Thursday, 6 July 2023

Three Poems by Peycho Kanev

 



A Note on the Pillow

 

You live near the cemetery and

it is always dark at this place.

The shadows pull the stones together,

trapping them in a whirl of immobility;

I’ll leave when the music’s over

and when you promise me never again to point

that gun at the mirror.

 

 

At the End

 

At the end of a long day

everything around breathe again,

tranquility hangs

like a pendulum above the ground.

 

But that’s good, I say. Let it rest.

The greenery, the crosses on the tops

of the churches pointing to heaven,

darkness sneaking behind the mountain,

bringing new life to the creatures

of the night.

 

At night the stones speak. But not everyone

understand them. Not everyone has the dictionary

of the centuries. But those who have it may hear

the darkest story. It begins anew each day.

 

 

The Twin

 

He is inside me

and with me

from the day

I was born.

 

We think

the same things

about our world.

I got my face,

but he is in control of

my brain.

 

And even more!

When we walk under

the sun his shadow

is thicker than mine.

“How is this possible?”

I ask my self.

He says nothing.

 

He never says anything

at all. He’s mute as a mule.

Yet women adore him.

They follow him through

the streets with hollow eyes.

 

We sleep together at night,

and he dreams my dreams.

But when I wake up

we are the same person again.

 

And I’m sure it will last

forever. Unless I do something

about that. So I decided

to take  him for a walk.

 

I took him to the fields.

And when I showed him

the scarecrow he began

to tremble with fear.

 

Ah, the way he screamed in pain.




Peycho Kanev is the author of 12 poetry collections and three chapbooks, published in the USA and Europe. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, such as: Rattle, Poetry Quarterly, Evergreen Review, Front Porch Review, Hawaii Review, Barrow Street, Sheepshead Review, Off the Coast, The Adirondack Review, Sierra Nevada Review, The Cleveland Review and many others. His new book of poetry titled A Fake Memoir was published in 2022 by Cyberwit press.


No comments:

Post a Comment