Poetry of truth and care
who sees ahead,
who knows what’s next
if she was birthed as the last human
her wail will be pathetic or funny
some man fantasised about her
be my statistic
a predictable curve of illness and death
he said so because he liked to know his opponent
ace of wands:
others will seek salvation
we will stay here
on the beaten ground
I remember the bodies of rabbits
pilgrims searching for water
you’re afraid you will be ready
to chew tendons to disembowel
to shove from speeding trains
just like me
but you’re also afraid foolishly
for strangers’ children
that the dust will burn your feet
contemporary poem written by a woman
hecate didn’t understand
the tragic irony we usually
find in myths
above her the arches the neons
formed from grey paper the papal
grottoes the first caves of the settlers
and the church of the dormition of the mother of god
streams of furious bitches tangle beneath her
trapping tricking and the forests march march
a rape of the maps
her right hand lives a life of safety
her left foot lives a life of fertility
elsewhere strangers’ fingers
not hands not wrists
while the opposable thumbs
push dip lick
and again
first poem about love
they climb atop the turret
of a museum tank;
from high up they see
red days, blue days,
a monument with a star,
a star-spangled flag;
and they would’ve thought
that this decent Prussian
city will soon forget them
if he hadn’t promised:
I will take care
of your ageing parents;
no one has ever
told anyone more –
second poem about love
when you cower in tar
rub your skin against the walls
and your head is a well,
your head a swampy well
and you ask: my little fly, miracle of nature,
how do you do it, flap your wings
two hundred times a second, how do you do it,
my little fly, live in this apartment
without air, without sun, and you look, you look
but then someone grabs you by the hand
and just as you were about to
wet your sheets,
leads you for the first time
that day to the bathroom
Translated by Piotr Florczyk
Poetry of truth and care
Translation rights: Jakub Jakubik, jjakubik@biuroliterackie.pl
In poem after poem in Antonina Tosiek’s splendid second volume, burnt offerings, we witness what it takes to care for another human being – in this case the poet’s ill relatives – with a plethora of thoughts, feelings and emotions, both identified and latent, taking centre stage. Employing archetypal and mythological characters, Tosiek also uncovers the role that caregivers play within the web of patriarchal and healthcare injustices at the heart of contemporary Poland.
This example of speaking truth to power is reflected in Tosiek’s variegated tone and diction. In turn biting, sarcastic, even, but also loving and comforting, the language of these poems is often fragmented, suggesting that the poet aims not only to look beneath the surface of things, but to descend deep into the vortex of systemic violence in which she and her characters, including her relatives, are ensnared. What is ultimately most fascinating about this project is the balance it maintains between becoming a lament and an angry screech without succumbing to either of the two extremes. Politics, economics, sociology, gender roles – it’s all here, but Tosiek’s engagement with these subjects doesn’t diminish her art, but rather strengthens it and, ultimately, expands its reach so that the public becomes private, and the private public.
Piotr Florczyk
Selected samples
She climbed her first peaks in a headscarf at a time when women in the mountains were treated by climbers as an additional backpack. It was with her that female alpinism began! She gained recognition in a spectacular way. The path was considered a crossing for madmen. Especially since the tragic accident in 1929, preserved … Continue reading “Halina”
First, Marysia, a student of an exclusive private school in Warsaw’s Mokotów district, dies under the wheels of a train. Her teacher, Elżbieta, tries to find out what really happened. She starts a private investigation only soon to perish herself. But her body disappears, and the only people who have seen anything are Gniewomir, a … Continue reading “Wound”
A young girl, Regina Wieczorek, was found dead on the beach. She was nineteen years old and had no enemies. Fortunately, the culprit was quickly found. At least, that’s what the militia think. Meanwhile, one day in November, Jan Kowalski appears at the police station. He claims to have killed not only Regina but also … Continue reading “Penance”
The year is 1922. A dangerous time of breakthrough. In the Eastern Borderlands of the Republic of Poland, Bolshevik gangs sow terror, leaving behind the corpses of men and disgraced women. A ruthless secret intelligence race takes place between the Lviv-Warsaw-Free City of Gdańsk line. Lviv investigator Edward Popielski, called Łysy (“Hairless”), receives an offer … Continue reading “A Girl with Four Fingers”
This question is closely related to the next one, namely: if any goal exists, does life lead us to that goal in an orderly manner? In other words, is everything that happens to us just a set of chaotic events that, combined together, do not form a whole? To understand how the concept of providence … Continue reading “Order and Love”
The work of Józef Łobodowski (1909-1988) – a remarkable poet, prose writer, and translator, who spent most of his life in exile – is slowly being revived in Poland. Łobodowski’s brilliant three- volume novel, composed on an epic scale, concerns the fate of families and orphans unmoored by the Bolshevik Revolution and civil war and … Continue reading “Ukrainian Trilogy: Thickets, The Settlement, The Way Back”
