Tigris / Tigar

The tiger is not just an animal, but an archetype, a mythological figure, a metaphor for freedom, strength, wilderness, the cosmos, the subconscious, spirituality and the primal. Bilosnić explores the tiger in various aspects: real (as a beast in the jungle), symbolic (ancient myths of India, China, the Far East), existential (the tiger as the "other" in man, the opposite of civilization) and metaphysical (the tiger = the world, infinity, the harmony of nature and man).

The poems are short, precise, often condensed in haiku or in free verse, with rich images, repetitions and a rhythm that evokes the tiger's walk, jump, roar. There is no narrative story - the cycle is meditative, obsessive, almost mantra-like: the tiger walks, lurks, sleeps, dies, is born, meets man, becomes the sky, the sea, fire.

The collection is Bilosnić's most translated and most appreciated work; it has received many international awards. Critics praise it as the pinnacle of contemporary Croatian poetry: universal, without borders, it returns man to nature and spirit through the tiger's strength and mystery. For Bilosnić, the tiger is "everything a poet is not" - but also what he can become. The book is a poetic obsession that transcends the animal and becomes a cosmic vision of freedom.