In My Father’s Village & Other Freedom Stories First published as an e-book 2020 Copyright © Tamara Lazaroff 2020 Cover design and illustration by Jovana Yoka Terzic 2020 Tamara Lazaroff www.tamaralazaroff.com
[email protected] Brisbane, Australia Available as a free-access e-book through Pollitecon Publications www.pollitecon.com Sydney, Australia No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For, and because of, my grandfather, Dedo ‘Dedushko’ Trajan; and to my mother, Mara, who went before me. You can say anything you want, yessir, but it’s the words that sing, they soar and descend… I bow to them… I love them, I cling to them, I run them down, I bite into them, I melt them down… – Pablo Neruda Contents Preface..............................................................................................6 Prison in Macedonia......................................................................9 I Am Natasha................................................................................20 Lezbianka.......................................................................................29 Blaga Writing Poetry....................................................................44 The Sock Seller’s Socks, The Plum Picker’s Plums...................54 Walnuts, Almonds, Nuts.............................................................57 From What