tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post4888142949088217877..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Wislawa Szymborska: Under One Small StarUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-80240258562643743052013-08-11T05:54:23.789-07:002013-08-11T05:54:23.789-07:00Yes well I always feel somewhat askew and off the...Yes well I always feel somewhat askew and off the point Tom Maybe the result of living alone for so longDalriadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12004167335881293080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-91915495503684945752013-08-10T10:10:13.438-07:002013-08-10T10:10:13.438-07:00Thank you (and Harris) for adding "Hatred&quo...Thank you (and Harris) for adding "Hatred" and its video rendering. As you say, it is extremely moving. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-50825116852707494912013-08-10T09:41:40.128-07:002013-08-10T09:41:40.128-07:00Our good friend Harris Schiff has drawn our attent...Our good friend Harris Schiff has drawn our attention to a particular Szymborska poem that also happens to have been made the subject of an extremely moving video. Thank you, Harris!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCzoEdz_v1Q" rel="nofollow">Wislawa Szymborska: Hatred</a><br /><br />And text:<br /><br />Hatred<br /><br /> See how efficient it still is,<br /> how it keeps itself in shape -<br /> our century's hatred.<br /> How easily it vaults the tallest obstacles.<br /> How easily it pounces, tracks us down.<br /><br /> It's not like other feelings.<br /> At once both older and younger.<br /> It gives birth itself to the reasons<br /> that give it life.<br /> When it sleeps, it's never eternal rest.<br /> And sleeplessness won't sap its strength; it feeds it.<br /><br /> One religion or another -<br /> whatever gets ready, in position.<br /> One fatherland or another -<br /> whatever helps it get a running start.<br /> Justice also works well at the outset<br /> until hate gets its own momentum going.<br /> Hatred. Hatred.<br /> Its face twisted in grimace<br /> of erotic ecstasy.<br /><br /> Oh these other feelings,<br /> listless weaklings.<br /> Since when does brotherhood<br /> draw crowds?<br /> Has compassion<br /> ever finished first?<br /> Does doubt ever really rouse the rabble?<br /> Only hatred's got just what it takes.<br /><br /> Gifted, diligent, hard-working.<br /> Need we mention all the songs it has composed?<br /> All the pages it has added to our history books?<br /> All the human carpets it has spread<br /> over countless city squares and football fields?<br /><br /> Let's face it:<br /> it knows how to make beauty.<br /> The splendid fires' glow in midnight skies.<br /> Magnificent bursting bombs in rosy dawns.<br /> You can't deny the inspiring pathos of ruins<br /> and a certain bawdy humor to be found<br /> in the sturdy column jutting from their midst.<br /><br /> Hatred is a master of contrast:<br /> between explosions and dead quiet,<br /> red blood and white snow.<br /> Above all it never tires<br /> of its leitmotif - the impeccable executioner<br /> towering over his soiled victim.<br /><br /> It's always ready for new challenges.<br /> If it has to wait a while, it will.<br /> They say it's blind. Blind?<br /> It's got a sniper's keen sight<br /> and gazes unflinchingly at the future<br /> as only it can.<br /><br /><br />Wislawa Szymborska<br />Translated from the Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare CavanaghTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-88853503351004847042013-08-10T09:30:51.647-07:002013-08-10T09:30:51.647-07:00Enjoyed the Coley piece very much and, speaking of...Enjoyed the Coley piece very much and, speaking of pseuds, i expect to be running into some later today because we're out and about, rather than inside our four walls, which has become unusual for us. It's a sheltered existence, but no pseuds. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-42359341588180765042013-08-10T09:10:27.671-07:002013-08-10T09:10:27.671-07:00Colin,
