POSTCARD POETRY

Postcards from Cres

In 2015 I visited the Island of Cres in Croatia. I stayed in an old schoolhouse. The woman who owned it had grown up in the village speaking Italian. For a time, during the war, they were made to learn German. Later, when Tito came to power, they learnt Serbo-Croat. I mainly argued with my Italian girlfriend in English.

Staying in a building that had facilitated the reorientation of language so drastically over a very short period of time inspired a poem. And more arguments with my girlfriend.

So I cut the poem up.

I sent each stanza to friends across the world as a way of making it whole again.

Some of the recipients photographed their postcards and sent the pictures back to me.