Made in Yugoslavia
"The old country is an immigrant's country of origin,"
according to the Collins Dictionary.
"The country a person lived in before moving to a new country,"
according to Britannica.
And neither feels quite right
because my mother often talks about
the old country
and reminisces about friendships and first loves
and lessons learned in school
and in life
and how wonderful it was
back when she still lived in
the old country
without a care in the world because
"You could always sleep on a bench
in the middle of a park,"
after all.
And she misses the old country.
I know
because she watches me make coffee
and laments
the džezva that served her well back then,
all those worlds ago,
when she was my age and fussed
over spilling its contents
over that same spot by that same stove.
Made in Yugoslavia –
My mother,
an immigrant in her own home.
Katarina Pavičić-Ivelja is a journalist-turned-lecturer who primarily writes poetry "za svoju dušu"/"for her soul," as the Balkans say. Her writing journey started through journalistic work at a feminist news site Libela but she has lately started focusing more on other forms of writing. As an avid lover of literature, she enjoys trying her hand at both prose fiction and poetry. Most of her poetry is rooted in her own lived experience. Currently, she teaches Children's Literature at the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Pula, Croatia.