I asked the sky:
— Why am I here?
It swallowed my words and waited for more.

I didn’t know what else to add.
I asked the earth:
— Why am I here?

It shrugged its mountains.
I asked the fire:
— Why am I here?

It heard nothing for its loud crackling.
I leaned over the well to ask the water.
— Why am I here?

— Come, I’ll tell you—it responded.
— Well, actually—I said—I was just asking.

-Kristin Dimitrova,
translated from the Bulgarian
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger (Accents Publishing 2014)

• Interview with Kristin Dimitrova

Kristin Dimitrova was born on May 19th, 1963 in Sofia. She is the author of 10 books of poetry, most recently The Garden of Expectations and the Opposite Door (2012), as well as a novel, two short story collections and a set of four travelogues. Kristin is also a co-scriptwriter of the feature film The Goat (2009). She has received five national awards for poetry, three for fiction and one for the translation of a selection of poems by English poet John Donne. Her poems, short stories and essays have been translated into 24 languages and published in 26 countries. She lives and works in Sofia.