Luck in Sarajevo

[osprey_archer]

A poem I stumbled upon (because that is the best way to find poems, in the wild, by means of serendipity). It's very striking.

Luck in Sarajevo

In Sarajevo
in the spring of 1992,
everything is possible:

you go to stand in a bread line
and end up in an emergency room
with your leg amputated.

Afterwards, you still maintain
that you were very lucky.

--Izet Sarajlić, trans. Charles Simic

Comments

[andreochka.livejournal.com]

Poignant...

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yes, very much.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is a VERY powerful poem. I'm reading Sherman Alexie right now, and this poem is very in keeping with his mood and style.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Usually when people say "everything is possible," they mean good things

Which Sherman Alexie book are you reading? I've been meaning to read his book of short stories.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm reading (or one of them: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven). It's excellent. And yes--the "everything is possible" being a threat rather than a promise: that figured in the short story I just read, which is the most tragic so far.