http://www.rail.co/2011/05/31/london-underground-celebrates-polish-poetry/

[London] Tube customers will be able to enjoy a new set of poems by major Polish poets from the start of June.

Every season, six poems are selected to be displayed in tube carriages across London.

The latest collection will be displayed in train carriages and will mark the centenary of internationally renowned poet Czeslaw Milosz.

The Polish poems featured include "Blacksmith Shop" by Czeslaw Milosz, "Nothing Special" by Zbigniew Herbert and "Star" by Adam Zagajewski.

The poets were close friends and were writing in the dark shadow of Polish suffering during and after the Second World War.

Milosz translated the poems of Herbert and introduced Adam Zagajewski to English-speaking readers.

All three poets were artists building a world ‘from remnants’, celebrating the joys of ordinary life despite the ravages of history. ...

* * *

Here is the first of them:

BLACKSMITH SHOP

I liked the bellows operated by rope.
A hand or a foot pedal – I don’t remember.
But that blowing and blazing of fire!
And a piece of iron in the fire, held there by tongs,
Red, softened, ready for the anvil,
Beaten with a hammer, bent into a horseshoe,
Thrown in a bucket of water, sizzle, steam.
And horses hitched to be shod,
Tossing their manes; and in the grass by the river
Plowshares, sledge runners, harrows waiting for repair.

At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor,
Here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds,
I stare and stare. It seems I was called for this:

To glorify things just because they are.

–Czesław Miłosz

Translated by the author and Robert Hass

http://matthewsalomon.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/czeslaw-milosz-blacksmith-shop/

(Oddly, the same translation is attributed to the author and Leonard Nathan at http://www.culture-making.com/post/blacksmith_shop_by_czeslaw_milosz -- ???)

In Polish:

Czesław Miłosz

Kuźnia

Podobał mi się miech, poruszany sznurem.

Może ręka, może nożny pedał, nie pamiętam.

Ale to dmuchanie, rozjarzanie ognia!

I kawał żelaza w ogniu, trzymany cęgami.

Czerwonymi, już miękki, gotów do kowadła,

Bity młotem, zginany w podkowę.

Rzucany w kubeł z wodą, syk i para.

I konie uwiązane, które będą kuć,

Podrzucają grzywami i w trawie nad rzeką

Lemiesze, płozy, brony do naprawy.

U wejścia, czując bosą podeszwą klepisko.

Tutaj bucha gorąco, a za mną obłoki.

I patrzę, patrzę. Do tego byłem wezwany:

Do pochwalania rzeczy, dlatego że są.

by Zbigniew Herbert

nothing special
boards paint
nails paste
paper string

mr artist
builds a world
not from atoms
but from remnants

forest of arden
from umbrella
ionian sea
from parkers quink

just as long as
his look is wise
just as long as
his hand is sure -

and presto the world -

hooks of flowers
on needles of grass
clouds of wire
drawn out by the wind

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/zbigniew_herbert_2004_9.pdf

Nic ładnego

nic ładnego
deski farba
gwoździe klajster
sznurek papier

pan artysta
świat buduje
nie z atomów
lecz z odpadków

las ardeński
z parasola
morze jońskie
z atramentu

byle tylko
z mądrą miną
byle tylko
pewną ręką

a już świat
na szpilkach traw
haczyki kwiatów
obłoki z drutu
ciągnie wiatr

http://thepolskiblog.co.uk/2011/05/polish-poems-on-the-tube/

Star by Adam Zagajewski - click to view large

Adam Zagajewski

Gwiazda

Wróciłem po latach do ciebie,
szare i piękne miasto,
miasto, które się nie zmieniasz,
zanurzone w wodach przeszłości.

Już nie jestem studentem
filozofii, poezji i ciekawości,
ani młodym poetą, który napisał
zbyt wiele wierszy

i błądził w labiryncie
wąskich ulic i złudzeń.
Mojego czoła dotknęła ręka
władcy zegarów i cieni,

ale wciąż mnie prowadzi
gwiazda jasność
i tylko jasność może mnie
zgubić albo ocalić.

z tomu "Powrót", 2003  

http://www.goldenline.pl/forum/441650/powroty/s/6

Wrong city, but very apropos

Although the poem is on display in London, the poet's city is actually Kraków where he returned in 2002, after 20 years of emigration in Paris. (Unlike the orphaned Joseph Conrad who permanently left Kraków for Britain and on.) But you are right, Nanna, that the city the poster had in mind was yet different...

Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak are this year’s recipients of the ‘Found in Translation’ award for an English language version of the poetry of Nobel prize for literature winner Wisława Szymborska.

The award is given by the Polish Cultural Institutes in London and New York, the Krakow-based Polish Book Institute and W.A.B. Publishers of Warsaw annually for published English language translations of Polish literary works.

