Skip to content

hidden pilcrow

all the trinkets of the day

  • home
  • poetry
  • prose
  • about me
  • copyleft
  • contact

Category: poetry

Here are my poems in English. This link takes you to my book of Polish poetry słowem o niczym.

the first step to regain purity

you learnt how to say forever,
even though it was just for a moment.
you sought certainty as if on bail ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/11/2021 1 Minute

the american dream

it was amusing to make fun of paying
some of the highest prices in the world
for poor quality basic necessities, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/11/2021 1 Minute

a bitter man

i have always been a fruit connoisseur and never
missed the slightest opportunity to get acquainted
with the taste and texture of the unknown. not once. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 19/11/2021 1 Minute

in pursuit of the reason

i get it; it is more noble to be a widow
than a divorcee, and with my broken heart,
there is hope. plus, there is also my life ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 17/11/2021 1 Minute

a matter of taste

interesting word, solitude. not quite loneliness,
yet already at a distance. a lot of time to learn
origami, or collect linguistic bygones, and practise ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 15/11/2021 1 Minute

the fisherman’s daughter (iii)

my father was a fisherman, and you know
what that means. no, i do not mean fish
for a meal three times a day all week round, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 15/11/2021 1 Minute

the animal of my body

i fart. yes, i do. but why would i mention this?
because nobody does. it is one of those things
covered in embarrassed silence, as if we were ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 14/11/2021 1 Minute

the error of my ways

i still have a few books to read,
a few works to see,
and a few miles to walk. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 14/11/2021 1 Minute

the fisherman’s daughter (ii)

if you asked me what i wanted for breakfast,
i would say a rou an’ a cuppa tea,
just like your father used to be (i have heard ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 14/11/2021 1 Minute

the fisherman’s daughter

she appeared out of nowhere in front of my eyes.
i watched in disbelief as she, wrapped in a bath towel,
vigorously walked down the stone ramp to the beach. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 3 Comments 13/11/2021 1 Minute

perfectly staged spontaneity

when confronted with the quotidian predicament
of a finely forced awakening while still half asleep,
i blindly hit the space next to my bed, attempting ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 12/11/2021 1 Minute

long words

it all started when, beyond
the essential yes and no,
you learned the word perhaps. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 11/11/2021 1 Minute

a paper man

if you had asked me if i ever spoke
in country lyrics, i would have denied it,
proudly pointing to the legacy of pindar ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 1 Comment 10/11/2021 1 Minute

imperceptible shades of a drop

what is your name?
and why do i get the feeling
that you are hiding it in the colour ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 4 Comments 08/11/2021 1 Minute

a wanderer

i wear my past as if it were my heritage.
a little tight, worn here and there, tailored
to the old fashion, allows me to recognise ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 07/11/2021 1 Minute

what is left is to be a spelling bee

do you remember that scene from tootsie
where michael approaches julie at the party
with a pick-up line she previously told him ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 07/11/2021 1 Minute

a lost voice

will wuhan find its thucydides or lima its camus?
or perhaps a new boccaccio was born somewhere
in kolkata or mumbai? because for now, the wind ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 07/11/2021 1 Minute

it is just a rhyme, is it not?

the old adage says that a picture
is worth a thousand words,
and it is hard to argue with that ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 05/11/2021 1 Minute

the fulcrum

i swapped my fountain pen for a pencil
because it never really lets you down,
regardless of all the imperfections ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 04/11/2021 1 Minute

a rhetorical question

the concept of small talk is something
that has always bewildered me. intuition
tells me that it is the inability to face ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 02/11/2021 1 Minute

appearances

i once said i love you and i actually meant it,
but i guess in the end, it is not what you say,
it is what the expectations are. you can curse, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/11/2021 1 Minute

a gift

i try to remember my name, matityahu,
a gift from yahweh, whose existence
i do not believe, just to be clear. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/11/202101/11/2021 1 Minute

the details of the past future

i choose to remember only the details,
like the french crystal pendalogues
of the chandelier in your father’s study ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 31/10/2021 1 Minute

asymptomatic

some mark the passage of time with birthdays,
others with summer holidays or hogmanays.
for me, every year, such a marker is a letter ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/10/2021 1 Minute

for now, it is enough

do you remember that moment you were waiting for,
the one where all that was left was small talk? of course
not. you never expected that it could ever happen to you, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/10/2021 1 Minute

before we go

appreciation for a bowl of porridge comes with time.
but first, you will learn to cherish all the little stories
of your childhood that your parents unintentionally ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 29/10/2021 1 Minute

the paths of glory

i am nothing but a link
in the reproduction chain,
and still a snob reading elegy ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 28/10/2021 1 Minute

a cut-off phrase might be a sentence

i am still the first draft of a person,
not exactly a catch, a puny little
jest rather than a strong punchline. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 1 Comment 27/10/2021 1 Minute

a mournful thought on the occasion of halloween

the first shadow was cast by the doctor
of the church. then there was a bishop
and two dominicans opposing the sceptical ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/10/2021 1 Minute

