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Writer's pictureA Too Powerful Word

Ivan Hristov


Ivan Hristov (1978, Bulgaria) is a poet and a literary researcher. He is the author of the poetry collections Сбогом, деветнайсти век (Farewell, Nineteenth Century, National Prize for the best poetic debut Southern Spring 2002), Бдин (Bdin, National literary prize Svetlostruy 2006) and Американски поеми (American Poems, 2013), as well as of an academic monograph. Любовен речник (A Dictionary of Love), his fourth poetry book, was published in 2018.

His works have been translated into a dozen of languages. In 2015, Bdin was published in Turkish. The next year Bdin followed by American Poems came out in Romania. In 2019, within the framework of the European project Versopolis his third poetry book American Poems was published in Paris, France and his fourth poetry collection A Dictionary of Love, in Bratislava, Slovakia. Since 2019, Ivan Hristov has been a director of the Sofia: Metaphors Poetry Festival International Program. He currently works, as a researcher, at the Institute for Literature of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.






A

Acacia


Your thighs – acacia

White, with a pleasant scent

Able to endure low

and high temperatures

Used for reinforcing

steep hillsides swaths

With a deep root system

Reaching wet layers of soil

A precious honey-producing species

Transparent pale-greenish honey

Dark brown seeds

A flat follicle

ripens at the end of summer

In the core of every stem

two prickly thorns

Alabaster


Alabaster is the world

In a milk-white colour

Milk-white sea

Milk-white sky

Sugar milk-white

in warm white milk

It has a porous structure

A vessel for perfumes

and essential oils

can easily be crafted


Amber


noun, sing. used as a mass noun only

Fossilized tree resin with a yellow color;

Related forms: amberlike, ambery, amberous

Amber necklace.

Amber nuggets.

Burning stone

If natural amber is rubbed vigorously

against wool or silk,

it becomes negatively charged.

When Zeus got tired of hearing

the wailing of dead Phaeton’s mother and sisters,

he turned them into willows.

Yet they kept weeping.

Their tears fell into the water

like drops of amber,

which the river carried out to the sea

C

Crimson


A color of the group of non-spectral colors

A combination of blue and red

similar to purple

It belongs to the warm colors

not like purple

which

belongs to the cold ones

It is often confused with dark red

Similar to blood red

Associations:

Power, monarchy, high aristocracy


H

Hops


There once was a ritual in which newlyweds were sprinkled

with the fragrant green cones

of this plant

this way, people wished them

health and quick-to-come offspring

And they were never late in coming

Today, dry hops cones

or special hops teas

can be bought from the pharmacy.

The hops is stewed and then drunk,

added to rejuvenating baths

or used for rinsing the hair…

There is hops in beer as well.

It gives the drink a bit of bitterness,

that balances the sweetness of the malt,

and the floral, citrus and herbal fragrances and tastes.

When the beer is finished, it prolongs the foam’s staying power,

and with its acidity acts as a preservative

Men

who abuse this foamy drink

should keep in mind,

that in time

too much infatuation

might make them the owners

of feminine curves





I

Ivy


I am ivy

My leaves are hard,

green in winter, too,

varying in form

from shield to pointed star

My stalks are fitted

with tiny knots –

roots that have been transformed,

and I use them to clutch at you.

Contrary to the common view

I am not a parasite

my roots do not suck

your nutrients dry,

they only use you for support

my blossoms are greenish-yellow

My strange fruit ripens

at the end of winter, the beginning of spring

which is exactly the opposite

of other plants

I am only vulnerable to the worst cold snaps

My leaves should be

sprinkled regularly

and I should receive enough light

but don’t expose me

to direct sunlight






J

Jasmine


Oh beauty

Oh feminine temptation

Blessing and grace

Sensuality and freshness

Night of secrets

Which only the moon

can see

In the morning

jasmine arrows from Kama

At night

a garland in the sea of hair

in which I drown

Mercy

A confession of love

Cleopatra

goes to meet

Mark Antony

in a boat

whose sails are covered in jasmine

M

Myrtle


The most humble of plants

A symbol of sensual love

The flower of Adam and Eve – exiles from Eden

Sparkling fragrant leaves

An old legend tells that

the first man took it with him

to plant it into the sinful Earth

even though it was just one of the plants adorning the garden of bliss

A symbol of hope

An echo of heavenly happiness

An Angel appears in front of Zachariah, the prophet, in a myrtle bush

and he announces the restoration of Kingdom of Israel


V

Vines


Exuberant greenery

brilliant hues

exterior decoration

they hide unpleasant parts

and architectural elements

Climbing

hortensia, wild grapes, ivy and tecoma

Clinging

Characteristically weak, flexible, with very long shoots

The climbing rose

Twining

known here as “the gramophone” – ipomoea

Sprawling

Asarina (lofos, maurandya)

They have the strongest decorative effect

and do the most damage

They must be strictly tended,

cut back when they get overgrown

Be careful not to let their roots take hold of your home,

The first step towards its destruction

Z

Zephyr


(in Greek Ζέφυρος)

Oh Zephyr

son of the starry sky and the dawn

Of the storms and the rain

Strength and vehemence

Warmth and tenderness

A young man with wings

Hyacinth with a bloodied head

Psyche saved from the monster

Thin translucent ethereal clothing

delicate flowers fallen

you slip beneath the nightgown

like a spring breeze

in a valley

Translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel

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