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