Adam Zagaweski died. Here is part of his homage to Milosz, another Polish poet. I am impervious to this kind of writing. To me it is insufferably bland as it comes to us in translation. Here the effect is spoken about rather than accomplished in the words themselves. Yes, poetry should transform us and make us believe that every day is sacred, but the trick is to do it, not talk about it. I'm sure it is different in the original, but clearly people like this sort of thing in English, too, or translations of these poets wouldn't be popular:
Sometimes your tone
transforms us for a moment,
we believe—truly—
that every day is sacred,
that poetry—how to put it? —
makes life rounder,
fuller, prouder, unashamed
of perfect formulation.
2 comments:
I have stopped writing poems that mention poetry. I have to stop myself often. Just make the poem, I tell myself. Don't talk about it.
Imagine a philosophy that doesn't mention philosophy. (The young Wittgenstein's ideal.)
a phrase from a review of my translation:
"...the evolution of styles of North American poetry is tending more and more to the prosaic and the over-exposed, daylight world of reportage, a form of journalism, much like developments in fiction, and 'literature' in general."
The poet, on the other hand, is a magical Hispanist! What's wrong with him: all the odes to poetry he writes.
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