When the war broke out

Coil Poetry
The Coil
2 min readAug 19, 2019

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Poem by Haris Čolić

When the war broke out, I was only eight years old.
My uncle was captured. My mom told me a lot about him.
Hell broke loose in Bosnia.
In the period of ’92–95, everyone died around me.
I was just a kid; I didn’t understand why.

When the war broke out, I was only eight years old.
My father died fighting the enemy. He was defending our family.
Hell broke loose in Bosnia.
In the period of ’92–95, I had no friends at all.
I played with my mom in the basement, under candlelight.

When the war broke out, I was only eight years old.
My neighbor, Alem, was only five when the sniper shot him.
Hell broke loose in Bosnia.
In the period of ’92–95, grenades killed kids while they were playing.
I prayed with my mom for the war to stop.

When the war broke out, I was only eight years old.
My uncle never came back from the concentration camp he was in.
Hell broke loose in Bosnia.
In the period of ’92–95, I lost my uncle and my dad.
A few years after the war, I also lost my mom.

When the war broke out, I was only eight years old.
My uncle, my dad, my neighbor, everyone died around me.
I was just a kid; I didn’t understand why.

HARIS ČOLIĆ was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His writing has appeared in The Literary Hatchet, The Scene & Heard, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, and others. His work in Bosnian has appeared in various anthologies and collections. He is currently looking to publish his poetry chapbook, ‘Anatomy of transcendence,’ and a short story collection.

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Coil Poetry
The Coil

Poetry at The Coil: An Independent Literary Magazine at http://thecoilmag.com. Contact Poetry Editor Lewis J. Phillips at poetry@thecoilmag.com. #CoilMag