Anita Solak: ‘I hold my hope in obrezane ruže, still growing’
Anita Solak reading ‘I hold my hope in obrezane ruže, still growing’
General pronunciation guide
aj is like ‘I’
ž is like ‘s’ in ‘measure’
c is like ‘ts’ in ‘cats’
‘r’ is rolled
a is like in ‘karma’
e is like ‘e’ in ‘set’
i is like ‘i’ in ‘stick’
o is like ‘o’ in ‘polinate’
u like ‘oo’ in ‘foot’
Glossary and pronunciation guide
obrezane ruže (oh-breh-zah-neh ru-žeh): pruned roses
porodica (poh-roh-di-tsa): family
komšije (kohm-shi-yeh): neighbours
pa hajde da vidimo i to (pah hahy-deh dah vi-di-moh i toh): well/so let’s see that too
jezik (jeh-zik): language
hrana (hrah-nah): food
prljava voda (pr-lyah-vah voh-dah): dirty water
imigracija (im-i-grah-tsi-yah): immigration
osjetio sam nešto (oh-syeh-ti-oh sahm neh-shtoh): I felt something
ne može se napisati sa rečima (neh moh-žeh seh nah-pi-sah-ti sa reh-chi-mah): that can’t be written with words
neki uče djecu da mrze (neh-ki u-cheh dyeh-tsu da mr-zeh): some people teach kids to hate
baba (bah-bah): grandma
fotelja (foh-teh-lyah): couch
palačinke (pah-lah-chin-keh): pancakes (like crepes)
Sarma (sahr-mah): stuffed cabbage rolls
Peruke (peh-ru-keh): feathers
Grad (grahd): city
Kuća (ku-chah): home
Svet (sveht): world
Porodicu (poh-roh-di-tsu): family
Anita Solak is a Bosnian-Serbian-Australian poet and writer navigating the silences of the migrant home, the struggles of language and the responsibilities inherent in love and loss. Her work obsesses over reconciling the absurdity of the past with the absurdity of the present and the way languages take up space on a page. She completed a Bachelor of Creative Writing in 2017 and is currently studying the Master of Writing and Publishing at RMIT University. Her writing has been published in Cordite, Rabbit, Voiceworks and more. She writes to perform her confusion for the world.
Twitter: @anita_solak