I rend, you rend.
The asparagus rains down in dashes.
The naked stem is thin.
Unclad,
deceit topples the ladder.
Do you hear the moans of the merry-go-round,
which either picks us up or brings us down.
And the asparagus
is a ladder for the ants.
-Elka Vasileva,
translated from the Bulgarian by
Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger:
Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry
(Accents Publishing)
Neck
legs
skin
stomach
liver
kidneys
heart
lard
bristle
intestines:
a dictionary
we cut
into pieces
on the table,
chew on its words,
clueless
about their bloody
etymology. The tongue
only knows
what is
sweet, the eye
enjoys
the shape
of the dish,
and then
the hand (mute, blind, clean)
writes poems
celebrating
dinner.
We say: it’s all a matter
of taste. A culinary
truth. Elegant,
diamond-encrusted
knife sheath
for the knife. A well-directed
TV ad for sausages. The screen
assembled by hungry
people rolling
in the mud.
–Dimiter Kenarov,
translated from the Bulgarian
by Dimiter Kenarov
Dimiter Kenarov was born on January 25th, 1981 in Sofia. He has studied in the United States at Middlebury College and the University of California Berkeley. He works as a freelance journalist, poet, literary critic, translator and writer. He is the author of two collections of poetry, most recently Apocryphal Animals (2010), as well as a book of translations of selected poems of Elizabeth Bishop. His work has appeared in various English language magazines and newspapers and has been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing. In his free time, Dimiter swims, snowboards and takes pictures of the world.
Leatha Kendrick reading “What I Wanted but Couldn’t Tell…” by Mirela Ivanova.
Poem’s full title:
WHAT I REMEMBERED, BUT COULDN’T TELL MY SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, WHILE WE WERE STUCK FOR 11 MINUTES IN THE ELEVATOR AND SHE TUMBLED, BOUNCED FROM CORNER TO CORNER LIKE A BLAZED AND CRAZED, SPARKLING FIREWORK AND HER TEARS ROLLED GIANT, APOCALYPTIC BEHIND THE LENSES OF HER GLASSES, AND I WAS TRYING TO YELL OVER HER HORROR, TO PET HER SCARLET CHEEKS AND FOREHEAD, TO EMBRACE HER AND GATHER HER BACK INTO MYSELF AND SING TO HER CONSOLINGLY, BECAUSE I ALREADY KNEW THAT CHILDREN RECOGNIZE THE VOICES AND THE PULSES OF THEIR MOTHERS FROM AMONG 3000 NOISES
from The Season of Delicate Hunger: Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry
To see more from Leatha Kendrick, don’t forget to check out Stars with Accents this Sunday at 7PM at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning where she’ll be reading with Paulette Livers and Lisa Williams in an event hosted by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer.
One man, as alluring as an apple
One man, as exquisite as an asparagus
One man, as bubbly as a grape
One man, as brimming as a watermelon
One man, as boring as a banana
One man, as friendly as a cabbage
One man, as spicy as a radish
One man, as green-eyed as a kiwi
One man, as vulnerable as a peach
One man, as passionate as a tomato
One man, as sly as an eggplant
One man, as green as a cucumber
One man, as locked-up as an apricot
One man, as provocative as a zucchini
One man, as irritable as an onion
One man, as guileless as a pepper
One man, as enticing as a strawberry
Nothing personal, I’m simply hanging out
at the market on the fifth day
of the protein diet.
–Mirela Ivanova
translated from the bulgarian
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
from The Season of Delicate Hunger
Robin LaMer-Rahija reads “Larry” by Ivan Hristov as translated by Angela Rodel.
From The Season of Delicate Hunger: Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry.
Ivan Hristov was born on February 16th, 1978 in Borovo. He holds a degree in Bulgarian philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia and a Ph.D. in Bulgarian Modernism from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, where he currently works as a researcher in the Institute of Literature.
Selected Bibliography:
Two of our published poets from The Season of Delicate Hunger, Emanuil A. Vidinski and Petar Tchouhov, are in the band Par Avion and they have released their first single. Check it out below
The blue eyes
screaming in silence
and disobedience
the lips
the upper of which reveals itself
only in a smile
thick and exciting
like a scar from childhood
the groove between the breasts
the truest home
the palms the neck the thighs
pressing my pulse
nobody is irreplaceable
not even I.
-Emanuil Vidinski
translated from the Bulgarian
by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger (Accents Publishing 2014)
Emanuil Vidinski was born on June 27th, 1978 in Vidin. He holds a degree in Slavic and Germanic studies from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. He is the author of a short story collection, a novel and a poetry collection, Par Avion (2011). Emanuil is the creator and editor of the World Novels series for Altera Press. He was an editor in the Bulgarian department of Deutsche Welle radio in Germany from 2008 to 2012. He currently lives and works in Sofia.
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)
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.
As part of our “Meet a Bulgarian Poet” series, Katerina Stoykova-Klemer interviewed poet, musician, and songwriter Petar Tchouhov, one of the brilliant voices featured in The Season of Delicate Hunger: Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry. Here is a translation of that interview.
What would you like for the American readers to know about Bulgarian poetry?
First, to start remembering from time to time that such poetry exists. Above all, I hope that The Season of Delicate Hunger will move the concept of “Bulgarian poetry” out of the abstract and into the concrete for the American readers. Second, that they’d understand that this poetry is capable of surprising them, of sharing something new and interesting. And third, that among the Bulgarian authors, they may discover a few who will become their favorites.
cut through my white skin
like lashes—
a challenge for the knife
of your I love you.
–Vanya Angelova,
Translated from Bulgarian
by Katerina-Stoykova Klemer
The Season of Delicate Hunger (2013)
More posts about The Season of Delicate Hunger:
Vanya Angelova was born on November 4th, 1953 in Plovdiv. She holds a degree in Slavic philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia and has specialized in pedagogy of cinema at the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. Vanya has worked as a teacher, theater dramaturg, cultural consultant, and journalist. She is the author of two poetry books, most recently Possible Travelogues of the Body (2010). Vanya currently lives and works in Thessaloniki, Greece.