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defined man as zoon politikon – a political an- imal, a citizen of the polis. According to Plato, poets had to go into exile, but only those who rebelled against the state, remained – enjoying comforts and rewards. Poets – conformists, op- portunists – were popular. They got easily “ab- sorbed”. Like talkative, verbose, empty-sound- ing “talking machines”.
The author of Hanami contradicts such “pol- iticians”, mocking their boring stereotypes, linguistic clichés, and common platitudes. She herself wittily and gracefully picks up on unusual mistakes, linguistic games, the real gems. She plays with the original sayings of witty interlocutors:
“He fought the system with cheap wine”, “some people suffer from the soul cancer” or – bril- liant! – “apparently, I am not meant to write”. The two parts of the volume, poetry and prose, together form a coherent whole.
The lyrical part, devoted mainly to love for an anonymous hero, sometimes resembles works of Maria Jasnorzewska-Pawlikowska – for ex- ample, the untitled poem:
yesterday I was again
in that seaview cafè where a few months back I would chat with you
so calmly
not yet aware I loved you
Translated by Tomasz Jarmołkiewicz
It’s extremely difficult to write about love with- out falling into clichés or triviality. Our poet suc- ceeds in this difficult art of subtlety, e.g. in the metaphor “dotknąć paznokciem” (touch with a tip of a fingernail). Let’s also look at another untitled poem:
Maria Duszka in Sępólno Krajeńskie
God granted you a gentle death – in your sleep
this changed little for me
now and then
you appear in my dreams, alive
my whole life I have grieved our love
Translated by Ela Kotkowska
Despite its small size, Hanami is a kind of au- tobiography: the protagonist is first a little girl, then a mature woman, and finally a grand- mother – all stages of womanhood. The vol- ume is inscribed with the words “Dedicated to my granddaughters Basia and Lia”.
The author has no fear of ageism or age dis- crimination. She’s capable of enjoying each
184 LiryDram styczeń–marzec 2025
fot Jacek Wojtania