new poems by Tadeusz Rozewicz

working out
not only in my mind
but in the world
at home in Poland
    Â 
    along with Przyboś I sought
a place on earth
along with Staff I began
the rebuilding
with the smoke from the hearth
along with Professor Kotarbiński
I voted three times yes
    Â 
    I took a seminar
with Professor Ingarden
introduction to the theory of cognition

Hume helped me
to organize my ideas
    Â 
    the referendum was rigged
    Â 
    the rebuilding of the temple
proceeded in accordance with
the plan and the dream
God left me alone
do what you like you’re a grown-up
he said
don’t hold my hand
don’t turn to me
with every little thing
I have two billion people to worry about
in a moment it’ll be ten billion
I helped you in 1935
with those algebra problems
said God
from a burning bush
that turned to ash
    Â 
    the 21st century was sneaking up like a thief
    Â 
    my mind
scattered to the four corners of the earth
on the wall I saw
an inscription Mene Tekel Peres
in Babylon a knife at humanity’s throat

poor Stachura the poet
    near the unclean channel
of the Vistula
a herd of sows and boars were grazing
alongside Apollo’s children
    Â 
    to this cafeteria
there came from a far country
Janko the musician a lad possessed by poetry
he cast pearls before swine
sang played on a golden comb
till he heard voices
and went mad
    Â 
    he was like a butterfly
in a spider web
    Â 
    I talked with him
just one time
at a writers’ retreat
he stood in the door
of my room
and asked for a sheet
of paper
    Â 
    I told him I had
only squared
recycled paper

he gave a polite smile
thanked me
and left
with three sheets
    Â 
    sometimes I think he meant
something else
    Â 
    that he meant his and my
and our life
    Â 
    [September 2003]

labyrinths
    the leśmianek emerged from the fetal waters
and was entranced by the world
    Â 
    through the hollowing out of the afterworld
through excess and inattention
he became a poet and tumbled
into the labyrinth of God
    Â 
    he sought a way out in language
but language has no way out
    Â 
    he sought more zealously
than any
other Polish poet
    Â 
    then he tried to flee from life
seeking shelter in poetry
    Â 
    but from the labyrinth of life there is
no way out (except via death)
    Â 
    the leśmianek shrank out of despair
and faded away till he died
as an unearthly notary
somewhere in Zamość Hrubieszów
and Częstochowa

as a reward for his unavailing faith
he was transformed
by the radiant god
of poets
into a garden gnome
    Â 
    in a cap of invisibility
with a runny nose
beneath a broad viburnum leaf
he waits for the end of the world
the end of history
the end of the end
    Â 
    but the world refuses
to end
    Â 
    [January–February 2003]

Ashurbanipal killing a wounded lion
    it is an unutterably beautiful
bas-relief
–From the Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh–
    Â 
    what dignity and mutual respect there was
in encounters between beasts and humans
before firearms were invented
    Â 
    I always stand hushed
before this scene
the king of the beasts
and the king of slaves
in a mortal embrace
    Â 
    Calm on the face
of Ashurbanipal
    Â 
    a grimace of pain and rage
on the lion’s muzzle hidden in its mane
    Â 
    the King’s beard artfully dressed
his face saying I am the king of the world
king of beasts and humans
king of earth water air
king of kings
    Â 
    the sword transfixes the animal

the lion pierced by fletched
arrows
the king clad in a robe
and plates of armor
    Â 
    locked in their mortal embrace
they remain distant
    Â 
    Their encounter will be won by the side
that wielded the sword
the lance the bow
extensions of the arm
technology
intelligence or in other words
subterfuge
    Â 
    perhaps that is why the lion
is condemned
to perish
    Â 
    while the human species
has filled the earth

eternal return . . .
    Nietzsche is back in fashion
he’s returning to Germany (and Poland)
indirectly
via Paris
in the guise of a French philosopher
of Romanian