Tag Archives: marin bodakov

“(I Dream that I Cover the Grave with Wet Blankets)” by Marin Bodakov

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The Season of Delicate Hungermy father’s corpses—
no irresponsible copies, only originals,
many bodies of the same old man—
stretching everywhere around my home,
face down

–Марин Бодаков
(Marin Bodakov),
translated from the Bulgarian
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger:
Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry
(Accents Publishing)

Marin Bodakov was born on April 28th, 1971 in Veliko Tarnovo. He holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He teaches at St. Kliment Ohridski University, and since 2000, he has managed the literary department of Kultura newspaper. He and his wife, translator Zornitsa Hristova founded Tochitsa—an independent press for children’s educational literature. Marin is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Naïve Art (2011), for which he received the Ivan Nikolov National Literary Award.

“Addition to a Poem” by Marin Bodakov

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The Season of Delicate Hunger

In addition to the two pink feet
sketching death’s greedy beak,

upon peering at the original, one discovers
the hand of Icarus.

Sore comb for the labyrinth of waves,
five fingers grasping the absurd support of water;
a detail not subject to reproduction.

Then four fingers.
Then three.

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

Marin Bodakov was born on April 28th, 1971 in Veliko Tarnovo. He holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He teaches at St. Kliment Ohridski University, and since 2000, he has managed the literary department of Kultura newspaper. He and his wife, translator Zornitsa Hristova founded Tochitsa—an independent press for children’s educational literature. Marin is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Naïve Art (2011), for which he received the Ivan Nikolov National Literary Award.

“Hungry Milk” by Marin Bodakov

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The Season of Delicate HungerWithout a declared competition
the winner is proclaimed.
Production quality is immaterial,
jury competency is irrelevant:
the award for best supporting role
always goes to death.

Someone else’s, of course.

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

Marin Bodakov was born on April 28th, 1971 in Veliko Tarnovo. He holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He teaches at St. Kliment Ohridski University, and since 2000, he has managed the literary department of Kultura newspaper. He and his wife, translator Zornitsa Hristova founded Tochitsa—an independent press for children’s educational literature. Marin is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Naïve Art (2011), for which he received the Ivan Nikolov National Literary Award.