Dejan Stankovicc an acclaimed poet, writer and journalist has so far published: two collections of poems,  a collection of short stories, a book of essays, a novel entitled "Golden hands of my mother Vera" which was awarded with the golden plaque by "The Branko Miljkovic Writers Association",  "Australia, my love !" is his sixth book. He lives and works in Niš, South Europa, Serbia.

Australia, my love !

Adorned by all colors of the universe,

Enriched by freedom of lucky people,

Lulled to sleep in your bosom;

Proud, but unpretentious,

Radiant and full of tenderness,

a paradise without bounds;

australia, my love !

Australia my love translated by Bob Filipovich

On the road to eternity, many have wished for their dreams to become a reality. Dejan Stankovich, a young, but a long-matured author from Niš, has achieved the anticipated enlightenment and   has transformed the reality into a dream by means of a magic of his poetry.

His latest literary creation, the poem "Australia, my love" has fulfilled the dreams of all those who are preoccupied by distant but close to heart places by the unsurpassed creativity of the author.

Distances which sometimes scare those who are undecided are brought closer by the wealth of words and are made recognizable by the poet's spreading of the heavenly spectacle before the eyes of the beholders. The path of truth is opened in front of the pursued, while the invisible followers are left behind in the depths of enfolding waters, not knowing about the great fall into the secret.

Some may still doubt. Someone may even halt in an instant frightened by it. Still, in the poem "Australia, my love" the birth of the new age of optimism and a wondrous wisdom are announced by a surge of words, the spread of the wave of thoughtfulness and the blueness of tamed waves. It is no longer a river of thought which is pouring out of one small well, but -on the contrary- it is flowing out of a sea of water. This flood of words is surging from all directions and it is splashing and inundating our memories and the future. We are an inseparable part of the cosmos, and wherever we may go, we are connected by invisible bridges which originate in our eyes, and spread through our veins and meander to our fingertips. Every touch is a remembrance; every touch - a promise. Every word in the poem "Australia, my love" is a precise heartbeat with which we oscillate between ourselves and other selves.

Dejan Stankovich is an inventive writer who steps in front of us and presents us with a flash of the future which he has experienced, a gift of a harmonious peace from the recognizable depths of universe, a secret which is told to a chosen few  is revealed through a wealth of words which are cloaked in a transparent veil made of words.

We are here and now, forever and again in order to improve the reality and experienced moments of time that trickles according to an unknown metronome.  In the entwined words, in playful verses, in the echo of the place names of that dear far continent, we also discover the path to the truth, the flowing of a positive energy and an enlightenment of the future. Our mission on this Earth manifests itself in the southern meeting points in the midst of ocean waters and the sky, where dreams and the reality intermix to the point of pleasurable pain.

Shaping of the words in this poem reminds us of the grates like Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and Roden. The writing instrument shapes a new form under the clear sky, a new fixed structure of the poem, a shell which accepts under its sculptured arches all different nationalities merged into one. In the fullness of spirit and in the spirit of fullness, we again feel the emotional vibrations in that space of recalled reality. The reality is again a dream of experienced enlightenment,  repeated flashes of the future and the past seen with thoroughly new eyes. This poem has not been written. It has come forth alive from a non-dreaming to the light of the day. It reverberates in all regions of existence/perception. It is entwined like a vine over the walls of places where meaning resides, and it rules in unutterable of the corners of lips. A lingering kiss in an eternal love has descended among us, Australia, my love.

Australia, let the eternity be on guard under your sky. Let it present such a gifted author as is Dejan Stankovich with enough boldness not to divert from the stellar paths upon which he boldly walks - and not be diverted to false paths while in a state of eager expectation.

Goran Lazarevich, Niš,  4. April 2001.   Review

Dejan Stankovich is far removed from an average poet. He has achieved this distinction from his literary colleagues by freeing his creative spirit from all the worldly constrains.

He created his own easily recognizable narrative style of verse, simplicity, deeply comprehended wisdom and strong messages. He is unpredictable in his creativity, the ascent of his poetry. Dejan builds invisible bridges, connects worlds, and explores new ideas on the bluish horizon of knowledge.

