Second Skin

By Katerina Stoykova

Second Skin by Katerina Stoykova discusses the horrors of growing up in domestic violence, and focuses on some of the long-term effects of such upbringings. This poetry collection features three main characters—a mother, a father and a child. The story of the family is told from the child's perspective. Initially published in Bulgarian

• Language: English
• Publisher: Accents Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Mar 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781936628674

Book preview

Cover art by Luba Haleva

Design and typesetting by Asen Iliev

Copyright © 2019 Katerina Stoykova

Editor Nevena Dishlieva-Krysteva

Originally published in Bulgarian in 2018 by ICU

ISBN 978-619-7153-43-9

ISBN 978-193-6628-67-4 (e-book)

ICU

8 Hubavka Str

1111 Sofia, Bulgaria

icu-bg.com

CONTENTS

Welcome, Horror

8th Floor Balcony Ghazal

You Have the Right to Mourn, Dear One

September 1971

I Couldn’t Have Been More Than Four

Welcome, Fear-of-My-Father

Here Is What I Remember

How Are You Feeling, Child?

Welcome, Feeling-That-You’ve-Lost-Something

Welcome, Pain-of-Abandonment

The Six-Year-Old Girl Told Her Father She Didn’t Love Him

Hello, Horror-With-No-Name

At the Hospital

Grandma Interrogates

Dad, Do You Remember?

Sewn with Flaming Threads

Sewn in Like a Body in a Bag, Ancient

Tour of the House

Welcome, Yearning-to-Die

The Kiss Goodnight

Three Incidents

Hit and Tell Villanelle

I Love You, Refusal-to-Feel

How Are You Feeling, Child?

One Afternoon Again

One Day, after the Last Class

Mommy, Mommy

Welcome, Moment

Thank You, Suspicion

Welcome, Jealousy

Welcome, Jealousy

How Are You, Child?

At the Bottom

Welcome, Disappointment

I Love You, Conditioned Reflex. I Love You,

Welcome, Feeling-of-Being-Defeated

Having Destroyed Her Life

Welcome, Aggression-Towards-Yourself

Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy

Hello, Outrage

How Are You Feeling, Child?

I Haven’t Had a Single Good Day in My Life – Mom

How Are You Feeling, Child?

Welcome, Fear-of-Fear

One Day I Got So Mad

Last Trip to the Movies

By My Mother’s Grave

Conversation

When Mom Died

Once

Welcome, Loneliness

Priceless Advices

Black Stone Over White Stone

We Must Be Very Careful When Using the Word Home

Once I Opened the Door

Welcome, Pain-of-Loss

How Are You Feeling, Child?

Welcome, Unfamiliar Knocking

Welcome, Aggression

Hello, Self-Loathing

Decade After Mom Died, I Destroyed the Documents

Dream

The First Time I Tried to Talk About My Childhood

It’s Not True… – Dad

He Lives as if the Past Doesn’t Exist – Katerina

The Wooden Spoon

Dad

I Love You, Loneliness

I