permission of Vinko Kalinić