by Kristin Dimitrova
Like a chess-player who plays with
both the white and the black pieces,
I have been attacking myself
for a long while.
At each turn of the chessboard
I defend myself against enemy bishops.
The knight’s horses snort, stamping their feet,
and when they jump their hoofs
pierce through chest bones.
The queen is laughing at me.
Today the white one.
Tomorrow the black one.
I hear her while I think
over my next move.
Some people end
this kind of game
with an inevitable victory.
I get upset,
kick down the chessboard
and storm out of the room.
Then I ponder over my loss and see
it was so damn unfair.
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ABOUT THE POET ~
Kristin Dimitrova (born May 1963 in Sofia, Bulgaria) is a poet, writer and translator., Her books of poetry include Jacob’s Thirteenth Child (1992), A Face Under the Ice (1997), Closed Figures (1998), Faces with Twisted Tongues (1998), Talisman Repairs (2001), The People with the Lanterns (2003) and The Cardplayer’s Morning (2008)., A Visit to the Clockmaker (2005) was published by Southword Editions, Ireland, and My Life in Squares (2010) by Smokestack Books, UK. Dimitrova is a five-times winner of different national poetry-of-the-year awards, among which the Association of Bulgarian Writers Annual Prize (2003)., Among her works of fiction are the novel Sabazius (2007), winner of the Hristo G. Danov National Award in 2008 and shortlisted for the Canetti Prize, and the two short stories collections: Love and Death under the Crooked Pear Trees (2004) and The Secret Way of the Ink (2010). Dimitrova is the co-scriptwriter of The Goat (2009), a feature film directed by Georgi Djulgerov., Dimitrova’s translation of a selection of poems by English metaphysical poet John Donne, The Anagram (1999), brought her the Union of Bulgarian Translators Award., Poems, short stories and essays by Kristin Dimitrova have been translated into 22 languages and published in 25 countries.
Last updated October 02, 2011