{"id":7596,"date":"2011-09-30T12:33:27","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T10:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=7596"},"modified":"2011-09-30T12:37:26","modified_gmt":"2011-09-30T10:37:26","slug":"poems-by-peycho-kanev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=7596","title":{"rendered":"Poems by Peycho Kanev"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One Poet in Chicago<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

This city is scary and supreme.<\/p>\n

Its shiny lakeshore with white yachts<\/p>\n

and seagulls and herons tilting<\/p>\n

quietly upon the marble waves.
\n
\nThe hard-blowing wind<\/p>\n

licking the rind of the imposing trees.<\/p>\n

Those crazy and beautiful people<\/p>\n

walking up and down the streets,<\/p>\n

as the Sears tower pierces the alabaster sky.<\/p>\n

A long time ago, in some small house,<\/p>\n

Carl Sandburg was writing his dreams.<\/p>\n

Not too far away, Hemingway learned<\/p>\n

his way with the shotgun.<\/p>\n

This city of butchers, gangsters,<\/p>\n

and sky-drinking poets.<\/p>\n

This city of uncertainty<\/p>\n

and misunderstood simplicity.<\/p>\n

This city of fondness<\/p>\n

and knives leading to oblivion.<\/p>\n

But it is still early\u2026<\/p>\n

One of these days when you wake up with words<\/p>\n

in your head transforming into money\u2013<\/p>\n

unallowable poet\u2019s dreams\u2026<\/p>\n

God did not give His permission to each and every scrivener.<\/p>\n

Cup of coffee or the unsolved color of the whiskey\u2013<\/p>\n

which absurd will the poet pick and choose?<\/p>\n

This city will take care of it!<\/p>\n

Back in the day, you could see the little Gwendolyn Brooks<\/p>\n

skipping rope with the words forming in her head.<\/p>\n

Now, the slam joints are full of screaming typesetters.<\/p>\n

This is your place under the sun. City of destiny!<\/p>\n

Do not leave it\u2026<\/p>\n

The stones of the ruined city wall<\/p>\n

will never say: Goodbye<\/em>!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\n\u00a0 
\n\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 About Diogenes and the full tub<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0
\n\u00a0 
\nWhile I am writing this poem, I am scribbling<\/p>\n

some notes for my next book.<\/p>\n

They say that\u2019s always the case, don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n

Also, they say that a broken clock is right twice<\/p>\n

a day. I remember, a few years ago during one<\/p>\n

night in the forest, I was chased by two shiny eyes.<\/p>\n

I had no knife. I was armed with a rusty searchlight<\/p>\n

and a bottle of brandy. But I will keep that story<\/p>\n

for my next book. Now, I have something else on<\/p>\n

my mind. While I am writing this down in my<\/p>\n

shabby notebook, I look out the window. Outside,<\/p>\n

the nightly silence is spreading, and above that,<\/p>\n

the great mountain hangs over. Vultures and bats<\/p>\n

are cutting the sky and sing songs unheard by<\/p>\n

everyone but me. And it seems to me that today,<\/p>\n

for the first time, I\u2019ve heard within the long river<\/p>\n

the true voice of the water. I saw on the clouds<\/p>\n

in the sky what eternity really is. I understood<\/p>\n

the everlasting secrets of the grass and the vines,<\/p>\n

locked in the ground. I felt the meaning of<\/p>\n

the days. Even the book on the table can\u2019t give me<\/p>\n

this wisdom \u2013 The Poems of Catullus? Very good!<\/p>\n

But the seasons will change again — all books will<\/p>\n

be written; the words will fade away, and speech<\/p>\n

will turn sour. But what difference does it make<\/p>\n

right now, when I am turning into one of the saddest<\/p>\n

wonders of the world?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\n\u00a0 
\n\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lead off<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am still in the old dingy neighborhood,<\/p>\n

waiting for the skies to turn into cashmere.<\/p>\n

Ice-cream trucks play baroque symphonies,<\/p>\n

outside, and the brown kids chase each other
\n\u00a0 
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

in the dark with their whizzing lightsabers.<\/p>\n

If I try to fry something I will eventually burn it,<\/p>\n

and the avant-garde words from Cummings\u2019s \u201cis 5\u201d<\/p>\n

crumble down on the wine-stained carpet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
\n\u00a0 
\nI attentively prowl the streets late at night,<\/p>\n

stalking the shadows that are drawing nearer.<\/p>\n

Concealing myself in the Serbian liquor store,<\/p>\n

where the celluloid shop boy sells me bottles<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

full of canned laughter. It will be like this<\/p>\n

until the end \u2013 eventually \u2013 no coke or grass,<\/p>\n

just this indescribable mouth in my head,<\/p>\n

lisping in my good ear \u201cTimes must pass\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Advice to the little girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u00a0
\nAlways learn your lessons.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t drink.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t smoke.<\/p>\n

Listen to your parents \u2013<\/p>\n

grandma and grandpa too,<\/p>\n

if they are still around.<\/p>\n

No boyfriends \u2018till high school.<\/p>\n

Love yourself.<\/p>\n

Leave yourself.<\/p>\n

Know your body.<\/p>\n

Read a lot of books.<\/p>\n

Take long walks in the woods.<\/p>\n

Eat vegetables.<\/p>\n

Be humble.<\/p>\n

Be pushy when necessary.<\/p>\n

Swim among life\u2019s difficulties<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u2026 keep sliding.<\/p>\n

But do not write poems.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

\nPeycho Kanev is the Editor In Chief of Kanev Books. His poems have appeared in more than 500 literary magazines, such as: Poetry Quarterly, The Monongahela Review, Steam Ticket, Midwest Literary Review, Third Wednesday, The Cleveland Review, Loch Raven Review, In Posse Review, The Penwood Review, Mascara Literary Review and many others. He is nominated for the Pushcart Award and lives in Chicago. In 2009 his short story collection Walking Through Walls<\/em> and in April 2010 his poetry collection American Notebooks<\/em> were both published in Bulgaria and Russia.\u00a0His poetry collection Bone Silence<\/em> was released in September 2010 by Desperanto, NY. A new collection of his poetry, titled Requiem for One Night<\/em>, will be published by Desperanto in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One Poet in Chicago \u00a0  This city is scary and supreme. Its shiny lakeshore with white yachts and seagulls and herons tilting quietly upon the marble waves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[739,77],"tags":[1153,1123,793],"class_list":["post-7596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia-32","category-english","tag-egophobia-32","tag-english","tag-peycho-kanev"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-1Yw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7596"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7608,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7596\/revisions\/7608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}