MILKA VURDELJA (1935 ̶ 2022)

Biography

Milka Vurdelja (neé Serdar) wrote poetry and she had her haiku, senryu, tanka and haibun published in domestic journals and joint collections. She spent her working years as a teacher of the Croatian language and literature. For over thirty years she was the head of the school’s literary section “Club of the Friends of Books“ for which she organized a number of meetings of the pupils with writers. Milka Vudelja was a member of the Editorial Board of the joint collection Koraci k suncu (Steps towards the Sun), published by the Folk Society of Grammar School “Vlado Knežević“.  For her dedicated work and zeal, she was honoured with the Order of Labour with Silver Wreath in 1977.

Selected haiku:

dancing the reel
with Barbie dolls
my granny’s ragdoll

u kolu barbike
i lutka moje bake
od krpica

(Toys, a post-contest anthology, Croatia 2017)

*

my yard
warmed up by the flowering
dandelions

moje dvorište
toplo od rascvjetalih
maslačaka

(Ludbreg haiku miscellany, Croatia, 2018)

*

an outline of a combine
in a cloud of cuttings
and grasshoppers

obris kombajna
u oblaku od pljeve
i skakavaca

(IRIS No. 12, Croatia, 2018)

Selected tanka:

the morning sun
glistening on the roofs
after drizzle
the scent of wet clothing
fill the classroom

jutarnje sunce                                                  
blista na krovovima                                        
poslije pljuska                                                  
miris mokre odjeće                                        
puni učionicu                                                    

(IRIS No. 12, Croatia, 2018)

*

Calm evening
a wet smoke twisting
above potato field
the scent of autumn
in my brother’s hair

Prohladna večer
krumpirištem se vije
ovlaženi dim
miriše jesen u kosi
moga umornog brata

(IRIS No. 13, Croatia, 2019)