by Peycho Kanev

Great Lakes Steel. Detroit, 1942. Arthur Siegel, Office of War Information. Courtesy of Shorpy.

Going home after a 10–hour job…riding the bus
with the blacks and the poor…watching through
the window…the setting sun…the uselessness of
the trees…the stream of the cars…the concrete
of the sidewalk…the skiddish cops…the blocks
with the streets of houses and their windows
and the faces behind…with all their blankness…
and the guy sitting next to me – a large man
with hands like tree-trunks – tries to start a stupid
conversation…but I am not here…riding the bus
with all these dead souls…I am out there…some
where…and then I got out…on the empty street
…leading to my place…with the burning walls…
empty chair…and I am here…I open the door…
and then close it… I open the fridge…get the beer
bottle…and then close it…I sit in the empty chair
…and turn on the radio…luck with Brahms…I put
the green glass in my mouth…and the foamy liquid
goes into my throat…and I just sit there…thinking…
what life is all about.
–

Expectation

The end of my sleep is sneaking
between the light of the bulb and
the alcohol:

I saw you on the street, how you
watched the painters working at the faces
of the passing people and the unbearable
buildings, how they suck their pipes and
listen to the intolerable waltzes from their
little radios.

Now, it is midnight,
and I am kissing your breasts.
I taste your soul, as my hands reach out
searching for love in this room sodden
with stink of bread, wine and death.

We are walking on the steps of others
before us,
and we live within our small summer.

Now, we are shaking and awaiting the winter,
and you look me in the eyes;
(what a feeling), somewhere outside,
the dogs are barking, and cats are sleeping
by fireplaces:
you want to tell me something,
I light a cigarette and look into your
eyes.

I wait for the oldest curses
of all.
–

Peycho Kanev is the Editor In Chief of Kanev Books. His poems have appeared in more than 500 literary magazines, such as: Poetry Quarterly, Evergreen Review, The Monongahela Review, The Coachella Review, Midwest Literary Review, Third Wednesday, The Cleveland Review, Loch Raven Review, In Posse Review, Mascara Literary Review and many others. He is nominated for the Pushcart Award and Best of the Net and lives in Chicago. In 2009 his short story collection Walking Through Walls and in April 2010 his poetry collection American Notebooks both were published in Bulgaria. His poetry collection Bone Silence was released in September 2010 by Desperanto, NY. A new collection of his poetry, titled Requiem for One Night, will be published by Desperanto in 2012.