Absinthe 17 Preview: Nikolay Boykov

This is the 16th in a series of posts previewing the new issue of Absinthe, our 17th, focused on Bulgaria. In this post we present a poem by Nikolay Boykov.

Dream of the Wall and Key

                                 for Alex Miller


I slept huddled next to a wall of doors
endless like a wall without end
I woke up
in my mouth was a key
I unlocked the first closest door
There in a windowless room
huddled next to the wall opposite the door
a man sat and slept
in his mouth a key
I woke him up
and we went to wake up
the others asleep
behind other doors of white rooms
Until I woke up


Translated by Jonathan Dunne

READ MORE by ordering Absinthe 17.

(c) Neva Micheva

Learn more about Nikolay Boykov and Bulgarian literature at the Contemporary Bulgarian Writers site.