The local interest shall never grow old. S...Colin,<br /><br />The local interest shall never grow old. Speaking of signs, I'd hoped someone might wonder...<br /><br />That "There Will Be No Miracles Here" sign is actually an "installation" (proper pseud name) -- a 2006 art piece by Nathan Coley, selected for shortlisting in the 2007 Turner Prize competition.<br /><br />There Will Be No Miracles Here, 2006, Scaffolding and Illuminated Text, 6m x 6m x 4m, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute<br /><br /><a href="http://studionathancoley.com/works/there-will-be-no-miracles-here/images" rel="nofollow">Here it is, as seen in and out of doors</a>.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-87897527353708848062013-08-10T09:01:11.064-07:002013-08-10T09:01:11.064-07:00I'm thinking that the sign would be an appropr...I'm thinking that the sign would be an appropriate one at Murrayfield Rugby Grounds when Scotland are playing England ....<br /><br />Why the Classics<br /> by Zbigniew Herbert<br /><br /> 1<br /> in the fourth book of the Peloponnesian War<br /> Thucydides tells among other things<br /> the story of his unsuccessful expedition<br /><br /> among long speeches of chiefs<br /> battles sieges plague<br /> dense net of intrigues of diplomatic endeavours<br /> the episode is like a pin<br /> in a forest<br /><br /> the Greek colony Amphipolis<br /> fell into the hands of Brasidos<br /> because Thucydides was late with relief<br /><br /> for this he paid his native city<br /> with lifelong exile<br /><br /> exiles of all times<br /> know what price that is<br /><br /> 2<br /> generals of the most recent wars<br /> if a similar affair happens to them<br /> whine on their knees before posterity<br /> praise their heroism and innocence<br /><br /> they accuse their subordinates<br /> envious collegues<br /> unfavourable winds<br /><br /> Thucydides says only<br /> that he had seven ships<br /> it was winter<br /> and he sailed quickly<br /><br /> 3<br /> if art for its subject<br /> will have a broken jar<br /> a small broken soul<br /> with a great self-pity<br /><br /> what will remain after us<br /> will it be lovers' weeping<br /> in a small dirty hotel<br /> when wall-paper dawnsDalriadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12004167335881293080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-54299762093695379052013-08-10T08:25:26.060-07:002013-08-10T08:25:26.060-07:00Thanks Tom and thank you again or some glimpses o...Thanks Tom and thank you again or some glimpses of my homeland There is a strong Polish element in the part of Scotland I'm from I believe RAF fliers who stayed after WW2 (There were Italian POW's who stayed also and made a life there Hence the ubiquitous Italian 'Chip Shop' of my youth with ice-cream parlour attached) Anyhow good to be reminded of this poem and have stirred up my personal memories of Polish Clubs and jazz and that to die for rye bread ...... as I sit in my home with the For Sale sign hanging outside wondering whither nextDalriadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12004167335881293080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-88668694618115811622013-08-10T07:56:22.484-07:002013-08-10T07:56:22.484-07:00Thanks Steve, and yes, gray white fog every day, h...Thanks Steve, and yes, gray white fog every day, hardly a clue to be found, few miracles, and yet, coherence everything... when and as one can find it.<br /><br />But the finding, in the fog: this is the labor, <a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/robert-creeley-heroes-william-henry.html" rel="nofollow">as the poet once had it</a>.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-84917668780424585742013-08-10T07:40:15.632-07:002013-08-10T07:40:15.632-07:00Tom,
Thanks for putting DM's photographs next...Tom,<br /><br />Thanks for putting DM's photographs next to WS's "weighty words" (which do indeed "seem [so] light"<br /><br />8.10<br /><br />light coming into fog against invisible<br />top of ridge, crow calling across field<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> nothing said of the subject<br /> is that, could happen<br /><br /> there, coherence everything<br /> showed its face, only<br /><br />grey white of fog reflected in channel<br />cormorant flapping across toward point<br />STEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-32562406395200400172013-08-10T07:23:57.268-07:002013-08-10T07:23:57.268-07:00Thank you, Duncan and Curtis.
