While God listens

There is something devastating in

the smile of a day

that carries hunger

and prayer on the same shoulder.

In it, an old woman with daisies

and a primrose prays for

a lump of survival,

folds of grace in the palm

of your hand.

The world has the claws

of the wounded

swan and the smell of joy

in the eyes of children

that no one was able to pamper.

He has us with invisible ink

we spell new ways

agreements between

willows and water lilies.

Biography

While the Lord listens.

Valentina Novković, (Serbia)  graduate philologist, literary translator, poet and prose writer. Editor at the publishing house Liberland Art and Vračar, translator of works by Russian- and English-speaking authors. Her verses have been translated into 22 languages, she is the winner of many prizes for poetry and prose, she is represented in more than 20 world anthologies. Editor and presenter of the Literary Conversations program.

She translated into Serbian 15 books by authors from all over the world: Leo Butnaru, Arslan Bajir, Hosiat Rustamova, Kuchkor Narkabil, Mai Van Fan, Eduard Harents, Rahim Karimov, Ali Aliyev and many others… She interviewed more than 200 authors from of the rural world and they were published in relevant periodicals in Serbia. More than 300 poems and stories by authors from all over the world have been published in Serbian literary magazines, and an anthology in which these authors will be represented is being prepared.

Published books:

Timeless, 2014, poems,

Drop on dry land, 2018. Parthenon,

Riddles of tenderness Liberland Art, 2021,

Heavenly songs, Ace publishing house, 2022,

Unrest, peace, 2023,

Two hours of real life, 2020, stories

Memories, 2024, a novel dedicated to her deceased father.