On the eve of one Christmas, when everyone is questioning their deeds and misdeeds, I decided to teach someone out there how to say that they love someone, and instead of a lesson that would fit in two words, I wrote a book", said the young poet from Nikšić Sonja Milatović at the promotion of her literary debut, the collection "My closest distance".
How successful her Christmas writing was was shown by the first prize at the "Rescue Pajo Blagojević" contest for 2019, which is awarded to the best young poet from the area of the former Yugoslavia and which brought her the publication of the mentioned collection.
As the French language teacher said at the promotion of the collection Renata Bulajić, Sonja clearly expresses her thoughts and feelings from the very beginning and lets the reader know that there are no inhibitions.
"It's no surprise that everything is free verse, from fives to twelves, even at times they look like poems in prose. After all, it's Sonja. Free. He spites and defies, loves and forgives, understands and justifies. All at the same time", said Bulajić.
Sonja's verses, as she pointed out, are full of memories, and at the same time they are dynamic, "constantly changing intervals of black and white tones, warm and cold".
"Not to give the reader peace of mind, not to let him put down the book and stop reading. Challenges him. It gives him hope that there will be a turnaround at any moment. It's like reading a prose work...The words are given a natural meaning and they have a special tone. Sonja's tone. The class is full of emotions, as if it will explode at any moment, you can feel the tension full of electricity, the lightning just about to burst, and then silence. Now we can already talk about a recognizable style, a language full of strong expressions, words that got Sonja's stamp, in a special way, and everything in accordance with her thoughts and feelings", said Bulajić.
Sonja's beginnings as a poet are not related to the "Penta Poetics" Literary Club, which operates at "Zahumlje" JU, but her poetic ascension, maturation, and her poetic aspirations are. Both she and the Literary Club grew, and the president, mr Goran Radojicic, which can best testify about Sonja's poetic progress, about verses that grew and outgrew the moment in which they were created.
"This poetry collection is all about noble, sincere and experienced feelings, from the emotional search of a girl, or a woman, in the lyrical subject. Through an intimate relationship with memories and through the subjective experience of family, love and feelings in general, Sonja Milatović enables the blooming of her poetic rose", said Radojičić.
As he pointed out, the collection of the young poetess rests on the motifs of pride and love, which are intertwined and intertwined with numerous details that make up the connective tissue.
"Sonja subtly chooses those details, carefully building her artistic and poetic mosaic, piece by piece. The picturesqueness of Sonja Milatović's poetry guarantees the abundance of iconic signs, which is significant from the visual aspect. When reading her poems, images of the fairy-tale environment in which the lyrical subject is located appear before our eyes. Later, the fairy tale is replaced by more serious and experienced thoughts and ideas, but we still notice the art of creating an image of the environment, which is increasingly supplemented with indexical signs and symbols, which is expected considering the degree and frequency of showing the deepest feelings", said Radojičić.
Zoja Bojanić Lalović she could not attend the promotion, so her text, dedicated to Sonja's collection, was read by the moderator Tijana Vujović.
"Sonja decided to express herself through poetry, and her driving motive is love. Singing about love, she sings about life, memory, transience. It connects the past with the present and builds images of the future. That's why the strength, depth and sentimentality of this collection are simply mesmerizing", Bojanić Lalović wrote, among other things.
And the young poet, decorated with flowers, surrounded by friends, sent off with applause, admitted that poetry had found her, that she had come a long way from typical children's games with words, to a daily necessity, as well as that the hall "Zahumlja", where the promotion was organized, that evening was a place that erases all differences. And she was - and that is best evidenced by those collected by Sonja's poetry.
"Poetry was my escape into a world in which nothing prevented me from being me, and today it is my mirror, a way to face myself and what I carry inside me. That's why this is not just a book of poetry. She is my path. My truth. My destiny. My sword in the fight with the world and my only shield from it," Sonja said.
As she added, the collection was her burden until recently, and now, thanks to those who came to see off the promotion, it has become her true blessing.
"Verses were born from the sound of thunderous laughter, but also from the river of tears. Born out of the need to talk non-stop, but also out of the inability to speak. They were born from long conversations, but also from unbearably heavy silences. They gave birth both from hugs, but also from empty hands. They were born when it was beautiful in my skin, but also when I wouldn't wish Sonja's skin on an enemy, if I had it. "To my closest distance" is a reflection of everything I am and everything I will be," said the poet.
As she pointed out, with the collection "My closest distance", I am (for) starting the series, aware that it is certainly not the best that the audience will read, but it is the one that represents the core of her being.
"Everything with me is beyond the world. Except for this book. She's my go-to with him. To make it better. To make it better for someone else", said Sonja.
A pianist was responsible for the musical atmosphere Kristina Šćepanović, while the moderator of the evening was Tijana Vujović, who also spoke Sonja's verses and tried her best to make her speech real poetry.
The evening was organized by the Literary Club "Poenta Poetika" as part of the November program of the Nikšić Cultural Scene 2021, and Sonja decided to donate all the proceeds from the sold book to humanitarian purposes.
This poetry collection is all about noble, sincere and experienced feelings, from the emotional search of a girl, or a woman, in the lyrical subject. Through an intimate relationship with memories and through the subjective experience of family, love and feelings in general, Sonja Milatović enables the blooming of her poetic rose", said Goran Radojičić.
Bonus video:
