FOUR Poems
Grzegorz WRÓBLEWSKI;
translated by
Piotr GWIAZDA
Piotr GWIAZDA
‘Time’s Arrow’
The Hittites stroll among
dormant pines.
Already 110 people
have drowned.
This isn’t my world…
Trains in Poland
accelerate up to
250 km/h.
“Silver or lead”
(Pablo Escobar).
dormant pines.
Already 110 people
have drowned.
This isn’t my world…
Trains in Poland
accelerate up to
250 km/h.
“Silver or lead”
(Pablo Escobar).
‘The Eyes of a Snake’
There are things
we don’t understand.
Wolves maul children
to death.
Seals and porpoises
are envoys from
an underwater
abyss.
Phantoms.
Charles Manson.
Carmine “The Snake” Persico.
The eyes of a snake.
There are things
we don’t understand.
But they are part
of a greater plan.
we don’t understand.
Wolves maul children
to death.
Seals and porpoises
are envoys from
an underwater
abyss.
Phantoms.
Charles Manson.
Carmine “The Snake” Persico.
The eyes of a snake.
There are things
we don’t understand.
But they are part
of a greater plan.
‘A Network of Relations’
Let’s think of ourselves
as an imperfect temple
because
if it weren’t for Alprazolam
people would instantly turn
into a band
of savages.
As for barbiturates,
today only vets use them
to put animals to sleep.
as an imperfect temple
because
if it weren’t for Alprazolam
people would instantly turn
into a band
of savages.
As for barbiturates,
today only vets use them
to put animals to sleep.
‘Tut’
Bipedalism
emerged
in the jungle (We live
in an era of great
changes!) Whereas
King Tut was
murdered.
What should be done?
Read Eliot!
Pretend to be lost
in the crowd…
emerged
in the jungle (We live
in an era of great
changes!) Whereas
King Tut was
murdered.
What should be done?
Read Eliot!
Pretend to be lost
in the crowd…
Grzegorz WRÓBLEWSKI—born in Poland in 1962 and living in Denmark since 1985—is one of Poland’s major contemporary writers. He has published over a dozen of volumes of poetry, prose, and drama in Poland, as well as several books in Denmark and other countries. As a visual artist, he has exhibited his paintings in various galleries in Denmark, Germany, England, and Poland. English translations of his poetry appear in Our Flying Objects (trans. Joel Leonard Katz, Rod Mengham, Malcolm Sinclair, Adam Zdrodowski, Equipage, 2007), A Marzipan Factory (trans. Adam Zdrodowski, Otoliths, 2010), Kopenhaga (trans. Piotr Gwiazda, Zephyr Press, 2013), Let’s Go Back to the Mainland (trans. Agnieszka Pokojska, Červená Barva Press, 2014), and Zero Visibility (trans. Piotr Gwiazda, Phoneme Media, 2017).
Piotr GWIAZDA—born in Poland in 1973 and living in the United States since 1991—is the translator of Grzegorz Wróblewski’s Kopenhaga (Zephyr Press, 2013) and Zero Visibility (Phoneme Media, 2017). He is also the author of three books of poems, Aspects of Strangers (Moria Books, 2016), Messages (Pond Road Press, 2012), and Gagarin Street (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2005) and of two books of literary criticism, US Poetry in the Age of Empire, 1979-2012 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and James Merrill and W.H. Auden (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He is Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. For more information about his work, visit: http://piotrgwiazda.net/.
Piotr GWIAZDA—born in Poland in 1973 and living in the United States since 1991—is the translator of Grzegorz Wróblewski’s Kopenhaga (Zephyr Press, 2013) and Zero Visibility (Phoneme Media, 2017). He is also the author of three books of poems, Aspects of Strangers (Moria Books, 2016), Messages (Pond Road Press, 2012), and Gagarin Street (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2005) and of two books of literary criticism, US Poetry in the Age of Empire, 1979-2012 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and James Merrill and W.H. Auden (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He is Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. For more information about his work, visit: http://piotrgwiazda.net/.