Alone in a crowd is inspired by the human need to belong—to seek safety, power, and identity within a group. The poem examines the dynamics that arise within such collectives: those who accept narratives unquestioningly, those who believe they already possess absolute certainty, and those who are able to recognize manipulation while attempting to preserve their inner freedom.
At the centre of the poem stands a free individual, Slobodan, who finds himself among people for whom this kind of freedom holds little value. As he becomes aware of the unspoken rules governing the group, he understands that remaining would require surrendering his independence. His decision to leave becomes an act of quiet resistance, affirming freedom as a personal and ethical stance rather than a collective guarantee.
The atmosphere of the poem is shaped by the memory of The Twilight Zone, the iconic black-and-white television series, whose unsettling scenarios exposed the absurdities and hidden dangers of conformity. In this spirit, Alone in a crowd explores how easily freedom can be exchanged for certainty, and how difficult it is to remain autonomous within environments that reward compliance over awareness.
The project is part of the subthemes Disrupted Realities – Poetry and the Politics of Truth, Unruly Forms – Experiments in the Poetic Wild.
Author
Dragan Marinković
Dragan Marinković was born in 1961 in the small town of Odžaci in the AP Vojvodina in Serbia. He worked in the air force and has been retired for 20 years. He is one of the founders and director of the Internet magazine for encouraging children's creativity "Tabla". The main goal of the magazine is to encourage and promote children's creativity and they have excellent cooperation with primary schools across Europe, both those where teaching is conducted in Serbian and those where teaching is not conducted in Serbian (Macedonian, Bulgarian, Montenegrin and Bosnian). He started writing at the age of 50 and has so far written 3 novels (2 of which have not yet been published) and two collections of poems: one for adults "Don't Touch My Dreams" and one for children " The Magical Forest of colorful" (the latter has not yet been published). Several of his poems have won awards, and three poems have been composed.
