October the 17th, 2024 – Katarina Bučić is a writer and poet born and raised in Toronto, Canada by first generation Croatian immigrants. She is now living in Zadar, Croatia.
Katarina Bučić has a long history in creative arts and has a specific passion for poetry. She has taken part in many creative projects and with her recent move to Croatia, her love for her new home has inspired her most recent poetry project, The Heart of Croatia.
“The Heart of Croatia is guided by my experience of moving from the Western culture of Canada to the deeply historic and magical Croatia. This country has given me a second life. Her beauty overwhelms me, her history devastates me, and her abundance inspires me. Join me in my tribute to this country I now call home and in the evolution of my experiences, and my immersion in her magnificence.”
We build walls
where there used to be doors
This is the consequence
of so many wars
The hardening,
anything soft hidden in drawers
Love written in letters
underneath carpeted floors
Bad things don’t happen in threes,
they happen in fours
When destiny abandons you
washes you up on shore
It’s dangerous outside,
so stay indoors
Until the fight is over
and peace restores.
Wherever you visit in Croatia, you are always reminded of war. Crumbs of horror are sprinkled across this country. There may be many modern homes and villas, but in their orbits are just as many ruins and abandoned homes. Croatia seems to currently be in this interesting space between history and opportunity, the old and the new. This beautiful country has the potential of many sunny and optimistic days ahead, but in the background always lurks the shadows of its past oppression.
