“I Had to Be Born in February” by Rossen Karamfilov

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The Season of Delicate HungerI realized
I’m paralyzed
about 240 months ago

That
has never killed me it is
just one part of me about which I know

I don’t know anything and so during one
June day I started walking without thinking
I did it and I was filled with joy like a child

even though I’m too guilty
to be a child if you only knew how
happy I was underneath me there was

water
there was a lot of water
and for a moment the weight was dead

and I was a walking man then
everything became as before
But I prefer

to look at things
from a better angle
Otherwise I’ll collapse

But I won’t …

-Rossen Karamfilov,
translated from the original Bulgarian
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger:
Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry
(Accents Publishing)

Rossen KaramfilovRossen Karamfilov was born on November 20th, 1992 in Sofia. He is the author of two poetry collections—The Eagle and the Child (2011) and Stereo Silence, which was released in 2013. Rossen currently lives in Plovdiv, where he is studying applied linguistics (German and English) at Paisii Hilendarski University.

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