Photo by Yana Lozeva
It Is Culturally Unacceptable
for a woman to pour out
her anger like this!
Pour it out in secret, like dirty water
from snow-white laundry the neighbors will praise.
Lock it away — a tiger in a dog shelter,
a bomb in a porcelain vase, a dead man’s ashes
in a box of chocolates.
Honor your husband!
Honor your father!
Drag your perfect pure skin to God’s lap
to hear Him say:
Have you honored My anger?
Translated by Clint Margrave.
[My husband and child]
My husband and child
are in the middle of some game
sitting on the floor
smelling like chocolate cake.
I walk past them, I laugh
at his jokes
I laugh at her laughter,
I laugh.
Then I light a cigarette on the balcony,
frown and wait for them
to go away.
My imaginary husband.
My imaginary child.
They are with me
only when I’m real.
Translated by Daniella Gill de Mayol and edited by Clint Margrave.
[You think]
You think
partings are simple –
one gets on the train
the other lies down on the tracks.
But the thread wrapped around your finger
gets tighter and tighter with time.
Reminds you of trains
derailing.
Translated by Daniella Gill de Mayol and edited by Clint Margrave.
DIMANA YORDANOVA’s (1986) debut poetry book, The Woman and Men I Used To Be, was a first-prize winner at the international literary contest Alda Merini and the national competition for debut literature Yuzhna Prolet. She is also the author of the poetry book Down the Spine and the children’s book What a Surprise! Her latest work, Letters to Niya, My Unborn Child, has been universally hailed as an important achievement and was nominated for the national poetry award Ivan Nikolov. Dimana has worked as an editor for various websites as a copywriter and screenwriter. In 2023, the Bulgarian National Television broadcast a documentary, funded by the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria, about Dimana (If There Was a Film About Me) that explored her poetic voice in depth.
About the Translators:
DANIELLA GILL DE MAYOL is a translator, educator, and filmmaker whose life and work weave between languages, cities, and stories. Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, she studied French Philology at Sofia University before continuing her academic journey in England, where she explored Film at Oxford University and earned a BA in Modern History from Oxford Brookes. Her translations—Mission London and The Black Box by Alek Popov, co-translated with Charles Gill de Mayol de Lupe—brought Bulgarian satire to English-speaking audiences and were honored in The Guardian’s Best Indie Novel List in 2016. Now based between Sofia and Burgas, Daniella teaches, translates, and crafts documentary films. Her current project delves into the mysteries of an ancient archaeological site, blending historical inquiry with cinematic storytelling.
CLINT MARGRAVE is the author of the poetry collections Salute the Wreckage, The Early Death of Men, and most recently, Visitor, all from NYQ Books. He is also the author of the novel Lying Bastard and editor of Requiem for the Toad: Selected Poems of Gerald Locklin (NYQ Books). His work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, The Sun, Rattle, and B O D Y, among others. In 2024-2025, he served as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Bulgaria, living in Sofia, and teaching creative writing at Sofia University. He currently lives in Long Beach, California, and teaches at California State University, Long Beach. Clint Margrave has contributed to B O D Y since 2022 and is our guest editor for our 2025 Fall Issue.