“Haven’t They Discovered My Absence Yet?” by Yordan Efftimov

211 Replies

The Season of Delicate HungerHe fell asleep on the air mattress
and woke up in the open sea.

How many missed calls fill the phone buried in the sand?
Or is there no signal in this wild gulf, so hard to find?
Will the sunset come soon enough?
Sunburn in the open sea hurts worse
than inhaling after laughter.

Haven’t they discovered my absence yet?

A friend insists that
the castaway has already been saved.
Terrible is the fate of the wandering sailor.

-Yordan Efftimov,
translated from the Bulgarian
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger:
Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry

Yordan EfftimovYordan Efftimov was born on January 23rd, 1971 in Razgrad. He holds a Ph.D. in Bulgarian literature from St. Kliment Ohridski University. He teaches theory of literature in New Bulgarian University in Sofia. Yordan has worked as an editor and columnist, and has hosted radio and television literary programs. He is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently The Heart is Not a Creator (2013), along with five monographs and two textbooks on modern and ancient literature. He lives and works in Sofia.

211 thoughts on ““Haven’t They Discovered My Absence Yet?” by Yordan Efftimov”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *