Bosnian Tombstones

There, on geographically small ambiance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where during the centuries egoistic tendencies of different civilizations clashed with each other; Greek – Hellenistic and Roman – Etruscan; where the border between the Eastern and the Western Roman Empire went through; where the Islam and the Christianity forever stayed mixed in a cuddle; there have been left tens of thousands of Stecaks. Stecaks are tombstone monuments of those who between eleventh and fifteenth century never conformed to any of the empires and their influences, but stayed true to themselves.

There, on this space intersection of civilizations, cults, and religions, they found the way to conciliate the unconciliatable in interlocking and impregnation of things that strived to destroy everything that was not identical. Time has shown that in this region human thought was always more bright that the sword. People died from sword, while they lived from and with the thought, because the sword couldn't resolve the differences.

There, where every aspect of existence always needed the coexistence, human spirit and not sword, has left the lasting visions and philosophy of life. History makes note of those who ravage, but remembers and value only those who create.

For my senior seminar project, I will make the selection of epitaphs that are inscribed on Stecaks, translate them into English, and make a book of poetry that will have the poems/epitaphs written in its original language as well as in its English translation.

Denis Skarep, 10 November 05