Froth: Poems

Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Polish by Piotr Florczyk. At the start of this book you will find one of my favorite poems from contemporary Poland My Wifes Spine. And when my wifes pregnant / her spine is a bough of an apple tree Jaroslaw Mikolajewski begins innocently enough and then: On nights of animal love / it is the zipper in a suitcase / that wont close even under a knee and wow we say just about to take a surprised breath when a poet surprises us again: On nights of human love / it is the steel rope / at the highest voltage and he goes on with each metaphor more unpredictable than the previous: On the noon walk / my wifes spine is the flag / carried by the pilgrims guide in a crowded church. This is contemporary European poetry at its best I think: tender unpredictable a hymn a love poem a moment of laughter of revelation. And there are many moments like that in this collection where the earth howls loudly / because Ive gone upstairs—reading such lines one thinks of the lineage of Vasko Popa and Miroslav Holub but there is a new music too set to the words that have aged / since the last trip / aeroporto and areoporto—and there is new wisdom too: how the words age in me says the poet. Indeed. They are like soft gums / losing teeth. This is beautiful poetry. Ones gratitude is to Piotr Florczyk for bringing this new voice previously unknown to Americans and making this poet available in lines that captivate. Polish poets are much beloved in America today but introducing a new voice is never an easy task. And Florczyk has done this many times over. This generosity of spirit is astounding.—Ilya Kaminsky. Whos Jaroslaw Mikolajewski? Is he an angry poet? No not really. Is he pater familias? Yes he is but this doesnt tell us much about his poetry. Reading his poems we follow his itinerary we go with him to Rome—hes at home in the Italian culture though his first home is in Warsaw we see his wife his daughters we remember his father. Mikolajewskis poetry is alive. This is a huge praise maybe the highest one: its not an academic enterprise. His poems are kicking running appealing to us readers. His poems live.—Adam Zagajewski