Eleven Poems and One Story

This second edition of "Eleven Poems and One Story" is a journey from childhood to old age. Through recollections and reflections, the author discovers and reveals truths learned at different periods of his life. He also addresses the issue of where not only he, but humanity as well, is going.

The book, Eleven Poems and One Story, is a series of recollections and reflections from the author's life, starting with his childhood in Yugoslavia through his emigration to the United States. Through his poetry and his experiences, the author ponders not only his life but also the meaning of life in general, with all its contradictions. He portrays his "journey" through life and his struggles as well as those of humanity.

Eleven Poems and One Story looks at life through the eyes of a poet-scientist. With the precision and attention to facts common to the scientist and with the philosophical nature of the poet, the author presents us age-old questions in a new light.

Rajko Igic was born in Despotovo, Yugoslavia. He studied medicine at the universities of Sarajevo and Belgrade and worked for several years as a physician in Sombor and Kucura, Vojvodina. In 1967 he moved to Sarajevo. Dr. Igic was founder and head of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Tuzla from 1978 to 1992 and director of the Department of Scientific, Cultural, Technical, and Educational International Exchange for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo from 1990 to 1992. He published numerous scientific papers, several textbooks for medical students, and books, including "Nova Slovarica" (Univerzal, Tuzla, 1987). In 1985, he devised a combined alphabet, Slavica, to be used instead of two existing alphabets for Serbian or Croatian language. His intention was to bring about a closer association among the four nationalities in the Yugoslav area, "who speak practically one language, but write in two different alphabets."

As a medical student, the author voluntarily spent three summer vacations in Tremnik, Anska Reka, and Kumanovo, Republic of Macedonia, building the Brotherhood and Unity Highway. In 1961, he led a group of 120 medical students from the University of Belgrade, and they continued the building of this highway, dreaming of a better world. Dr. Igi} started an international campaign of medical students "January 31st- A Day Without a Cigarette" that in several years contributed to a slight decrease in smoking prevalence among the citizens in the former Yugoslavia, and several European countries. The World Heath Organization appreciated this preventive activity in 1991 and invited 40 students from Tuzla to a special meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

The civil war in Yugoslavia forced him to leave Bosnia in May, 1992. For a short time, he stayed in Sombor and Novi Sad, and in 1993 he moved to the United States of America. In his free time, he has studied the effect of the war in Yugoslavia on scientific publication. Igi} published his ideas on war prevention in various medical journals and other publications, including the Scientist, Scientometrics, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and European.

Rajko Igic (1937, Despotovo, Serbia) is a Senior Scientist at the J. H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois. He was formerly a professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacology at the Medical School, University of Tuzla from 1978 to 1992 and Director of the Department of Scientific, Technical, and Educational International Exchange for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo from 1990 to 1992. After the start of the war in Bosnia, he stayed in Sombor and Novi Sad, Serbia, and in 1993, immigrated to the United States. As a student, Igic had written only a few poems in Serbo-Croatian language, but he continued to write poetry in English when he came to America (Eleven Poems and One Story, 2002; Come, Live in This World, 2006). Igic has authored numerous scientific papers, several textbooks for medical students and scientific writing. He also devised a new combined Cyrilic and Latin alphabet for the Serbo-Croatian language. He recently published a memoir The Destiny of Germans in St. Ivan and Other Writings (2003) and several biographical articles and essays. He is a member of the Academy of American Poets.