The poem is often deconstructed by literary critics into three distinct sections, which correspond to the cycle of the titular river:
There where the blue Vrbas grows moist with the black foaming water of the Ponornica, there is my conversation and my company, there is my wail and my cool shade. skender+kulenovic+ponornica+pdf+15
The collection is famous for its dark, surreal imagery and its unflinching look at the during WWII. It is not light reading; it is a poetic monument to trauma and remembrance. The poem is often deconstructed by literary critics
In my village, a sinking river flows through the throat of a narrow gorge and disappears into an abyss before your eyes. Beyond the village, in the woods, in a clearing, there stands a stone, and on the stone a name without letters – like oblivion. In my village, a sinking river flows through