The first association with the poet Ratko Zvrko is the unforgettable character of Grga Čvarko or the poems Moja baka and Maćuhica. Let’s remember… Ratko Zvrko was a Croatian writer, journalist, translator, and boxer who initially published his poems under the pseudonym Marijan Vučić in periodicals and in numerous collections and picture books. He was the author of several television shows and series for children.
He was born on April 20, 1920, presumed in Drvenik, in Konavle. After completing primary school, he enrolled in high school, but he did not continue his education after high school as he decided to pursue boxing.
Not much is known about his private life. However, those who knew him remember him as a humanitarian who conveyed kindness, beauty, and hope. He was an unusual combination of a poet and a boxer, a distinctive writer who engaged in boxing. We know that his most famous match was on April 11, 1943, in Dubrovnik, against the Italian champion Lodovico Giobbi. Ratko Zvrko’s victory was celebrated as a victory over the Italians. Well, during World War II, Dalmatia was occupied by Italian authorities. The celebration had the consequence of him being imprisoned for a while in the Lovrijenac fortress the following day by the Italian authorities.
His boxing career marked the beginning of his journalism career. Specifically, Ratko Zvrko started reporting on boxing match results for Vjesnik. Shortly after, he ended his boxing career and continued with journalism. He wrote for Vjesnik, Vjesnik u srijedu, Večernji list, Globus, Arena, Modra lasta, and numerous other newspapers. As the editor of the maritime section in Vjesnik, he initiated the “Plava vrpca Vjesnika” (Blue Ribbon of Vjesnik) trophy in 1966 for noble achievements at sea.
Zvrko’s image as a versatile person was complemented by other jobs: he was a foreign correspondent in Trieste, and as a reporter, he traveled to many European, African, and Asian countries.
His first collection, “Olimpijsko selo Čvrk” (Olympic Village Čvrk), was published in 1952, and in 1967, he received the “Grigor Vitez” literary award for his collection of children’s poems, “Grga Čv”. arak. The book has become one of the most published children’s books in Croatian literature.
In addition to children, he also wrote for adult readers. In 1978, he wrote a biography of the famous Croatian boxer Mate Parlov, “Golden Gloves Mate Parlov”. Other works include: “Laughter is not a sin”, “Magical Window”, “Alarm in the Department Store”, as well as poetry books: “Our Old Acquaintances”, “Magical Window”, “From Zrinjevac to Space”, “Santa Claus’s Bag” and “Stars in the City”.
He was a good friend with another great poet, Dobriša Cesarić, with whom he corresponded in verses. Ratko Zvrko died on September 23, 1998.
Children’s Poet
Magical Window
As if touched by some fairy
with a gentle hand,
the windows of your childhood
are now rosy.
When you look through that window
into valleys, into heights,
all distances appear to you
like the most beautiful fairy tales.
That window portrays for you
everything your imagination desires,
through that window the whole world is
a singing flowery garden.
But in the summers when
Dear,
and childhood when it passes,
all desires and all dreams
reduce to serious reality.
That window is no longer there,
but deep within your being
you carry it, you cherish it
like a good old story.
Childhood is a time when we are more open, imaginative, without internal conflicts and masks. Ratko Zvrko reminds us of childhood as a creative adventure. His little heroes, bearers of adventures, convey the richness of the children’s world of imagination.
As an excellent connoisseur of child psychology, he wrote in an instructive and humorous way about what occupies children. Ratko Zvrko didn’t seek “lost time” in childhood, childhood was his inspiration and motivation for creativity.
Who taught us through poem-stories?
The answer is always… Ratko Zvrko.
The collection Grga Čvarak
In the collection Grga Čvarak, each poem carries a pedagogical lesson: the importance of helping others, the weak, the need to love one’s neighbors, respect for nature, plants and animals, the lesson that bad actions always have negative consequences. The consequences are as a reward for the good.
Who is Grga Čvarak? A boy from Zelengaj with unusual behavior who is always in some mischief and misfortune, a boy with whom many generations have grown up. Just when we think that Grga Čvarak is a naughty boy because he shoots cats with a slingshot, jumps over walls and takes down bird nests, pulls chickens by their tails and constantly fights and argues with other children, his good qualities surprise us because he is always ready to help.
Grga Čvarak is a boy with a big and brave heart who, like many other children, is sometimes mischievous and unaware of his own actions because he is still learning what is right.
If you ask anyone
in my neighborhood,
Zelengaj:
– Who does everything upside down
who shoots cats with a slingshot,
who jumps over walls,
who takes down bird nests,
who pulls chickens by their tails,
who constantly fights with children,
ready to ignite in an argument
like a match?
The answer will always be:
– Grga Čvarak.
But if you ask in my neighborhood,
Zelengaj:
just as well:
– Who jumped all night long
to comfort a sick person? Gave his mother
aspirin, lemonade,
and if you ask the same way
who cried a lot, a lot
because little Mila
scratched her knee
when she fell
even in the ditch?
The answer will always be:
– Grga Čvarak.
My grandma
If you meet my grandma
on the street or alley
approach her with a light heart,
as if she was your grandma.
Help her, little friend,
because her legs don’t serve her well,
and her eyes can hardly see,
so my grandma walks slowly.
…
And when grandma comes home,
her heart will beat happily,
she will speak very nicely of you,
full of joy.
Bitter cherries
Full branches – that’s a kingdom
for two such little guests,
and they keep eating, eating,
they never seem to have enough…
They frown from the pain,
waddle like ducks,
complain: – Now the cherries are bitter,
but they used to be so sweet.
Some of the poems in the collection are written like fables in which valuable lessons are conveyed through the description of the adventures and mishaps of personified animal characters.
In the poem Mark’s Fear, Ratko Zvrko describes a boy named Marko who is afraid of the dark. His heart jumps to his throat, his eyes squeeze shut, and if a mouse If there’s a rustle or something squeaks, he screams and runs away. The lesson for children is that they shouldn’t be afraid of the dark. Ratko Zvrko conveys this through the reaction of mice from which Marko ran away: “So the mice, the attic dwellers, the little party-goers, rejoice: ‘Forward ours when someone is afraid of us too.”
By reading poems, children can recognize and identify with the characters and extract useful advice from their behavior. Some childhood experiences can guide us in the adult world.
“Your Path”
Listen, when things get really hard for you,
When something terribly bothers you
And when you feel really squeezed
On the street and at home,
Wave your left hand,
Wave your right hand,
And decisively, firmly, start walking
Towards some unheard sound.
Walk along a path that doesn’t exist.
That will be your path.
Who knows what tomorrow has in store for you
On that path without signposts,
But you know: it’s your road
That still leads somewhere
And that there’s no place on it
For someone else.
So, sail on!
If sometimes, somewhere,
You stumble on a crazy rock,
And when your head crashes into the ground, My purpose is for you to darken,
Instead, please, be a hero,
As if nothing had happened,
Then continue on your path
Even sharper than before.
And when you really feel good,
When you think you are strong,
Calm down your strength a bit
And don’t pretend to be important.
And continue on your path,
Neither left nor right.
Walk narrow through wide,
And strain when it’s tight.
And one day you will reach
The end of your own path.
At that moment, you may be
Without shoes and a coat,
But you will know who you are
And how much you are truly worth.
That you are Someone simply
Because you follow your own way.