Sunday, July 16, 2023 “I Stood Outside” by Ana Božičević
I stood outside love’s door
Afraid of what I’d find
A howling rainy void
A thousand clowns
The “It” from the phrase
“It’s raining”—
The rain sounds
Like a bunch of eyelashes
Running around.
I tell tiny jokes to myself
In front of love’s door—
I’m afraid I will find
No one there, an empty café—
Well that actually
Sounds nice.
I’d sit down and have
A cappuccino and one cigarette
And read those ancient
Newspapers back to back.
I stand outside love’s door
Praying for
A soft landscape
To walk into,
Worn marble staircase
Some kind words, that’s all.
Once I held love as a thing
And then it came
Alive in my hands, it
Bit, flowed like water…
About the Poet
photo credit Jarrett Earnest
Ana Božičević is a poet, translator, teacher, and occasional singer. Ana grew up in Zadar, Croatia before coming to the States.
Her new book is “New Life” (Wave Books, 2023), in which this poem appears. She is also the author of “Povratak lišća /Return of the Leaves, Selected Poems in Croatian” (Hrvatsko Društvo Pisaca/Croatian Writers Society, 2020); “Joy of Missing Out” (Birds, LLC, 2017); the Lambda Award-winning “Rise in the Fall” (Birds, LLC, 2013), and “Stars of the Night Commute” (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2009). She received the 40 Under 40: The Future of Feminism award from Feminist Press, and the PEN American Center/NYSCA grant for translating “It Was Easy to Set the Snow on Fire” by Zvonko Karanović (Phoneme Media, 2015). The anthology of translations “The Day Lady Gaga Died: An Anthology of Newer New York Poets” (Peti Talas/Fifth Wave) she co-edited with Željko Mitić appeared in Fall 2011.
Ana has a MFA in Poetry from Hunter College. At the PhD Program in English at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York she studied New American poetics and alternative art schools and communities, and edited lectures by Diane di Prima for Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative.
Related Event
- Ana Božičević will join poet Sean Thomas Dougherty, along with a musical performance by Wild Pink, and an art installation by Mizin Shin at the next Just Buffalo Literary Center Silo City Reading Series event from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 22 at Silo City (Marine A), 85 Silo City Row in Buffalo. Doors at 7:00 p.m. Reading begins at 7:30 p.m. Books of the featured poets are available for purchase from Fitz Books online and at the event.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.