{"id":16749,"date":"2022-04-19T13:26:33","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T17:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/?page_id=16749"},"modified":"2022-06-06T12:47:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T16:47:33","slug":"three-poems-from-polish-translated-by-jennifer-grotz-and-piotr-sommer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/three-poems-from-polish-translated-by-jennifer-grotz-and-piotr-sommer\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Poems from Polish by Jerzy Ficowski, Translated by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was unable to save\na single life\n\nI couldn't stop\na single bullet\n\nso I circle cemeteries\nthat aren't there\nI search for words\nthat aren't there\nI run\n\nto the aid uncalled for \nto the rescue delayed\n\nI want to get there on time\neven if it's already over\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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WE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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we animals superior\nby our own nomination\nwe with our disappearing\ntail of instincts\nbecause without them it's easier\nto persist in our stubborn error\n\nour opposition to nature\nmakes her itch\nso she scratches herself and shudders\nwith a tsunami, for instance\n\nthen we die out a little\nand those who remain\nfeel very sorry\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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PUSTE MIEJSCA PO<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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THE EMPTY PLACES AFTER<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1. Tu by\u0142 wysoki horyzont: bieg\u0142 jak kot po dachach, przeskakuj\u0105c kominy. Nie ma ju\u017c tej ulicy. Horyzont uciek\u0142 w pola, za Wis\u0142\u0119. Po domach, kt\u00f3re tu by\u0142y, zosta\u0142o niebo\u2014ciemniejsze ni\u017c naok\u00f3\u0142, jak \u015bciana pod zdj\u0119tym obrazem. Go\u0142\u0119bie z nawyku przelatuj\u0105 wy\u017cej, a wieczorem zapala si\u0119 ksi\u0119\u017cyc na czwartym pi\u0119trze powietrza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Noc jest pustym miejscem po dniu. Dwuwymiarowa jest ciemno\u015b\u0107. Dopiero dalekie poszczekiwanie ps\u00f3w z okolicznych wsi odbudowuje przestrze\u0144.  I zn\u00f3w rozlegaj\u0105 si\u0119 zagubione odleg\u0142o\u015bci. Gdyby\u015b ruszy\u0142 przed siebie na o\u015blep, zdzia\u0142a\u0142by\u015b tyle\u017c, co trwaj\u0105c nieporuszony. I tak ciemno\u015b\u0107 miniesz dopiero o \u015bwicie. Ale psy\u2014znaki czuwaj\u0105cych wiorst\u2014upewniaj\u0105, \u017ce nie wszystko jeszcze stracone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Puste miejsca po kim\u015b nigdy nie bywaj\u0105 puste. Rozrastaj\u0105 si\u0119 we wszystkich kierunkach, nie wystarcza im obszar wyznaczony dla \u017cywych. Ten, kt\u00f3rego ju\u017c nie ma, nie mie\u015bci si\u0119 w ciasnym kr\u0119gu ogarniaj\u0105cym go za \u017cycia. Odk\u0105d znikn\u0105\u0142, zamieszkuje wszystkie miejsca jednocze\u015bnie, wype\u0142nia najbardziej niepoj\u0119te pojemno\u015bci. Jego materia nieuchwytna, jego duch dotykalny zast\u0119puje nam wszystkie drogi, staje si\u0119 kretem w czarnoziemie naszych sn\u00f3w. I dopiero czas wypiera go z opanowanych przeze\u0144 posiad\u0142o\u015bci. Ale i wtedy miejsce nie jest puste ani przez chwil\u0119. Kiedy milknie \u017cywa pami\u0119\u0107, kt\u00f3ra jest tworzywem tych, co odeszli, ostatnia ich siedziba bywa zaorywana pod nowe sady i nowe cmentarze. Cudze sady i obce cmentarze, nie podleg\u0142e naszym obrz\u0105dkom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1. Here had been a tall horizon: running like a cat across rooftops, leaping over chimneys. That street is no more.  The horizon escaped into the fields, across the Vistula. What was left after buildings is sky–darker than the sky around it, like the wall beneath a removed picture. The pigeons out of habit fly higher up, and at night on the fourth floor of air the moon switches on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Night is an empty place after day. Darkness is two-dimensional. Only the distant barking of dogs from nearby villages reconstructs space. And again the lost distances ring out. If you were to go forward blindly, you would get just as far as standing there motionless. Anyway you will only pass through the darkness at dawn. But the dogs\u2014signs of the watching versts\u2014assure that not everything is yet lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Empty places left after someone tend never to be empty. They spread out in every direction, the area designated for the living isn’t enough for them. The one who is no longer won’t fit inside the tight circle embracing him in life. Since disappearing, he inhabits all places simultaneously, fills the most incomprehensible volumes. His elusive matter, his tangible spirit replaces all our paths, it becomes a mole in the black earth of our dreams. And only time dislodges him from the places he has overtaken. But even then the place isn’t empty for an instant. After the existing memory, the substance of those who are gone grows silent, their final residence is usually plowed for new orchards and new cemeteries. Someone else\u2019s orchards and cemeteries, not subject to our customs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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photo by Czes\u0142aw Czapli\u0144ski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Jerzy Ficowski<\/strong> (1924-2006) was a poet, songwriter, and scholar on the Polish Roma population, as well as of the writer-artist Bruno Schulz. Recent translations of Ficowski\u2019s poems have appeared in American Poetry Review<\/em>, Poetry<\/em>, Nation<\/em>, New York Review of Books<\/em>, and Ploughshares<\/em>. Everything I Don’t Know, <\/em>his selected poems, received Best Book of Poetry in Translation from PEN America.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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photo copyright Marion Ettinger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer Grotz<\/strong>‘s most recent book of poems is Window Left Open. <\/em>She is director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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photo by Danuta W\u0119giel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Piotr Sommer<\/strong> is the author of Continued <\/em>(Wesleyan University Press) and Overdoing It <\/em>(Hobart and William Smith Colleges Press). His collected poems, Po Ciemku Te\u017c,<\/em> (Also In The Dark) <\/em>appeared in Poland in 2013.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Three poems from EVERYTHING I DON’T KNOW: SELECTED POEMS by Jerzy Ficowski, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer, published by World Poetry Books, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Translator’s Page archive click HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
*** I was unable to save a single life I couldn’t stop a single bullet so I circle cemeteries that aren’t there I search for words that aren’t there I run to the aid uncalled for to the rescue delayed I want to get there on time even if it’s already over WE we animals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16749","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16749"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16975,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16749\/revisions\/16975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}