Damages ~ by Bazhe

An epic coming-of-age tale, which happens to be true. Damages begins with one man’s journey home to what was once Yugoslavia to bury his adoptive father, only to learn his adoptive mother is also dying. As Bazhe ponders feelings of relief to be free of the abusive Communist party official he’d called his father, the reader is drawn into his past amidst the breathtaking landscapes of a disintegrating Yugoslavia. Damages documents his search for his sexual identity – through his time at the College of National Security where he refused to conform and suffered for it, to his time spent living in Turkey as a transvestite on the arm of a wealthy man - all while his country, Yugoslavia, heaved with nationalism, xenophobia, religious fundamentalism, and of course, homophobia. Bazhe’s journey takes us through it all in flashbacks as he cares for one dying mother while initiating the search for his other one. Damages is also several love stories – the love of mothers and sons that even illness and separation can’t destroy; the love of country despite all its foibles, phobias, –isms and painful history; and ultimately, the love of life itself and the journey we all take to grow and overcome our own individual, and unique, damages. ~~ * Bazhe is a writer, poet, and artist. He has published poems and short stories in Former Yugoslavia and America. His art has been exhibited in New York City. He now lives in New Jersey. He can be reached at www.Bazhe.com *