Milica Milinković is a Serbian-born autistic writer and poet based in Naarm on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Their writing explores relationships, queerness and having big feelings. They’re currently studying creative writing at RMIT.
“My work, which spans fiction, non-fiction and poetry, is informed by my experiences as a queer, autistic survivor of intimate partner/sexual violence, and the impacts this has on my relationships and general being in the world. I’m interested in exploring themes of intimacy, grief and mental illness. For most of my writing life I’ve considered myself exclusively a writer of prose but in recent years have expanded my practice to include poetry. I’ve spent much of my life overwhelmed by how I feel and struggling to communicate it; poetry has become a way to express myself in playful and fluid ways without worrying about being misunderstood. I love experimenting with imagery, language and rhythm, and how the content of my work is enhanced by playing around with form. Most of all, I like to have fun with my writing even if I’m writing about difficult things. My work is earnest and intimate (sometimes funny too) and invites readers to submerge themselves in emotion.”
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there’s an ocean inside of me
it’s a cliché I know but you like metaphors
and I need this to be easy for you to understand
there’s an ocean inside of me
you already know everything that it does
swellslackenstirswaystormswirlswallows
surges with proximity settles with deprivation
I am not its moon
no matter how I try
there’s an ocean inside of me
you ask if there’s a way to keep
the water unpleated
I think you’re starting to get it
there’s an ocean inside of me
packing the moats plunging the baby pushing my earthwork
swelling like a basement
flooding like a bruise
but now I’m mixing metaphors
tell me you’re still with me
there’s an ocean inside of me
and all of this is to say
every time you touch me
I feel so close to drowning