The two translators were honoured for the translation of Wisława Szymborska’s volume of poetry Here published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the United States.  ... ..  ...

The presentation ceremony is to be held on 2 October at the University of Illinois in Chicago during the closing event of the ‘After Miłosz’ Festival devoted to Czesław Miłosz, another Polish Nobel Prize winning poet.

Stanisław Barańczak is one of Poland’s most prominent poets. He lectured on Polish literature at Harvard University for many years and has earned a reputation for his translations of English poetry into Polish and of Polish poetry into English.

Irish-born Clare Cavanagh was Barańczak’s student at Harvard and even though her main field was Russian she has developed a deep interest in Polish poetry.

http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/25528,English-language-Szymborska-poetry-wins-translation-prize

Previous laureates:
2008 - Bill Johnston for his translation of New Poems by Tadeusz Różewicz (Archipelago Books, 2007)
2009 - Antonia Lloyd-Jones for her translation of The Last Supper by Paweł Huelle (Serpent's Tail, 2008)
2010 - Danuta Borchardt for her translation of Pornografia by Witold Gombrowicz (Grove/Atlantic, 2009)

And now Szymborska as translated by Joanna Trzeciak, from http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/06/9-classic-poems-published-in-the-atlantic/240556/#slide9:

"A Little Bit About the Soul"

by Wislawa Szymborska

Published by The Atlantic in 2000:

A soul is something we have every now and then.
Nobody has one all the time or forever.

Day after day,
year after year,
can go by without one.

Read "A Little Bit About the Soul " in its entirety.
 

* * *

Trochę o duszy

Duszę się miewa.
Nikt nie ma jej bez przerwy
i na zawsze.

Dzień za dniem,
rok za rokiem
może bez niej minąć.

Czasem tylko w zachwytach
i lękach dziecińśtwa
zagnieżdża się na dłużej.
Czasem tylko w zdziwieniu,
że jesteśmy starzy.

Rzadko nam asystuje
podczas zajęć żmudnych,
jak przesuwanie mebli,
dźwiganiewalizek
czy przemierzanie drogi w ciasnych butach.

Przy wypełnianiu ankiet
i siekaniu mięsa
z reguły ma wychodne.

Na tysiąc naszych rozmów
uczestniczy w jednej,
a i to niekoniecznie,
bo woli milczenie.

Kiedy ciało zaczyna nas boleć i boleć,
cichcem schodzi z dyżuru.

Jest wybredna:
niechętnie widzi nas w tłumie,
mierzi ją nasza walka o byle przewagę
i terkot interesów.

Radość i smutek
to nie są dla niej dwa różne uczucia.
Tylko w ich połączeniu
jest przy nas obecna.

Możemy na nią liczyć,
kiedy niczego nie jesteśmy pewni,
a wszystko nas ciekawi.

Z przedmiotów materialnych
lubi zegary z wahadłem
i lustra, które pracują gorliwie,
nawet gdy nikt nie patrzy.

Nie mowi skąd przybywa
i kiedy znowu nam zniknie,
ale wyraźnie czeka na takie pytania.

Wygląda na to,
że tak jak ona nam,
równiez i my
jesteśmy jej na coś potrzebni.

http://www.poema.art.pl/site/itm_31894_troche_o_duszy.html
 

The 'Poems on the Metro’ (Wiersze w Metrze ) campaign is one of the largest events promoting Polish literature as part of the Polish presidency of the European Union starting July 1. Poems by 30 contemporary Polish poets will be presented in the subways of eight capital cities in Europe and Asia, including London, Paris, Madrid, Kiev, Beijing and Tokyo. The poets include Szymborska and Dehnela. The project was founded in 2008 under the initiative of the British Council and the Polish Book Institute. Its purpose is the presentation of contemporary poetry in urban spaces. The inspiration for the campaign was similar projects held in Dublin, Paris, New York, Barcelona, Stockholm, Stuttgart and Moscow and in London, where the campaign 'Poems on the Underground' (see picture) has been going since 1986. This year's campaign will begin on July 4 in Warsaw. (http://www.cogo-news.eu/news_Poems-of-Europe_718.html)

Black Square

by Tadeusz Dabrowski, Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator)

When in 2006 Tadeusz Rózewicz won the Polish Culture Foundation’s Golden Sceptre lifetime achievement award, he presented the Little Sceptre—awarded by the major winner to his favorite younger artist—to Tadeusz Dabrowski, with the words: “One day he’ll swap his little sceptre for a big one.” http://www.cbsd.com/inventory.aspx?id=1675993

* * *

Seven Poems

http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/seven-poems-tadeusz-dabrowski/

by Tadeusz Różewicz

http://www.visegradliterature.net/works/pl/R%C3%B3%C5%BCewicz,_Tadeusz/W_%C5%9Brodku_%C5%BCycia/en/1645-In_The_Middle_Of_Life