{"product_id":"sprinting-from-the-graveyard-by-goran-simic","title":"'Sprinting from the Graveyard' by Goran Simić","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"\"\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"text-token-text-primary w-full focus:outline-none has-data-writing-block:pointer-events-none [\u0026amp;:has([data-writing-block])\u0026gt;*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]\" dir=\"auto\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto pb-8 [--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-xs,calc(var(--spacing)*4))] @w-sm\/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-sm,calc(var(--spacing)*6))] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-lg,calc(var(--spacing)*16))] px-(--thread-content-margin)\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col gap-4 grow\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv dir=\"auto\" class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal outline-none keyboard-focused:focus-ring [.text-message+\u0026amp;]:mt-1\" tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert wrap-break-word w-full light markdown-new-styling\"\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eWritten out of the siege of Sarajevo, \u003cem\u003eSprinting from the Graveyard\u003c\/em\u003e records civilian life under bombardment.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimić writes about hunger, shelling, damaged streets, vanished neighbours, family life and the almost comic, ordinary behaviour undergone whilst a city is being destroyed. The poems are brief, lucid and often almost reportorial; their force comes from what they refuse to inflate. Horror arrives through the detail left standing after rhetoric has been stripped away. \u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is irony here, sometimes savage, but little of the moral grandstanding that can make war poetry feel pre-decided. Simić is interested in the collapse of distinctions: between civilian and target, survival and humiliation, patriotism and death, the domestic and the historical. In “Victory,” public celebration is placed beside theft, starvation and the memory of a father entering town armed and skeletal, until the word itself becomes almost unusable. The graveyard is not merely a symbol in these poems. It is part of the city’s practical geography.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe collection was rendered into English by poet and playwright David Harsent from Simić’s original Bosnian poems. These versions gave Simić a major English-language readership, though later retranslations restored material he felt had been altered or softened here—a complicated history worth knowing rather than disguising. This remains a stark and significant document of Sarajevo: poetry as witness, but also as resistance to the simplifications imposed by nationalism and war. \u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOxford University Press, Oxford Poets, 1997 first edition paperback. Moderate rubbing and scratching to covers, edge wear and lightly bumped corners; internally clean and sound.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45901906509907,"sku":null,"price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Untitleddesign-2026-08-03T192338.894.png?v=1785749395","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/sprinting-from-the-graveyard-by-goran-simic","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}