Poem collection explores living with hope amid despair

Ivica Đikić's "Međugorje" is formally a book of poems, but it functions as a cohesive, deeply conceptualized work unified by a single life. The collection confronts themes of homeland and displacement, faith and its absence, and the formation of an unbearable realization: that life will not get better, only perhaps incrementally worse. It poses the question of whether a person who rationally understands that things will never improve can still live in hope.

Living without hope is described as unbearably unhappy. Many poems in the collection tell stories, often belonging to a social genre that others might avoid. "Međugorje" is difficult to finish, as one part of the reader urges them to stop, while another compels them to continue. This may stem from a desire to find solace in the misfortunes of others, a deeply human, albeit flawed, reason to feel secure and happy. However, the work also offers a profound aesthetic sensation, a pleasure derived from the beauty of its form and the purity of Đikić's poetic and narrative insights.

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Can a person who rationally knows that things will never be better live in hope?

The poem "Shame and Haggling" illustrates the central paradox: "If you don't tell everyone / My daughter is autistic / If you don't beat the drums / Like an imperial town crier / They think: / Look at him hiding / He's ashamed / It's shameful / Still / A person cannot escape / Themselves / Barriers cannot be overcome by mind and acting / In the bloodstream... If you say / My daughter is autistic, / If you open yourself up / Like a sinkhole after an earthquake / They think: / Look at him, poor thing / Seeking pity / Haggling / As if fate were a market trader / Instead of staying silent and paying." The text contains only what is present, exploring the paradox that has no easy answer.

In Đikić's world, and in the author's own imagination, the common, simple response to such paradoxes is, "Why do you even care what others think?" This advice works well when observing others' lives from a comfortable distance, or in situations that can be hidden. However, for the obvious, constant, and unavoidable realities, this comfort offers no solution. Instead, one must find a way to communicate without truly revealing, to remain silent yet speak.

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If you don't tell everyone / My daughter is autistic / If you don't beat the drums / Like an imperial town crier / They think: / Look at him hiding / He's ashamed / It's shameful / Still / A person cannot escape / Themselves / Barriers cannot be overcome by mind and acting / In the bloodstream... If you say / My daughter is autistic, / If you open yourself up / Like a sinkhole after an earthquake / They think: / Look at him, poor thing / Seeking pity / Haggling / As if fate were a market trader / Instead of staying silent and paying.