You and I

May 30

People come into your head

and disturb you – you told me

with appropriate added gestures:

forefinger touching your forehead,

eyes holding firmly to mine.

And I thought how much angrier

is the world you inhabit,

doing battle with krakens,

snakes, humanoid machines

with curious leanings

and clinging trunks

that seem at best to be

looking for your friendship. And how

much more warped the world I live in –

closed, unreliably sunny, with pollen

to scatter, with feathers to pluck,

with endless letters

and happily startling meetings.

Without you I’m air without a balloon,

a mouth without a tongue, a tongue without a bell,

an alphabet without language. Lungs without air.

And together

we raise a great noise.

Translated by Tom Phillips

The original Bulgarian text was published in: ‘Dear Passengers‘ (2018), Izdatelstvo za poezia DA, Sofia, Bulgaria;

The English text first appeared in: Blackbox Manifold

#Revolt