new poems (13 page)

 

he walked with lowered head
turned right into Sienna Street

 

a moment later
I heard shouts laughter
whistling ringing

 

I looked round
Raskolnikov was kneeling on the roadway
in a puddle of muddy snow
amid horse droppings
the new top hat Sonya bought him
set down on the cobblestones

 

he kissed the pavement three times made the sign of the cross
crossed himself . . . applause rang out
some guttersnipe knelt by him

 

I tried to raise him to his feet but he
fended me off gently and stood up
took my arm
and said confidentially
“here you have to avoid
being conspicuous . . .
Details, details
are the thing!
It's details that always
betray Everything . . .”
you to the right and me to the left
or the other way round . . . adieu
mon plaisir . . . till the next time we meet!

 

I never saw him again

 

awakened I touch
my body
my face
the painful places of memory
I touch my skin

 

touch an alien body

 

I rub my eyes
but do not wish to open them
opening them
I rise but stay in bed the day rises
I look at my hand
say to myself: “dear lord!”
I hear that in the fields outside Cologne
a million young people
are searching for themselves God faith
the rag (yesterday's paper)
rustles underfoot I rise
start moving but not toward myself

“poor people”

 

Someone phones me
wants something I explain that
I'm here
that I'm not
that I
it's someone young
younger
he has plans
involving me
I explain that I have no
plans
in my thoughts I say
to myself be patient
polite
those young voices
scratch me
hurt me
those live voices
hurt me
why do young people
yell shout bellow
after all there's no
dudek or maradona here
małysz came in 20th or 26th
but he talks quietly
the poor kid

 

 

when I started writing poems
“everyone” was still alive
then they began to depart

 

the hardest task
is to pass through the gates of death
without the aid of an Angel

 

believers pass
through the gates of death
with eyes closed
once through
there is a smile on their lips

 

behind me I have a journey
growing longer
from hour to hour
before me I have
an ever shorter journey

 

faith in what exists
is knowledge not faith
but faith in what does not exist
is true faith

 

whoever believes God exists
needs no miracles
faith is the miracle

 

one who knows that love exists
has a duty to describe it
to let others see its image

 

The gates of death
The secret of their construction
is that the gates are not there
and at the same time they are
wide open to all
they are so narrow
that they must be squeezed through
in the sweat of one's brow
in bloody labor
for years on end squealing
or screaming in fear

 

fortunate those who die
in their sleep
their hand taken
by Eurydice
who is immortal
and weeps for she must
live on alone

I: The Trains

Cyprian Kamil Norwid (1821–1883): the outstanding poet of the late Romantic period in Poland.

II: Columbus' Egg

“sugar fortifies”: Polish advertising slogan from the 1950s. Melchior Wańkowicz (1892–1979) was a well-known author.

Father Robak and Jankiel: a Catholic priest and a Jewish innkeeper respectively, from the 1834 epic poem
Master Tadeusz
by Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855): the major poet of the Romantic period. Konrad Wallenrod, a Teutonic knight, was the title character of a long poem by the same author from 1828.

III: Shades

Julian Przyboś(1901–1970): avant-garde poet. Bronisława (Bronia) was his wife.

Czarnolas: the country home of Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), one of Poland's greatest poets, who wrote about sitting under the linden tree in his garden.

IV: The Discovery of the Knife

1968: in March 1968 there were student protests that led to an “anti-Zionist” clampdown by the government, forcing many Polish Jews to leave the country.

Zomo: the riot police.

VI: The Last Age

“
The iron age was last
[. . .]”: from Ovid's
Metamorphoses
(author's note). The translation is adapted from that of A. S. Kline.

“the poet Jawień”: pseudonym used by Karol Wojtyła (1920–2005), who later became Pope John Paul II.

 

“stone upon stone . . .”: a children's song.

 

“Ludwik Solski's Dressing Room”: room in the Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, named after the famous Polish actor Ludwik Solski (1855–1954).

