Photo by Yana Lozeva
[Once upon a time there was a woman]
Once upon a time there was a woman
who did not know
where she lived. Therefore,
she decided
to not live. Or
to live nowhere.
Or a combination of the two—
alternating one with the other
in various proportions.
When is this going to end,
she would ask, dangling
above the crossroad of her life
like some flying saucer
from a distant land.
[Who am I and how did I get here?]
Who am I and how did I get here?
Don’t tell me. I want to feel around
with my hands or rub my face
like a cat against
a potential owner.
I am a bit ashamed that
I don’t know where to go—
alone, again, crucified
in the crossfires
along the synapses of neurons—
presumably well meaning, yet
the war inside me
causes casualties.
Stop it!
We will sink in self-pity later.
We will have the time
when we chase away everyone and sit
in the middle of the room
to light a fire.
[One sad wasp is waiting for the glass]
One sad wasp is waiting for the glass
to disappear so she could fly away.
This won’t work, I inform her
but don’t set her free.
We stay at home. Outside
the weather is fixing
to rain. See, a storm is coming,
I explain. She rubs her feet,
spins her head and combs her wings.
They brought you from the village
with a bag of peaches.
Here they are, in the fruit bowl on the table.
You’ve come from far away and now
everything is unfamiliar. I’m sorry,
now it’s too late
to go back. At least
you’ll die here, where it’s warm,
instead of out, in the rain.
The wasp does not respond, feels around
the glass pane with her stinger, telegraphing
some insect SOS
that I pretend to understand.
A Bulgarian by birth, KATERINA STOYKOVA is a bilingual poet living in Kentucky and is the author of Between a Bird Cage and a Bird House (University Press of Kentucky, 2024) and The Poet’s Guide to Publishing: How to Conceive, Arrange, Edit, Publish and Market a Book of Poetry (McFarland, 2024). Katerina is the founder and senior editor of Accents Publishing, as well as the creator of the Accents podcast on WUKY. Katerina served as the 2023-2024 Director of the Kentucky Book Festival, as well as the Director for the Center for the Book in Kentucky, and is the 2025-2026 President of the Kentucky State Poetry Society.