From Kvartal

2

Dondukov crosses Levski 

by the Royal Stables

that caught fire last spring,

and it takes time to learn

the traffic light sequence.

Missing my chance again

I’m waiting on the corner

by the Danish consulate

with a painting under my arm.

It’s of Nevena Kokanova

when she appeared in Tobacco.

She’s wearing a white hat

and her eyes are fierce,

but distracted – as they were

in that famous role.

The portrait’s wrapped 

in cellophane but a woman

across Dondukov smiles.

Perhaps a foreigner

carrying the painting of 

a Bulgarian film star

in a white hat

is the strangest thing

she’ll see all day.

3

‘There are a lot of dogs,’

Katya said of those poems.

Yes, but birds as well.

There would be more bats,

but this year they’ve been 

too few, too far between.

So now here’s

the turquoise dragonfly

from South Park

(where we thought

mating frogs were

a chorus of ducks),

the large orange slug

from Borisova,

the early butterflies

behind the Royal Palace

and a lizard splayed

on a Sozopol wall.

For the most part, though,

I’m sticking with Chumerna,

its birds and dogs –

although perhaps not 

that spiny centipede

on our bathroom door

that clung on, clung on,

refusing to budge.