Extracts from Useful Books:
anthology of world poetry compiled by Czesław Miłosz and published in 1994.

Antoni Kępiński (1918–1972): eminent psychiatrist and author.

Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849): one of the leading poets and dramatists of the Romantic period.

 

White Marriage:
1975 play by Różewicz.

 

Monika Żeromska (1913–2001): memoirist, daughter of Stefan Żeromski (1864–1925), the preeminent Polish writer of the early 20th century.

“a poem about a rose”: a reference to “Dawn Day and Night with a Red Rose” from
the professor's knife
(author's note).

the Skamander poets: group of poets popular in the interwar period 1918–1939.

 

Zgorzelec and Görlitz: adjacent towns on either side of the present Polish-German border.

 

Scardanelli was a pseudonym of the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843).

 

“caps with four corners”: the four-cornered cap or
rogatywka
is the traditional headwear of Polish soldiers.

“O heavenly angel guardian mine . . .”: a bedtime prayer said by children.

 

“golden thoughts” is a Polish expression meaning something like “quotable quotes.”

 

Stanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907): a Kraków painter and poet, one of the most significant figures in Polish culture.

Wawel: the former royal castle in Kraków.

 

Albino Luciani: Pope John Paul I, who reigned for thirty-three days in 1978.

 

Leopold Staff (1878–1957): outstanding poet of whom Tadeusz Róźewicz is particularly fond.

Tadeusz Kotarbiński (1886–1981): a major Polish philosopher. “three times yes”: reference to a referendum in 1946 in which

the Polish communists sought to legitimize their rule. Roman Ingarden (1893–1970): influential Polish philosopher.

 

“leśmianek”: or “little leśmian,” a reference to Bolesław Leś-mian (1878–1937), widely regarded as the most important Polish poet of his time. His verse is characterized by complex, innovative uses of language.

 

“A cold coming . . .” from “Journey of the Magi” by T. S. Eliot.

“
Fallen
/
angels
/
are like
/ [. . .] /
they fall drop by drop
”: this is the entire text of the poem “Homework on the Topic of Angels” from the poet's 1969 collection
Regio.

“youth give me wings . . .”: lines from “Ode to Youth” by Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855).

Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1894–1980): poet and writer, a leading literary figure in the mid-century.

 

This poem is a parody of “Paweł and Gaweł,” a children's poem by comic writer Aleksander Fredro (1793–1876). “Mr. Cogito” frequently appears in the poetry of Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998).

 

“for bread good sir for bread”: from a popular song about emigration.

Telimena, Master Tadeusz, Robak: characters from Adam Mickiewicz's
Master Tadeusz
(1834).

Emilia Plater (1806–1831): Polish national heroine who fought and died in the 1831 November Uprising.

“painted uhlans”: referring to Polish soldiers (from a popular song)

“our good emperor”: the emperor of Austria-Hungary.

 

King Władysław the Short (1260–1333): King of Poland from 1320.

Jerzy Dudek: a well-known Polish soccer player.

Adam Małysz: a champion ski-jumper.

 

Henryk Bereska (1926–2005): an eminent translator of Polish literature into German.

Copyright © Tadeusz Różewicz 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006

eISBN : 978-1-935-74450-4

English translation copyright © Bill Johnston 2007

 

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form without the
prior written permission of the publisher.

 

Archipelago Books
25 Jay Street, #203
Brooklyn, New York 11201
www.archipelagobooks.org

 

 

the professor's knife
was originally published in Polish by
Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie as
nożyk profesora
in 2001.
gray zone
was originally published in Polish by
Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie as
szara strefa
in 2002
exit
was originally published in Polish by
Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie as
wyjście
in 2004.

 

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http://www.cbsd.com

 

 

This publication was made possible by the Lannan Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

This publication has been subsidized by Instytut Ksiazki–the © POLAND Translation Program