HAMLETING Poem by Predrag Lucić

This summer Hamlets are ripe and many
All across our states
Which both
Do and do not exist
As their to-bes
And not-to-bes
Resound all over the place

But wherever you place the mousetrap
Either into the Ottoman court
Or into his summer Brozidence
This state of us being
Between being and not being
Can never be brought to an end

Because
Fortinbras never sets foot in here
Only a merchant once in a while selling pepper
Vinegar, bandoliers and powdered fear
Or a rain-catching bottle's manufacturer
The maker of šišinje-kišinje

But Fortinbras never
Perhaps a forensic expert here and there