'Death will not correct / a single line of verse'
July 14, 2014 6:02 AM   Subscribe

Tadeusz Różewicz (1921-2014) was a renowned Polish ‘poet, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, satirist and translator.’ Reckoned by Seamus Heaney as ‘one of the great European poets of the 20th century,’ he died in April at the age of 92: Guardian obituary; NYT obituary.

A few of his poems: The Survivor; Pigtail; Proofs; Cobweb.
posted by misteraitch (6 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:09 AM on July 14, 2014


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posted by Rock Steady at 8:34 AM on July 14, 2014


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posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:20 AM on July 14, 2014


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posted by Mister Bijou at 9:34 AM on July 14, 2014


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The Return

Suddenly the window will open
and Mother will call
it's time to come in

the wall will part
I will enter heaven in muddy shoes

I will come to the table
and answer questions rudely

I am all right leave me
alone. Head in hand I
sit and sit. How can I tell them
about that long
and tangled way.

Here in heaven mothers
knit green scarves

flies buzz

Father dozes by the stove
after six days' labour.

No--surely I can't tell them
that people are at each
other's throats.


Translated by Adam Czerniawski
posted by GrapeApiary at 11:14 AM on July 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


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"…
I seek a teacher and a master
may he restore my sight hearing and speech
may he again name objects and ideas
may he separate darkness from light.

I am twenty-four
led to slaughter
I survived."
posted by FlyingMonkey at 4:32 PM on July 14, 2014


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