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| This months cover, photo by K.K.W, taken @ the D.I.Y show at Dash Gallery, Sept 2010. Topcon Auto 100, 56mm lens Ilford 400 film |
"...Sometimes I wonder who was that stubborn donkey that godfathered our half-awakened agony?"(from "A day after" pg 26) Perfectly wonderful, deeply sentimental in a personally touching way, while giving rise to similar feelings deep within. Ratka Bogdan's "Sailboat" is an extraordinary collection of poems.
Ranging from playfully thoughtful("Idyllic night")to seriously personal, or critically hilarious-"...All it takes is two fingers down your throat, then all the bad stuff's out"(from "Relieve"). Through her poems you can see she's commenting on social situations that crossed her path, speaking about herself, or her environment. Some are elegantly sensual, or have that feel within its context. The poems are imbued with the strength of her zeal for life, so much so that the words take on a life all there own, from the page to your mind. Along with the poems there are amazing abstract illustrations by the artist Irena Andonova(http://studiophoenix.blogspot.com/2011/09/irena-andonova-beatutiful-art.html).
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| Ratka Bogdan, photo courtesy of the artist. |
Bogdans poems are the product of a mind that's obviously sharp, very perceptive, and in-touch with its environment. She's able to see something in almost anything, extract and interpret its greater meaning, from the lofty to the seemingly mundane, or the everyday. The reflection on the surface of a cup of coffee, or the gleam in the eye of a small bird. "Sailboat" is the reflection, and reverberations of her life and times. Its like her, truly amazing. At some point its no longer just poetry, it becomes a meditative journey.
"I cut the lunar crescent, from the sketchbook and go on searching, for the unknown challenge, illuminated by the glow of the spotlight, infused with passion from the sip of Thalia's cup, in the labyrinth of corridors, of the magic temple. Sweet dilemma, awakened the uncertainty, that waits in vain from behind the curtains, with a rising heat, that electrifies the senses with excitement. O, the power in the applause, that ignites the wonderful ripples, of the heart...Beautiful sweet sounding harmony, and a tide of feelings, that wash over me".("Applause", pg 12).
"There are days- The bitterness burns your taste buds, the decay leaves you hungry for change, you are sickened by the stale smell... Listen, why squirm with nausea then? All it takes is two fingers down your throat, then all the bad stuff's out"("Relieve", pg 22).
"I cut the lunar crescent, from the sketchbook and go on searching, for the unknown challenge, illuminated by the glow of the spotlight, infused with passion from the sip of Thalia's cup, in the labyrinth of corridors, of the magic temple. Sweet dilemma, awakened the uncertainty, that waits in vain from behind the curtains, with a rising heat, that electrifies the senses with excitement. O, the power in the applause, that ignites the wonderful ripples, of the heart...Beautiful sweet sounding harmony, and a tide of feelings, that wash over me".("Applause", pg 12).
"There are days- The bitterness burns your taste buds, the decay leaves you hungry for change, you are sickened by the stale smell... Listen, why squirm with nausea then? All it takes is two fingers down your throat, then all the bad stuff's out"("Relieve", pg 22).
Ratka Kolev Damjanovic-Bogdan was born in 1965 in Radovis, Macedonia, she immigrated with her husband and son to south Africa then Florida, U.S.A in an attempt to escape the economic and political instability of Yugoslavia(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia) in the late 1990's. She started writing poetry when she was eight years old and got her first poem published in a children's magazine. During her senior year in H.S she hand wrote in a notebook, her first length poetry collection of heartfelt stanzas. That original volume was recently expanded with more life inspired poems and finally published under the symbolic title "Sailboat: sailing through the ocean of life". If you would like to know more, go to:www.facebook.com/pages/Ratka-Bogdan/174707729280635?ref=ts, or to purchase a copy of "Sailboat": http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-0104381049/Sailboat-Sailing-Through-the-Ocean-of-Life.aspx or:www.amazon.com/Sailboat-Sailing-Through-Ocean-Life/dp/1465368795/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326651619&sr=1-1&fb_source=message "Art is the reason, art is the way"
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| Ratka Bogdan, photo courtesy of the artist |
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| From the album "promocija Korab/Jedrnjak/ Sailboat, Skopje. Photo courtesy of the artist. |
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| From the album "promocija Korab/Jedrnjak/ Sailboat, Skopje. Photo courtesy of the artist. |
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| From the album "promocija Korab/Jedrnjak/ Sailboat, Skopje. Photo courtesy of the artist. |
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| From the album "promocija Korab/Jedrnjak/ Sailboat, Skopje. Photo courtesy of the artist. Thats Irena Andonova with short-cut blonde hair. She created the abstract illustrations for the book. |
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| "Ragjanje", tush vo boja 19x29 cm. This is one of the abstract illustrations for the book, by Irena Andonova. |
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