The role and function of Macedonian poetry in Canada represents the most direct way of expressing the spirit of the old world surrounded by the conditions faced in the new world. This genesis began over 100 years ago as the first Macedonians began migrating to Canada. The historical circumstances developed a truly Canadian Macedonian poetic narrative which the Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society presents to you the reader. The selected poems are just a sample of some of the works of Canadian citizens of Macedonian descent.
Spero Thompson is a colleague and contributing writer of the Brachi Miladinovci Macedonian Poetry and Literary Society of Saint Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral in Toronto, Ontario.
Patsy Sider-Aspassia Bossota is the author of five poetry books entitled "Diary of a Soul (1998)", "A Spark from the Ashes (1998)", "Between Two Worlds (2000)", "The Joy of Justice (2003)", "Prohibited Culture (2006)", a book of Short Stories entitled "Amazing Garden"(2009) and author of many other poems and short stories. Poems from "Between Two Worlds" are presented for your reading.
They are following in the footsteps of the first representatives of modern Macedonian literature at the beginning of the 19th century. These include, Joakim Krcovski, Kiril Pejcinovik, Dimitar and Konstantin Miladinov, Grigor Prlicev, and Rajko Zinzifov. It was further developed in the 20th century by Vojdan Cernodrinski, Nikola Kirov - Majski and Atanas Razdolov. Then the development of Macedonian Literature continued with Koco Racin, who is considered to be the founder of modern Macedonian literature.
The first post-war generation of Macedonian poets, include Blaze Koneski, Aco Sopov, Slavko Janevski, Vlado Maleski and Kole Casule. The new generation of Macedonian writers appeared in the early 1950s, encompassing among others Gane Todorovski, Mateja Matevski, Dimitar Solev, Ante Popovski, Boris Visinski and Simon Drakul. They were followed by, Zivko Cingo, Petre M. Andreevski, Radovan Pavlovski, Jovan Koteski and many others.
Canada you are indeed a land and nation of immigrants Many people heard you call and they came. Macedonians left their beloved homeland Your hopes and opportunities to claim. You invited them; come Aegean, come Pirin, come Vardar Come you resilient and strong peoples. Leave Macedonia, as children will someday leave the home. Come have families, build homes, build businesses, build churches with their steeples. You ...
Dear Macedonia, land of mountains Land of villages You have known wars, occupations Bitter Church struggles and cultural pillages. Motherland of my Father And his Fathers before him By inheritance you are my Grandmother And in spirit we are kin. Though my eyes have never seen you Or my feet walked throughout your land I make this promise Baba Makedonija One day on your soil I will stand. My Father emigrated at ...
Not far from here at the corner of Wellesley and Bay Was a restaurant known as The Falcon. You may have seen it before? The small sign above the door? Right next to the old place called Sutton...
The black veil of the night has been spread And this evening I have bitterness in my heart. The destructive civil war Still in my heart, is active. I remember the hoarse voice of the siren That made us to run breathless to find shelters. The war planes We're killing civilians and children. I remember the filthy shelters under the mountain The dark basement of our home In it three to four families gathered together ...
The Glorious Macedonia Was divided in 1913 to four pieces. The Great powers were given one piece to Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania And the biggest piece from all, were given to Greece. In Macedonia where we were born We were not familiar with Vergina. Now where apart of Macedonia is a free and a peaceful Nation The Greeks stir up to confuse the world That Vergina is a Greek Symbol. Alexander the Great was a ...
The writings of the heartless Greek Politicians, on previous and present books Were and are describing the extermination of the Macedonian Ethnicity. Mortal hatred for the Macedonian people I wonder how they have no fear of the Lord! The Macedonian people are sensitive people. For their freedom, they fought the Turks. The heartless Greek politicians after the division of Macedonia in 1913 They decided Macedonian ...
My memory goes back To those years that I had no speech. I loved the Macedonian songs. The unmerciful Greeks forbade our culture. Why, why, they took away The customs which belonged to us? Why, why, they took away The language and the scripts which belonged to us? Discrimination is a mortal disease. It poison's the mind and the soul. We search for human rights We obey the Holy Word. Rise, O, Macedonian children To ...
In 1913 the great powers divided us. They took away a part of our souls. O, Lord help us, reunited us The Macedonian Hymn all together to sing it. Macedonian people With all your strength run and run. The Bucharest Agreement will open soon The giant door of justice will creak With the love of God and united We should tell the world that this is a Macedonian land. This land is not Greek, neither, Bulgarian nor ...
I sing for the Macedonian Villager. I have a great respect for him. In his life, he suffered greatly from the Greek Authorities But he never lost faith to God. The time when I visited a Macedonian village I felt the presence of the Lord. The villager has faith in his heart His gift is the virtue. In the past, the villager was walking with his head bend down The reason the Greeks had underestimated him The Macedonian ...
She belonged to a middle class She had a husband and six children. Her husband as always was in the Macedonian villages of Florina-Lerin. He was working there, painting. She was home in bed sick She had a high fever and a pain in the stomach. And that day, as always, the door opened with a kick The Greek policemen entered, and they were staring them with hate. Her children, as every morning, were praying to the Lord ...
