Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Skopje in Winter (Gerald Siegel)

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Apartment complex on Vasil Gorgev (Skopje),
where Gerald and Jennifer Semple Siegel lived during the 2004-2005 academic year.
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Skopje in winter
Wears gray.
I leave the cement block of our building
And walk through icy puddles to the iron block
of the konteneri by the corner of the orphanage.

Here the cats of Skopje
Rule. My tossed trash bag trespasses
Into their feral empire as they
Scatter in protest, leaping lightly over
The open lid and fleeing into the shrouding noon twilight.

On a bare patch of mud and flattened grass
Ahead of me, behind the shelter of the orphanage wall,
Four old men, the Roma, huddle around their trash fire,
Smoking, drinking--grizzled shadows against winter mist.
A passing bus showers them in sleet.

On the sidewalk, passersby weave through the maze
Of parked cars, pulling back from the sooty sides.
Overhead, wisps of light contend with low clouds.
Skopje in winter
Wears gray.

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(Gerald Siegel, Professor of English at York College of Pennsylvania and American Literature specialist, was a Fulbright Scholar in the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 1988-89 and in Macedonia in 2004-2005. He was also awarded a Fulbright to Belgium in Spring 1997.)

Friday, November 30, 2007

MacedonianLiterature.com Launched!

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I am an American who has spent significant time in Macedonia.

Anyone who has had the fortune to live in this beautiful country knows that Macedonia and its rich literature and arts will remain forever engraved in one's mind and soul.

This site will be dedicated to the literature and arts of Macedonia, my second home away from home.

Please check back often; if you are Macedonian, either in Macedonia or living abroad, and are interested in becoming a team member of this blog, please e-mail me.

Jennifer Semple Siegel