Fall 2011, Volume 11

Poetry by Peycho Kanev

The Real Thing

It was 1986.

My grandmother and I were sitting in
the living room, in front of the TV,
watching the speech of the Chairman
of The Communist Party, with the rest
of the country.
The teeth of my grandma were grinding.
I asked: ”What’s the matter, granny?”
She sat there, quiet for a while, and
then she said: “This man should die.
I just hope someone to kill him!”
and after a few noiseless minutes
she told me: “If you, my boy, tell
someone what I’ve just told you, I will
kill you!”
Then she smiled with her bad teeth,
but I noticed something in her eyes,
that made me silent,
until now.

 

 

 

BIO: Peycho Kanev is editor–in–chief of Kanev Books. His poems have appeared in more than 400 literary magazines, such as: Poetry Quarterly, The Monongahela Review, Steam Ticket, Ann Arbor Review, Midwest Literary Review, Third Wednesday, Burnt Bridge, Istanbul Literary Review, Loch Raven Review, Verdad, In Posse Review, The Penwood Review, Mascara Literary Review, The Mayo Review and many others. He is nominated for the Pushcart Award and lives in Chicago. In 2009 his short story collection "Walking Through Wall" (Ciela) and in April 2010 his poetry collection "American Notebooks" (Ciela) were both published in Bulgaria. His new poetry collection "Bone Silence" was released in September 2010 by Desperanto, NY. http://www.kanevbooks.com