Letter From a Reader by Adam Zagajewski, Translated by Clare Cavanagh
“Write about those moments / when friendship’s footbridges / seem more enduring / than despair.” — Adam Zagajewski
Transformation by Adam Zagajewski
“I’ve taken long walks, / craving one thing only: / lightning, / transformation, / you.” – Adam Zagajewski
Circus by Adam Zagajewski
“So why then does the circus tent / rise above an ancient graveyard?” – Adam Zagajewski
Reality Demands by Wisława Szymborska
"This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, / of the mornings / that make waking up worthwhile." – Wisława Szymborska
True Love by Wisława Szymborska
"Let the people who never find true love / keep saying that there's no such thing. // Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die." – Wisława Szymborska
Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski
"You've seen the refugees heading nowhere, / you've heard the executioners sing joyfully." — Adam Zagajewski
About My Mother by Adam Zagajewski
"making the face that best kept her / from seeing herself as she was (I take / after her here and in a few other weaknesses)," — Adam Zagajewski
Balance by Adam Zagajewski
“I thought about you and about the emptiness / that can promise one thing only: plenitude—” — Adam Zagajewski
Self-Portrait by Adam Zagajewski
“I'm truly not a child of the ocean, / as Antonio Machado wrote about himself, / but a child of air, mint, and cello / and not all the ways of the high world / cross paths with the life