Australia, as a personification of his love for modern civilization represents an extraordinary light-motif through which he confidently, boldly and suggestively delivers his vision of this part of the world.

With this poem, Dejan Stankovich has achieved an absolute fullness of style that is a proof of the author's thoroughness in creating thoughts that he threads through an avant-garde magic of clear and thoughtful  sentences.

The poem "Australia, my love" is the art of loving and a love of the arts which in itself is an adequate reason for the readers of Dejan's poetry.

Radoslav Stojanovich, In Niš, 9. February 2001. Review

I read the poem "Australia, my love" by Dejan Stankovich in one breath. Thus I also write this review immediately and directly, aiming for the heart, the emotions, ether  and love. In his latest masterpiece, Dejan Stankovich manifests himself as a patriotic lover, and a lover of every kind.

 His thoughts, transformed into words, are so powerful, the comparisons are so extensive that, as someone commented, this poem could serve as a national anthem of Australia. I certainly would not be surprised, since it is well known that all sorts of remarkable things have occurred in relation to national anthems, as the very process of creating it is a great secret. Dejan Stankovich has the advantage of being an established poet, one of exceptional power and when I say this, I do not mean it just as an empty phrase.

He is a poet of tropical essences, a poet of a highest beauty, a poet of infinite strength/power. Dejan Stankovich is a bold poet, as is yours truly sometimes.  He is very capable and he knows it. He may be a bit puzzled, but he is not confused. An author of grand, loudly expressed visions has a right to listen to the echo of his creations while basking in the glory and adulation bestowed  upon him. Even before I first read this poem, I knew, by his emotionality, that he is in the midst of an unforgettable act of creating a new literary wonder.

"Australia, my love" is a concise intellectualism, a certain precise emotionalism, a certain intricate beauty, a reign of terror of tamed chaos, a wilderness of one solitary poet.

In the latest poetic creation of Dejan Stankovich a new form of universal poetry was born, enlightened to a perfection, which unites all the love, light, wisdom and exaltation.

I have a feeling that this level of quality could have been achieved only during a single unrepeatable night or a single unrepeatable day, as was the case of the novels of James Joyce.  I predict a huge success for this poem. Its power is capable of spreading to distant places around the world.  I repeat: This poem has the essentials of a national anthem, a depth of an anthem. It is etched in the essence of the cosmos. It has a certain uplifting.  Only a poet of an exceptional power like Dejan Stankovich is capable of creating immortal thoughts in a single day, in a single night, just like when we are with a woman we love, who moves everything within us.

Dejan Stankovi is such a poet that we have to praise him and encourage him furiously every moment, just as he bestows upon us his unique verse, because he is such a skillful poet, endowed with an unlimited emotionalism and bravery, which is not acquired, but ingrained.

Because of all that, this poem will conquer all the continents and it will be remembered by everyone with a kind heart. This poem has the power of the eye of the storm. Its strength contains singing and quietness, and falling apart as a result of some terrible cosmic inquisitiveness, without seeking any alibi, without any subservience and flattery.

While some poets create similar unforgettable works with a help of a bottle of red wine, Dejan Stankovich creates a legend and a myth fully consciously and facing up to the reality, which I truly admire. He has a unique intellect; he is rock solid and a great rarity.  Therefore, the poem will find its place among the giants as well as among the grassroots; in fact in everything that flies, crawls, or is even invisible, in everything esoteric and everything aesthetic.   I wish this anthem to be the power of a mad obsession with beauty.

The poem "Australia, my love" will leave its mark on this planet. It will rise to the Heavens, where the brightest hierarchy of beauty and unexplained miracles reins.  The poem "Australia, my love" will be the loudest silence ever spoken, and at the same time, it is the text written in the language of the stars and cosmos, the language of all those who are in love, and the language of all books.

The poem "Australia, my love" will be the teacher and the exalted model for all the poetry that will be written for a long time.

Pero Popov, Belgrade,  10. January 2001.