Gustaw Owczarski

(b. 2003) – a poet, editor of the magazine “Trytytka”.

He debuted with the volume “Trap krypt” (Crypt Trap). The subject functions here on the boundary between sleep and wakefulness, in a stupor. Traversing the depicted reality resembles exploring a map in a computer game. In his debut, Owczarski makes use of linguistic experiments and techniques familiar from language poetry. The phrasing and rhythm of many texts clearly refer to rap songs (their fragments are also epigraphs of some of the poems).

“Od dwóch dni z mieszkania” (The House in Two Days) is the poet’s second volume. Unlike the first, it is constructed in an orderly, precise manner. Part of it is formed by the regularly reoccurring prose cycle “Wspomnienia dzieci z przyszłości” (Children’s Memories from the Future), whose themes include dead parents and living in a couch; there are also sonnets. The schematic, repetitive, looping nature of the overlapping images and quotes of overheard phrases are to depict the process of recollection. This book’s subject (or subjects) returns to difficult moments – tempestuous family relationships, searching for a home at home. In order to talk about it, they borrow the voices and phrasing of other writers, thus also defining themselves in relation to their poetics. (The influence of Wojciech Kopeć seems to be especially strong, in terms of using classic lyrical forms, as does Justyna Kulikowska’s in the ways of coping with a traumatic experience.)

The volume Crypt Trap received the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature Award and a distinction in the Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna Award competition.