Tag Archives: ani ilkov

“Dying Mother” by Ani Ilkov

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The Season of Delicate HungerThese fruits are mine
but the garden not
the light is mine
but the sun not
and the stars above
and the dried-up river
This sperm is mine
but the father not
their bodies mine
their beauty not
their names mine
the words not
and the tears mine
but the eyes not
these children are mine
but already the world
not

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

Ani Ilkov was born on January 11th, 1957 in Ruzhintsi. He holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He has worked as an editor and journalist, and has served as a visiting professor in Great Britain and India. Ani is a cofounder of the respected weekly literary gazette Literaturen Vestnik. He is the author of 10 books, including eight poetry collections, most recently Collected (2011). Ani currently lives and works in Sofia.

“Coal” by Ani Ilkov

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The Season of Delicate Hunger

You think: there underground
There we’ll manage to be kind
We’ll find work in companies
We’ll amass mounds of cash
(until the wife and kids arrive)

And you think: it’s so simple
Black sun shines above
And colorful ores below
Open their eyes with natural boldness
Like a man who’s overcome sickness

Actually it’s like this: you descend
All your life you’ve craved women
Dressed in clothes of alcohol and
Suddenly you see—time sleeps
Over heaps of listless manure.

Then you’ll tell yourself: life was only smoke.
Today let’s merge with the eternal:
To dream rose-colored dreams
While turning into coal.

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

Ani Ilkov was born on January 11th, 1957 in Ruzhintsi. He holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He has worked as an editor and journalist, and has served as a visiting professor in Great Britain and India. Ani is a cofounder of the respected weekly literary gazette Literaturen Vestnik. He is the author of 10 books, including eight poetry collections, most recently Collected (2011). Ani currently lives and works in Sofia.

“Mole-Eagle” by Ani Ilkov

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The Season of Delicate HungerFor the first time she saw the world like this
not a world but a map
not a map but a slit stomach
draining fecal waters
the very blandness of life

She knew—whizzing around her
was neither dirt nor sand
and by the chill she realized—
her world had gone bankrupt
but she ascended
and ascended
upwards

Never before had she seen such
an unchangeable world with unclean
rivers running across
and drops of tears and blood
marking the path below
which had no turning back

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

Ani Ilkov was born on January 11th, 1957 in Ruzhintsi. He holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He has worked as an editor and journalist, and has served as a visiting professor in Great Britain and India. Ani is a cofounder of the respected weekly literary gazette Literaturen Vestnik. He is the author of 10 books, including eight poetry collections, most recently Collected (2011). Ani currently lives and works in Sofia.
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