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The Culprit Poem
Apropos of the previous post, I thought it might be useful to present the culprit poem that so outraged the target of my anti-review. The following is Bill Johnston’s fluid version from the volume Tadeusz Różewicz: New Poems, for which he received the 2008 Found in Translation Award.Read More
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An Anti-Review of Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems by Tadeusz Różewicz
Among my usual Google alerts from The Quarterly Conversation was a review of Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems by Tadeusz Różewicz. I’ve always found Quarterly Conversation reviews to be intelligent and insightful, and (full disclosure) Różewicz is one of my favorite poets—so I clicked right through to it. Unfortunately, this piece, by one Patrick Kurp, is an exception—that is, it is exceptionally skewed, snotty, and crackpottish.Read More
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Another Różewicz Poem About Poetry
THE MYSTERY OF THE POEMby Tadeusz Różewicz once somewherelong agoI read a poemby Eminowiczwhose first nameI subsequently forgot this was before the war then for half a centuryI never encounteredhis poetry he would come to mindevery few yearsthen return to oblivion Chess? yes I read the poemin “Pion” magazine Chess? not ChessChessI think it was Chess the poem rattled about in my headlike a death-watch beetle(that was all I needed!) two years agoI found myself in Krakówwith Czesław Miłoszin Ludwik Solski’s Dressing Room Mrs.Read More
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Ta-dáy-oosh Wo-zhyáy-vich’s “philosopher’s stone”
Tadeusz Różewicz philosopher’s stoneby Tadeusz Różewicz we need to put this poem to sleepbefore it startsphilosophizingbefore it startsfishingfor complimentscalled to lifein a moment of forgettingsensitive to wordsglancesit looks toa philosopher’sstone for helpo passerby hasten your stepdo not lift up the stonethere a blank versenakedturnsto ashes_______________________From a group of poems by Różewicz (translated by Joanna Trzeciak) published in the lovely Little Star Journal (see here and here).Read More
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A Polish Master’s Poems
On January 12 the National Book Critics Circle announced, among 5 poetry nominees for the 2007 awards, a volume of newly translated poems by Tadeusz Różewicz, entitled simply New Poems. It’s a terrific book that brings Różewicz’s three latest volumes under one cover. The poems, as far as I can tell (having no Polish), are beautifully translated by Bill Johnston; at least they make beautiful poems in English! Here’s an example—one that makes so many kindly gestures and moves at such a relaxed pace that I was utterly surprised to find myself choked up at the end.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
