Neva Cirkveni is a Croatian writer and lawyer currently based between the U.K. and the U.S. Her work explores emotional logic, place-based longing, and the quietly absurd. She writes prose, screenplays, and poetic fragments in both English and Croatian. The piece submitted was inspired by Kut — a literal corner of the town of Vis, on the island of Vis, Croatia, and a figurative one of stillness, love, and imagined lives.
I fell in love with it all
The great stone clocks
Sunsets thick
With the scent of sea
The sound of your voice
Pressed against my ear
I watched old women
Sitting on unpainted balconies
The sound of oars
Striking waves
Stars that fell
Onto the tips of sails
And that little guy
Charging me 310 kuna every day
Just so I could fall in love
All over again in the morning
I imagined a life by the sea
My feet moving
Across white, stone blocks
Nodding past
Scruffy beards and bald heads
Raw squid and fresh shellfish
For the first time,
I was happy
Tucked into the Corner
Of a small, green island
Poetry in this post: © Neva Cirkveni
Published with the permission of Neva Cirkveni