Promotion of the collection Marko Stanojkovski at KIC "Budo Tomović" brought together poetry lovers and opened a space for discussion about urban poetics, emotional nakedness and the strength of young literary communities
Stanojkovski expressed his gratitude to the Young Writers' Forum, an organization without which, as he pointed out, this collection would not be what it is.
"Sometimes I think that if it weren't for the Young Writers' Forum, from everything I learned, experienced and experienced there, this book wouldn't be the way it is today. The Young Writers' Forum shaped me and is very important for my emotional, mental and intellectual maturation. Many of the experiences I gained there - friendships, socializing, knowledge, conversations - all of that shaped me and ultimately made it into this book. All those experiences from my life so far, including those urban images and scenes. I think there's a poetics there that is close to me. We are all different in some ways, but we also have similarities," said Stanojkovski.
The young poet adds that, despite the different poetic directions within the Forum, there are strong points of contact, emphasizing the aesthetic value that the richness of diversity brings.
"Our poetics, although different, still have connections. I think that the wealth of diversity in the circle, but also in the literary community in general, both locally and globally, is extremely important. This multipolarity of voices, styles and approaches to the topics we deal with is precious. The Young Writers' Forum is entirely what I, somewhere, mean by the phrase 'street children', as are many other circles, movements and groups. There are many who can fit into what that phrase represents," believes Stanojkovski.
Speaking about the writing process itself, Stanojkovski said that through poetry we are confronted with, as he stated, "the mud of emotions," explaining that poems are created from the inner layers of personality that can only be expressed through poetry.
"I think that for me, it's important to deal with that mud of emotions. These poems came out of some of the most vulnerable, most intimate, deepest, and most sensitive places. Some came out of bad and negative emotions, some from positive and more beautiful ones, and some from a mixture of all of that. It was important to me that they were honest, first and foremost, that they were what I needed to say, express, and share with others. Some probably came out of bad places, from my conflicts with myself. I think that poetry offers a space for, sometimes, the best possible way of expressing myself, for completely exposing who I am and the personality that is trying to come out, if it can't be in some other way. Poetry offers the possibility for that to finally manifest itself," he explained.
Speaking about the thematic foundations of his poetry, Stanojkovski emphasized that he fundamentally dealt with issues that deeply preoccupied him, to the point that they had to be translated into verse.
"These are things that deeply touched me, affected me, burdened me and affected me, and which sometimes had to come out of me, because I had no other way to face them. Writing offered relief and a kind of catharsis at the time. That's why I hope that someone who reads, who wants to read, can recognize these layers and that it brings them to confront the light and darkness within themselves, with what we often run away from and try to hide. I think that art in general offers the possibility of facing this, sometimes in a confrontational way," said Stanojkovski.
He pointed out that there are motifs of the grotesque and decadent in his work, but that he tried to establish a balance through motifs of compassion, empathy, and humanity.
"There are these questions of the grotesque, apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic, cataclysms in that sense, and decadent and dark visions. But I tried to ensure that in all of this there is also humanity, compassion, empathy, that light that breaks through. Children, as a motif, represent all these lyrical subjects who are, more or less, children of street alleys - something childish, innocent, noble, humane and honest. Street alleys are spaces of semi-darkness, they are not complete darkness. This opens up the question of liminal spaces and liminality, of acting both from light and from darkness. These are also urban spaces, alternative, underground, acting from the margins towards the mainstream, the possibility of viewing the mainstream and the world as it is from the margins," concluded Stanojkovski.
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