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Sieradz is one of the oldest Polish cities. Next year, it’s going to celebrate the 890th anniver- sary. I’ve been living there for almost 40 years. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment building, so my contact with nature is limited to grow- ing flowers in pots on my windowsills and balcony. That’s why I often go for long walks outside the city. I like photographing nature. I take lots of pictures in every season. And I still miss Małyń. Nostradamus claimed that we should not move away from the places we grew up in, because there’s all that’s best for us, i.e. air, water, plants, energy. And if we are forced to live elsewhere, we should return to our only place on Earth at least once a year. That’s what I do.
The Hanami collection is dedicated to your granddaughters.
I grandmother Basia and Lia. The latter is half Polish, half Hungarian. Her grandfather is a well-known writer and playwright Gyorgy Spiró, winner of the Angelus Award in Wrocław. Lia therefore has a strong literary genetic back- ground. She’s 11 now, but doesn’t yet know what she wants to be.
The volume begins with a poem:
***
May morning
at Birutė’s in Vilnius
in the room with a view
of the lake showing between the birchesthe thought woke me up:
love comes
and does with us what it wants –
like death
a month later I met you
Translated by Kalina Duszka
Then the poems stop me:
***
do not expect
poets to give you a recipe for the world or a flawless life
they only sometimes catch the streams of more or less
beautiful words
flowing past their confused
(more than yours)
heads
Translated by Kalina Duszka
***
I was again yesterday
at that seaside cafe where a few months ago I talked to you
so calmly
not knowing yet
that I love you
Translated by Kalina Duszka
So, once again we return to the theme of love, uncertainty, torment, powerlessness... Let’s talk about this love, about its different shades and importance... it echoes through- out our lives, impacting and determining our actions. Could you tell us about your longing? Unfulfillment? Or perhaps trauma?
My first love ended in trauma. It was no- body’s fault. It was a strange twist of fate. I can only try to convince myself by saying it was meant to be. It took me a long time to recover. And during that most difficult time, I started writing poetry.
A friend of mine once said I was a magnet for poets. I think it’s not just poets I attract,
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