Meeting with Charles Simic and the Bombing of Belgrade in 1944
Americans introduced the title of Poet Laureate in 1936, following the English. Charles (Dušan) Simić became Poet Laureate in 2007. In this capacity, he visited libraries in various cities, where he read his poems and signed books brought by admirers. Before arriving in Chicago, he suggested we have lunch at his hotel and talk.
TL;DR
- Charles Simic became the US Poet Laureate in 2007.
- Simic immigrated to America at 14, published extensively in English, and won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize.
- He translated Serbian poets into English, influencing his own work.
- The author shared a poem with Simic, who later sent him an original poem.
- Simic met Richard Hugo, who revealed he had bombed Belgrade as a young flyer.
- Hugo's bombing runs targeted Belgrade to lighten bomb loads on return flights from Romania.
- He aimed for the bridge over the Danube to disrupt troop movements.
- Hugo later wrote an apologetic letter to Simic about the bombing.
- The article notes that Allied bombings killed around 4,000 Belgrade residents.