A Little Autopsy

Translated by Filip Čolović

I sit in my room in Leningrad
We’re having a little autopsy
I cut open the chest and made a Y-incision
It is by that letter that we know without a doubt that someone in a movie is dead
I go over the organs, one by one
This is his heart it weighs 320 grams
Because it is a bit heavier than the hearts of other people
I put it back
The lungs are beautiful with almost no trace of my smoke
I am very happy and I put them back
The liver is nice and smooth
I caress it and put it back
The gallbladder – exceptional
The intestines are 10 times the length of the body, very imposing
The stomach is full of healthy food!
I put it back
The spleen stores red blood cells
Just like it’s supposed to
All the 100 grams of the pancreas are great
I put it back
All the 5.5 liters of blood are of a beautiful shade
I pour it back
And since this is not a movie
He is sitting next to me, frowning

***

There is a house in the field
It is where I live
Everything is a yellowish shade of gray but it’s difficult to tell colors because of the fog
We are in Russia
In the morning, I milk the cows
In the evening, I sit and read alone by the stove
I have one broom

Milica Spadijer (1989): born two days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and she lives her life accordingly. She graduated from the Belgrade Grammar School of Philology and she got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Classical Studies Department of the Faculty of Philosophy, and she is currently working on her doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. She works as a journalist, translates from Greek, teaches Greek and Latin, and writes for several online news websites.

Filip Colovic (1995) – born in Belgrade, he is currently finishing his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade (English Department). At the moment, he works as a content writer and translator. Appreciates the avant-garde and all forms of quality art and fiction.