Love immortalized in verse

Love has always been one of the greatest inspirations of poets. True, real, but also unrealized or imagined, love lived and came to life in verses, dedicated or not.

Just such two collections of poems, by two female poets from Bosnia and Herzegovina, were presented on Saturday, in Podgorica, in the "Radosav Ljumović" National Library.

The audience had the opportunity to hear more about the love poetry collected in the books "If I Forget You" Alma Imamović and "The Scent of Longing" Ilde Arnautović Grabovica as part of a literary evening moderated by a poet from Montenegro Edita Dautović.

"If I forget you" is the second collection of poetry by the author Alma Imamović, which was recently published by the publishing house Planjax Tešanj. According to the author, the book is inspired by an unfulfilled love that wants to be remembered and experienced through verses...

"And such loves are an eternal inspiration for all artists and are never forgotten," said Imamović and added that poetry is the right way to do that.

"I thought for a long time about what I would like to write as my word and what stamp I should put on this collection before the reading of the verses that I wrote only for one reason and only for one motive began. Because of love. The greatest inspiration and driving force in this life is true love. The real one, endless, which lasts and does not pass. I wanted to write down, bind and give it a name. I wanted to make her immortal, eternal and then if I accidentally forget her. "The heart remembers longer than the mind, and that's why I was destined to preserve it among my songs," said Imamović.

She also says that unfulfilled loves are an inspiration, like those that are fondly remembered...

"Such love showed me the way, its strength and light and was the inspiration for writing the collection 'If I forget you' and made a promise to her that my songs would remember her. I want all those who find themselves among my verses to open their hearts while reading, because only an open heart can love and feel sincerely. Don't be afraid to show love, because it never dies. A person disappears and slowly dies when there is no love in him and when he has so much love in him, but is afraid to show it. I could not change the course of the poetry I was writing, I could not influence it, because many things in life are pre-written by God's will to happen or not happen. All I could do was preserve the love in the songs," says the poet Imamović.

On the other hand, "Miris čežne" is the literary and poetic debut of Arnautović Grabovica.

"Sometimes just one word is enough to stir up emotions that would trigger inspiration. This collection combines songs that were written in my teenage days, which I wrote down in my notebook, and songs that were written recently and now, in a more mature period of my life," says Arnautović Grabovica.

She further explains the very symbolism of the title...

"We usually associate longing with the term when we mourn, yearn, wither for someone... I added the word smell to my longing, because smell associates us with something beautiful. Human souls are prone to longing, we always long for someone or something since the beginning of time, we long for a reunion with the lord of all worlds, we long for a meeting with our kindred spirits, we long for some past times... The scent I added to that longing shows us that it's a beautiful longing that doesn't hurt, but awakens the most beautiful emotions in us", said the author.

The presentation in Podgorica, says Imamović, means opening new paths and establishing friendships with admirers of the written word...

"Art is one of the most universal ways of connecting people who have a love for beauty, regardless of skin color, religion or nationality. I am very satisfied with my experiences so far, because in fact the first book connected me with people from different parts of the world, which gave me hope and faith in people and a better tomorrow. I believe that this promotion will leave the door open for other promotions of this kind, and I think that this is just the beginning and an opportunity to talk about what I love to do the most out of only one need and benefit, which is love. I also believe that the example of this promotion, through the mutual support of women, will give hope to others to dare to do with love and as bravely as possible what they love to do, and in my case it is a great love for poetry because love is the biggest driver in my life." , Imamović pointed out.

This was confirmed by the organizers of the event from the non-governmental organization "Spirit Art Montenegro".

"With this event, we want to promote female authors from the region and in this way present the regional cultural scene more closely," they stated.

Alma Imamović was born in 1978 in Tuzla. She graduated from the Faculty of Health and is a registered nurse by profession. He writes prose and poetry. She is the author of two collections of love poetry called "At least once to admire me" and "If I forget you". She is the winner of the "Musa Ćazim Ćatić" literary award in 2021, her first book was chosen among the 20 best domestic manuscripts for the year 2022 in Croatia, and she was chosen as the person of the year in the field of culture and art for the year 2022 in the area of ​​the Tuzla Canton.

Ilda Arnautović Grabovica was born in 1980 in Kakanj. She is a classroom teacher by profession. She is the winner of numerous literary awards. She is represented in about 30 international collections of songs, and has won several awards. At the international literary competition in Croatia, she won first place with the poem "Autumn Song". She is the winner of three "Musa Ćazim Ćatić" plaques, for her contribution to strengthening, encouraging and valuing the creativity, culture and tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region and beyond.

The greatest inspiration and driving force in this life is true love. The real one, endless, which lasts and does not pass. I wanted to write down, bind and give it a name. I wanted to make her immortal, eternal and then if I accidentally forget her. The heart remembers longer than the mind, and that's why it was destined to preserve it among my songs," said Imamović about her collection.