The poems in Belgrade-born Ana Seferovic`s Materina address multiple layers of what both “mother” and “motherland” mean, with new meaning refracted when these are located within the context of war and migration. The altered/ altering body which does not belong “(one day it will perfect, just perfect!)” and felt only in relation to another body…
Generational trauma and inherited memory hang in rarefied and exquisite exhibition which Seferovic journeys through via internal and external perceptions, which themselves are constantly breaking down – “The border was an obsessive idea: parents trashing maps, drawing new imaginary borders in the air”
Whilst the employed form holds great tension, the reader is air-borne via stunning archetypal contemplation of the everyday – “the moon was a rounded scarab with golden vibrating wings”
Subtle layers amount to a work resonant of Calvino’s Invisible Cities with the additional intrusions/ escape of a digital world – the whole device articulating with a singular feminist analysis of (and witness to) war. As such, this is a radical literary contribution.
Experientially, to enter a Seferovic poem is akin to walking around a museum of dreams with sharp curatorial style and analysis. Always political, unfailingly humane and often funny, Seferovic holds a unique voice and space in contemporary poetics “ all would be better without sound – switch it off!”