by Kristin Dimitrova
My daughter asked me whether
I had brought her bubble gum.
I told her I had not
but I was there all right.
She objected that I was one thing
and bubble gum quite another.
I pointed out she could not always
expect something nice.
She corrected me:
‘Not something nice but bubble gum.’
And although the sun was doing its best
and the birds interrupted each other
and the grass in the park was greedy-green,
my daughter rained her heart out.
There is a happy world and a sad one
and bubble gum in-between.
Trans. from the Bulgarian by Gregory O'Donoghue
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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