The whirlpool has elsewhere forgotten
the direction of time,
has forgotten how to swim,
has transformed the afterlife into
a drowned hurricane.
It has lost its hands,
numbers and dial.
Yet, if the patient takes a sip,
.           he will either recover
or sink into dim misery.

Death is a black crow on the roof
of every revelation,
and after it
both song and freedom
taste bitter.

–Roza Boyanova, 
translated from the Bulgarian
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger:
Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry
(Accents Publishing)

Roza Boyanova was born in the village of Rabrovo. She holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from Konstantin Preslavski University in Shumen and has worked as a newspaper correspondent and a lecturer in children’s literature at several universities. In 1993, Roza founded Mythical Birds, a creative writing organization for children and youth in Bourgas. Since then, she has compiled and edited over 40 books of creative works by the group’s members. Roza is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Drafts of the Milky Way, published in 2011. She is the recipient of the 2007 Ivan Peichev National Poetry Award in Bulgaria.