She
looked me in the eyes
and insisted it’s easy
to rejoice at offered love,
insisted also she would gladly
lay next to a good writer,
explained how she sees
writers locking eyes with death.
Finally she reached into my glass
and said: I’ll eat this olive.
She did it
slowly,
so I could see
what it’s like
when
a fly
slinks into
a scarlet wound.
-Ivo Rafailov,
translated from the Bulgarian by
Katerina Stoykova-Klemer,
Season of Delicate Hunger
(Accents Publishing)
Ivo Rafailov was born on February 25th, 1977 in Bourgas. He holds a degree in cultural studies from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He works as a graphic designer. Ivo is the author of two books of poetry, most recently Countable Temptations (2013), and he has received awards for both photography and poetry. Ivo is the co-founder of Frost Press, which has published collections of contemporary American poets in Bulgarian, including Billy Collins, Ted Kooser and Carl Dennis. He lives and works in Sofia.
What a tender, and terrible, exchange. Thank you, Katerina and Bronson, for bringing this to us!
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