Contents
Introduction /
I. Lifting the Veils of History /
Wislawa Szymborska, “The End and the Beginning” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Hitler’s First Photograph” /
Julia Hartwig, “Victoria” /
Julia Hartwig, “Some Women from Warsaw” /
Anna Swir, “I Carried Bedpans” /
Julia Hartwig, “This Is How It Will Be” /
Julia Hartwig, “In Transit” /
Bozena Keff, “Lara Croft” /
Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkalo, “Fragments of Maps” /
Agnieszka Kuciak, “Wroniecka Street Pool” /
Ewa Lipska, “Confessions of a Courtesan” /
Krystyna Milobedzka, From I Remember (Notes on Martial Law) /
Mira Kus, “Poem of the Seven Veils” /
Wioletta Grzegorzewska, “Spring, 1986” /
Agnieszka Mirahina, “All the Radio Stations of the Soviet Union” /
Ewa Lipska, “Freedom” /
II. In the Theater of Dreams
Joanna Lech, “Cuts” /
Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkalo, “Black” /
Justyna Bargielska, “In this season, at this time of day” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “In Praise of Dreams” /
Krystyna Dabrowska, “Travel Agency” /
Urszula Koziol, “Under the Cover of Night” /
Krystyna Lars, “‘I Dreamed I Collaborated’…” /
Joanna Lech, “Postscript” /
Marzanna Bogumila Kielar, “Like an oxidized breath . . .” /
Marzena Broda, “My Little Son Died” /
Joanna Lech, “The Tide Coming In” /
Julia Fiedorczuk, “Bio” /
Julia Fiedorczuk, “Lands and oceans” /
III. Reimagining the Bard
Katarzyna Borun-Jagodzinska, “Ballad on the Death of a Poet” /
Krystyna Lars, “Soiree at the Czar’s Plenipotentiary” /
Krystyna Lars, “The Military Governor Contemplates the Statue of Adam M.” /
Katarzyna Borun-Jagodzinska, “A Literary Life” /
Anna Piwkowska, “What Do Men Bring?” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Evaluation of an Unwritten Poem” /
Joanna Mueller, “Proofreading” /
Justyna Bargielska, “Avantourism” /
Marta Podgórnik, “death becomes her” /
Krystyna Rodowska, “Old Woman Poet” /
Ewa Parma, “Old women poets” /
IV. The Ironic Art of Poetry
Wislawa Szymborska, “The Joy of Writing” /
Julia Hartwig, “The Sentence” /
Agnieszka Kuciak, “Meter” /
Agnieszka Kuciak, “Hawthorn” /
Marzanna Bogumila Kielar, “Manuscript” /
Mira Kus, “View from My Window” /
Izabela Morska, “Madame Intuita” /
Agnieszka Kuciak [Bionda], “Sure, I’ll rent out to others all my dreams” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Stage Fright” /
Ewa Lipska, “Questions at a Poetry Reading” /
Ewa Lipska, “My Translators” /
Urszula Koziol, “To My Poem” /
Ewa Sonnenberg, “Prophecy” /
Izabela Morska, “Madame Snake” /
Marta Podgórnik, “little use” /
Urszula Koziol, “Again I Didn’t Write” /
V. A Gallery of Myths and Masks
Agnieszka Kuciak, “Delay” /
Agnieszka Kuciak, “Philomela” /
Anna Piwkowska, “Phaedra” /
Anna Piwkowska, “Ismene, sister of mine” /
Katarzyna Borun-Jagodzinska, “My Name is Iocasta” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Soliloquy for Cassandra” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Lot’s Wife”
Justyna Bargielska, “Ophelia” /
Ewa Sonnenberg, “Sign of the Times” /
Krystyna Rodowska, “Without Revenge” /
Katarzyna Ewa Zdanowicz, “Cinderella of the Cinder-Blocks” /
Katarzyna Ewa Zdanowicz, “Depths” /
Katarzyna Ewa Zdanowicz, “The Hunt” /
Izabela Morska, “Madame Intuita, Vampire-Killer, Grants an Interview” /
Julia Fiedorczuk, “Madame Midas” /
VI. Transitions, Transformations
Anna Swir, “I Banged My Head Against the Wall” /
Krystyna Lenkowska, “An Overdue Letter to a Pimply Angel” /
Anna Piwkowska, “Lying on a Lawn Chair” /
Julia Hartwig, “I Will Perform This Miracle for You” /
Agnieszka Mirahina, “To my great-great-granddaughter” /
Urszula Koziol, “For some time now...” /
Krystyna Rodowska, “Mutinous Cemetery” /
Krystyna Milobedzka, “strip yourself of Krystyna” /
Izabela Morska, “Chrysalis” /
Agnieszka Mirahina, “Perversion” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “An Unexpected Meeting” /
Izabela Morska, “Metamorphoses” /
Krystyna Milobedzka, “I ran into myself in Bologna…” /
Krystyna Dabrowska, “Where should I look from in order to see you?” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Over Wine” /
Anna Piwkowska, “Blue Sweater” /
VII. The Domestic Arts
Urszula Koziol, “Recipe for the Meat Course” /
Justyna Bargielska, “Translation” /
Anna Swir, “A Woman Writer Does Laundry” /
Julia Hartwig, “Escaping One’s Chores” /
Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkalo, “Strange Lady” /
Ewa Parma, “A Room of One’s Own” /
Ewa Lipska, “Dishwasher” /
Ewa Lipska, “Warranty” /
Katarzyna Borun-Jagodzinska, “Tenant” /
Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkalo, “The House” /
Izabela Morska, “Kitchen and Myths” /
Agnieszka Kuciak [Mrs. K], “Parable” /
Krystyna Milobedzka, “The house” /
VIII. Curating Objects
Julia Fiedorczuk, “Drawer” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Map” /
Julia Hartwig, “Justly” /
Julia Hartwig, “Inventory” /
Ewa Sonnenberg, “Love Poem” /
Joanna Wajs, “glove” /
Ewa Chrusciel, “Ginkgo Leaves” /
Ewa Chrusciel, “Incense” /
Krystyna Milobedzka, “Brooches once lived in the wild…” /
Mira Kus, “From the Land of Childhood” /
Joanna Wajs, “under the table” /
Joanna Mueller, “Etch a Sketch” /
Ewa Lipska, “A Door Handle” /
Wislawa Szymborska, “Negative” /
Works Cited
Works Consulted
Notes on the poets
Notes on the translators
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