Now Is the Longest Never

If it's not said now, it may never be said that Josip Kocev's third poetry book (following the brilliant debut with "I, Quentin Scribbler" and the poetry collection "Written Silence," which was rightfully in competition for the "Braca Miladinovci" Award in 2017) is a well-thought-out poetry book. "Now Is the Longest Never" could be read as a love poem, as a poetic composition in three movements ("Now," "Never," and "The Longest Never"). When we read Josip Kocev's poems, we rejoice in the poetic "now and here," easily captured in each poetic image. Almost on every new page, a beautiful step awaits us: we want to reread the poem we have already read, but at the same time, we want to turn to the next page to see what comes next. It creates an impression that the poems flow into each other, working together to create a greater poetic synthesis.

Vladimir Martinovski