I've been stron...Thank you, Duncan and Curtis.<br /><br />I've been strongly drawn to this poet in later years, even as I've found much American poetry irrelevant if not in fact also unreadable.<br /><br />Some bits snipped from an essay on Szymborska's work may be of interest:<br /><br />__<br /><br />Szymborska is a poet of philosophical reflection. Like most Polish poets of her generation, she avoids personal effusions and an emotional tone. Absent as a person, she is nevertheless strongly present as a voice -- a voice which is unmistakably her own and impossible to confuse with that of any other poet. It is a voice of a Cartesian consciousness and of a cognitive subject, a voice that narrates and at the same time reflects upon the meaning and implications of its own narrative. Often the very structure of Szymborska's poems reproduces the cognitive process, and the poems become a direct and unrhetorical form of "thinking aloud."<br /><br />Szymborska's reflection rarely takes the form of categorical statements, and this is especially true of her later poetry. Reluctant to provide definitive answers, the poet prefers a margin of uncertainty. It is the initial premise of Descartes's formula, the "dubito" that describes best her philosophical attitude. But unlike the French philosopher, the Polish poet is unwilling to cross the threshold of uncertainty and step into the bright light of certitude: "certainty is beautiful, / but uncertainty is more beautiful still," she admits. Szymborska's reluctance is not the result of a lack of moral determination, but rather an expression of openness. It is an awareness that truth is complex and ambiguous, that reality is thick and consists of a myriad details, all of which need to be taken into account. Avoiding anything that might smack of dogmaticism or didacticism, Szymborska prefers to conclude her poems with an admission of ignorance or doubt: "I am," she says, "a question answering a question".<br /><br />This philosophical option explains also her predilection for paradox, a stylistic figure that undermines accepted truths and leaves questions open.<br /><br />Despite its familiarity and ordinariness, Szymborska's poetry is neither relaxing nor comforting. It is permeated by a consciousness of death, temporariness, and human vulnerability.<br /><br />Bogdana Carpenter: from Wislawa Szymborska and the Importance of the Unimportant, 1997TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-80464925583766562362013-08-10T06:59:39.229-07:002013-08-10T06:59:39.229-07:00I agree with Wooden Boy about the wit and humility...I agree with Wooden Boy about the wit and humility combined in Szymborska's poetry. What I also love here is the combination of the quiet conversation expressed/contained in the words and the absolute quality of silence in the images, and the way the former starts to fill and informs the latter. Under One Small Star (the BTP post) is very special. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-25907827267385941372013-08-09T14:21:23.367-07:002013-08-09T14:21:23.367-07:00Thank you for this. It's remarkable and, for ...Thank you for this. It's remarkable and, for me at least, totally unexpected. It really raised my day and made me want to read more writing by Wislawa Szymborska. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-41199941901451257332013-08-09T11:42:53.352-07:002013-08-09T11:42:53.352-07:00"...forgive me, even if it turns out you were..."...forgive me, even if it turns out you were stuffed".<br /><br />Wit and humility together. There's a rare thing.Mose23https://www.blogger.com/profile/01100756913131511440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-24043030279602602032013-08-09T04:29:32.075-07:002013-08-09T04:29:32.075-07:00Her 1996 Nobel citation called attention to the el...Her 1996 Nobel citation called attention to the elegance of Szymborska's language, dubbing her "the Mozart of Poetry", and credited her with possessing "the fury of Beethoven".<br /><br />Wild hyperbole in the case of any other poet, in Szymborska's case hardly more than fair praise, considering the quality of the work.<br /><br />Her explanation quoted toward the end of <a href="http://voiceseducation.org/content/wislawa-szymborskathe-mozart-poetry" rel="nofollow">this short obit</a>, as to why, over six decades of writing more or less steadily, she had published relatively few of her poems, ought to be inscribed on the forehead of every conscientious MFA instructor.<br /><br />(Pardon the oxymoron.) <br /><br />And O by the by, to allay any recurring outbreaks of skepticism brought on by irritable reaching after fact and reason -- <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/humbleshots/4555867810/sizes/o/" rel="nofollow">Marta and Dorota Are Real!</a><br /><br />Nay more than real... style icons yet, our brilliant pair!<br /><br />There may be miracles here.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.com