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***
someone once said
one cannot despair while gazing at the sky
at your funeral
I watched the clouds the whole time
I was not one of those women who had the right to weep
Translated by Agnieszka Jankowska
*** years
homes the men in my life come and go
the misty December evening the muddy country road
stay with me linger on
your kiss
– proof that God exists
Translated by Ela Kotkowska
You mentioned “superhuman” sensitivity. In- deed—how do you live with that?
As a child, I used to think that everyone per- ceived the world the way I did. Over time, I re- alised this wasn’t the case. That I had far too much empathy making life quite harder. Well, that’s life. As for faith, I lost it almost complete- ly for a few years in my youth. I doubted reli- gion. When I hit a wall, I started praying. And since then, whenever I’m in trouble, I turn to the Almighty. In return, I receive help or a solu- tion comes to mind, or at least an understand- ing of why something is happening in my life. Today, I think that there are many religions, but perhaps only one God. That’s why I consider religious wars to be completely senseless. In
general, any wars waged on this tiny planet, spinning and rushing through the depths of space, are something unimaginably absurd.
How did you meet Birutė Jonuškaitė?
I met Birutė Jonuškaitė, a Lithuanian poet and novelist, in 2013, when first attending the Międzynarodowy Festiwal Poezji (Internation- al Poetry Festival) “Maj nad Wilią”, invited by Romuald Mieczkowski. At that time, she was the vice-president of the Związek Pisarzy Lit- wy (Lithuanian Writers’ Union), and for sever- al years now she’s been the president of this organisation. When given a copy of Freien- will, she immediately translated one of my poems into Lithuanian, and on the same day we read it together at a literary feast – each in our own language. My poems, translated by Birutė, appeared in two Lithuanian mag- azines, and after a few years we decided to publish a bilingual volume entitled Wolność chmur / Debesų laisvė (Freedom of Clouds). We’re friends, we visit each other, and stay in constant mail contact. It’s very nice that my poems are taking me out into the world. Thanks to them, I’m invited to literary festi- vals and able to meet many kind, good people.
Each of your collections contains themes relat- ed to nature, love of nature, forest in particu- lar. You actually emphasise it in your poem:
*** trees
– what is left for us from paradise
Translated by Kalina Duszka
You currently live in Sieradz. Don’t you miss the countryside? Where are the roots of your passion for nature?
170 LiryDram styczeń–marzec 2025