Dukh - Pain (The Romani Collection)

by Hedina Tahirović Sijerčić

A collection of richly evocative poems, in both English and Romani, weave together the author's fleeting joys and enduring tragedies with traditional Romani folklore. Hedina's poetry is enlightening in its candidness, which shatters the fanciful myth of the mysterious and ever-carefree Roma, replacing it with lyric images of people living, loving, and dying, not immune to the caprice of the world that surrounds them. It is through such tragedies that the lingering message of these poems has become simply 'dukh', pain.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

(1960) born in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, she is a journalism graduate, a writer, a poet, an educator, and the first Bosnian television and radio presenter and producer of Romani origin. She served as the Editor-in-Chief of the first Canadian-Romani newsletter “Romano Lil” from 1998 till 2001. She is the winner of “The golden pen of Papusza” literary prize, and the author of the prize-winning poetry collections How God made the Roma and Ašun, haćar dukh (Listen, feel pain). She presently lives in Germany.

http://www.vidaweb.org/twenty-gypsy-w...

Reviews

[Jovan Autonomašević · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of Romany poems, with very good translations into English. The author is from Bosnia, and the poems evoke the modern-day Romany experience: persecution and poverty in war and in peace, but also an affinity with natural forces, and a spiritual dimension to everyday life, as well as love and friendship. Above all the poems recreate the sense of community that is vital to Romany life - the extended family that is the Romany people. Nor is the book devoid of humour:

"Press your finger on the bitch
And things will go without a hitch".

A must for anyone interested in Romany issues.