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Month: Sep 2022

A genre scene

Imagine getting old together. One day, we looked after each other,
had red borscht with dumplings for dinner, and then a wee moment
on the sofa to settle our stomachs before the evening walk. Maybe
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/09/2022 1 Minute

High definition

I never realised that the extra pixels of high definition
could make such a big difference. Call me sentimental,
but I kind of liked the bleary picture of my shabby telly.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/09/2022 1 Minute

The thing we are good at

And so we, earthlings, made our first attempt at playing
celestial billiards. I’m really glad that we decided to make
this effort to save ourselves from the fate of the dinosaurs.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 27/09/2022 1 Minute

The cleanest books

Being an open book exposes you to marginalia scribblers,
and you never know what you will get: a gloss in Korean
or a casual critique; an early attempt at ornate drolleries;
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/09/202226/09/2022 1 Minute

There is nothing wrong with my choice of colours

We are strangers who happen to have children together. You’ve made it clear.
And I’m not objecting to that, as we never really got past the flatmates stage,
regardless of the official piece of jewellery, so why pretend to be friends now
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 25/09/2022 1 Minute

My finely encased fountain pen

Lying dormant for years, my fountain pen has lost
its ability to inspire me to transcend all the rubicons
of corporeality. I used to believe that, once baptised
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 24/09/2022 1 Minute

Passing away

As worn out as a shellac record
and just as brittle, I’ve got my mug shot
stamped in a book of wraiths.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/09/2022 1 Minute

The importance of being a fool

I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine, I promise. It’s just that I can no longer remember
what it’s like to gently brush my fingers over that brief moment of silence
in anticipation, which, like any attempt to hold on to a long bygone present,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/09/2022 1 Minute

All you need

What on earth were you thinking? That you could live your life
without subtitles, as if you stood at the fireplace, bereaved but free,
burning cocktail sticks and never-opened letters, and all you needed
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/09/2022 1 Minute

Starting over

I guess it’s good to hang onto something tangible, like seedless grapes
in a disposable clamshell container, for example. In the end, it’s always
been all about convenience, hasn’t it? But you are not listening, darling,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 19/09/2022 1 Minute

We shall remember

You don’t have to say anything. Anything at all. Just slip out of your shoes.
The water is still warm. You know, I tried to remember the last time we had
a bath together. Perhaps you might recall it, although does it really matter?
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 19/09/2022 1 Minute

The lovers

Once upon a time, before we were supposed to be happy
— I mean, de jure — we used to be just like that — happy

when left to our own devices. Of course, there were certain
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 18/09/202218/09/2022 1 Minute

The old olive trees

I have never touched the trunk of an olive tree. I doubt I ever will,
since they don’t grow up north, where I live, and I prefer to avoid
the swelter they thrive in. So as long as I stay here, I will not suffer,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 17/09/2022 1 Minute

Where the coarse seams join

If I stayed overnight, allowing myself to see perfection but phrasing it differently,
how cruel would it be? Or if you waited too long, so neither of us knew which part
still deserved to be considered good enough to play, who should call the wager?
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 16/09/2022 1 Minute

The song of the birds

Ignoring unguided fingers slowly sliding over the burnished neck
of Casals’ violoncello in El cant dels ocells, a sense of decorum,
a relentless companion of pity, renders the unnecessary ceremony
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 14/09/2022 1 Minute

The reality of desire

If the ancients knew the art of statistics,
would they still believe in that little rascal Cupid?
It’s hard not to succumb to the reality of numbers
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 11/09/2022 1 Minute

A silent answer

Why am I still jealous of my old flatmate? We parted long ago.
I moved to town with my dusty desk and overloaded bookshelves.
She stayed in the suburbs, with her windowsills full of flowerpots
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 09/09/2022 1 Minute

Watchers

I guess I’m lucky with my undisturbed daddy
long-legs sitting on the ceiling with offspring,
as watching the thirteen little ones, not bigger
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 08/09/2022 1 Minute

The breakfast of the seventh day

I measure my week with the flatbreads I make on the first day,
but for some reason, I’m always one piece short. Perhaps it all
boils down to the slightly too small bowl for making the dough,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 06/09/2022 1 Minute

The future rival of the past

Do I have the right to feel
so much older than I used to?
After all, it hasn’t been that long
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 05/09/2022 1 Minute

One language is enough

I don’t know French, although it sounds beautiful in songs.
I would definitely like to know German as there is so much
to learn in, say, Über Gewissheit. But I know some English
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 04/09/2022 1 Minute

Père-Lachaise

I’m a time traveller. It all began when I was seven,
though it didn’t really start until I reached ten or so.
At first, being cautious, I stuck to the not-so-distant
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 04/09/202204/09/2022 1 Minute

Honesty is an a cappella song

Holding myself accountable for things not turning out the way I wanted
always required a tad more honesty than I could muster at any one time,
like an attempt at the mundane touted as an elaborate kintsugi exercise,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 02/09/2022 1 Minute

I’m not a bad person

Life insurance covers the event of death, but what insures me
in the event of life? So far, I keep my hands above the table,
even though most of the time I have no idea what to do with them.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/09/202201/09/2022 1 Minute

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