TELEGRAMS ANNOUNCED WARS BACK IN THE DAY

rails slow time down
a tangerine in my pocket
the radio voice reports
on river levels
I chase streaks across the window
telegraph poles racing
rows of orchards one after another
road signs along the railway line
gardens with plastic chairs
graffiti on concrete walls
cranes on docks
the wind through rain
weaving into a howl
the train halts at the station
in out in everyone

a woman sloshing seeks a seat 
finds one opposite me
her smile squinting
the gum line overexposed
an oversized earring bobbing
on her earlobe
my life compressed
by her opaque eyes
salt-laced olive groves
brushwood by the sea 
the last time with him and the tangerine
she takes my hand then
turns up my palm
traces furrows with her fingers
flinches and shudders
shadows racing across our faces
she cuts through the silence first
time heals everything
and this was for free
then leaves the compartment

it's snowing outside
now from the radio
the unspooling of a sentence
telegrams announced wars
back in the day
and today they are used no more

THE SUN MID-NAP AND HER EYES WIDE OPEN

she gets up at noon
shoves slumber under the pillow

stretches
shifts shapes like water

grabs her wings
peeks out onto the balcony

it's cold she says
I'll just skip this whole season

out on the street
she looks the world in the eye

and the sun bows
to her moods

she has a list of things
yet untried

fall asleep and sleep through
all the borders

mail a peace plea
to an unknown soldier

lose the fears
and the need to explain

don fluorescent tattoos
and her name like a shield

spring dwells
in her palms

while slipping into her
superhero mood she says

I'm saving the world today
and slams the door

leaving behind
a glowing trail

and that's how we her parents
scrape up a bit of revolution

translated from Croatian by Anda Bukvić Pažin