the insatiable craving for meaning

there are two corpses resting
on my kitchen window sill.
far apart, the left one belongs ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 24/10/2021 1 Minute

rules of engagement

it is not what she says,
it is how she says it.
it is not what he hears, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 23/10/2021 1 Minute

the wound in the scrutinised reality

cutting my lips with the sharp edges
of the skin of a piece of honey melon
somehow escapes my attention as, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 23/10/2021 1 Minute

a matter of time

you said i was just like you,
only smarter. but believe me,
i am not smarter. i am just ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 23/10/2021 1 Minute

a game of collective responsibility

it turns out i am a sexual predator. apparently,
i enjoy slipping drugs or extra shots of alcohol
into a glass that belongs to a woman in a pub ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 3 Comments 22/10/2021 1 Minute

to rebalance the humours

when the water tastes like vinegar
and every sneeze is a suspicion
of plague, you look in horror ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/10/2021 1 Minute

all but a few

i bet you do not know the town of saugerties,
with its lighthouse on the hudson river, opus 40,
and the legendary big pink. why would you? ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 21/10/2021 1 Minute

a baffling phenomenon

saying that if it were up to me,
smokers would be prosecuted
in the same way as attempted ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 19/10/2021 1 Minute

a simple man

i know, i am a bit old
school. i like cyndi lauper,
and jack lemmon and shirley maclaine ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 18/10/2021 1 Minute

final preparations

standing in the darkness
of an empty bedroom,
i watch the october night ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 17/10/2021 1 Minute

blunt healing

i was a little blunt in my remarks this morning,
maybe even a bit too blunt. the thing is, when
someone hurts you under the mantle of love, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 17/10/2021 1 Minute

the literary myth

if you are following the distant shadow
of phaedrus or would like to take part
in the symposium, if you find delight ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 17/10/2021 1 Minute

neighbours

sometimes i wonder if you like me
writing about you, even if it is not
really you, and i am just as elusive. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 16/10/2021 1 Minute

alive or something like that

they can not see me, girls, or women, i should really say
at my age, and with that faraway look in my hazy eyes,
why would i be surprised? even you only see the words, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 16/10/2021 1 Minute

why not?

we met by chance at prospect park. i was wandering around
looking for… i am not sure what. you just wanted to lie
on your back and photograph the sparse clouds in the sky. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 15/10/2021 1 Minute

a conversation we never had

sometimes i try to remember what it was like
to share secrets in the darkness of moonless
nights, but all i see is the shadow of the posts ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 14/10/2021 1 Minute

a brooklyn girl

so you are just a regular brooklyn girl
in that striped blouse and armbands,
looking thoughtfully into the distance ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 1 Comment 12/10/202112/10/2021 1 Minute

the city of silent men

wandering through the streets of the city,
i pass boisterous people, blissful couples,
and whole families laden with daily errands ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 12/10/2021 1 Minute

an elegy on the death of a decent middle-aged man

you know that you have lost when you come to a singles’ night out
and there are more than twice as many men as women, the latter
being either your daughter’s or your mother’s age. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 4 Comments 11/10/2021 1 Minute

accidental soulmates

so you are alive and i am dead. you are alive
to the sentiment in my stanzas, and i am dead
serious about collecting all the new york clichés ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 10/10/2021 1 Minute

all the degrees of separation

they say we are only six people apart.
but what does it matter when my voice
fades as soon as it reaches the friends ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 09/10/2021 1 Minute

the dying flame does not sleep at night

night intervals measured by dreams
and physiology bring the brevity
of fate, this ironic courtesan, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 09/10/2021 1 Minute

the act of preparing an omelette

is making an omelette an art or an act
of desperation? what does it mean
if an egg in the fridge and a can ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 07/10/2021 1 Minute

clair de lune

as the late evening washes away
the withered traces of daylight,
i watch from the drenched window ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 05/10/2021 1 Minute

just another day or two

every morning i make myself breakfast;
flat bread with cheese spread and salad,
sometimes a can of fish in spicy tomato ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 03/10/2021 1 Minute

portraits at a crossroads

looking at the portrait of james taylor,
i am waiting for both sides now to finish
shedding raindrops on the window sill. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 02/10/202102/10/2021 1 Minute

when the lights are off

i am trying to remember the sky
over berlin as i leaf through my old
pocket edition of berlitz’s guide ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/09/2021 1 Minute

an exercise in doubt

if no word is worth its weight in silence,
why should i waste any on the stillness
of this wicked chamber, let alone trifles ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 25/09/2021 1 Minute

a swollen wound of my soul

when i was young, no aces were mentioned,
so first i put it all down to her shyness.
then i thought it was because of her religiosity. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/09/2021 1 Minute

murmurs in the rose

i wish i had managed to convince you
to visit eighty-four charing cross road.
you can still change your mind and buy ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/09/2021 1 Minute

two perfect strangers

from the distance of the kind words you wrote,
let us meet once at our favourite spot, nestled
on the corner of waverly place and west tenth, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/09/2021 1 Minute

legends

a little girl watched an armada
of biremes hurtling to the north-east
with the lacedaemonian army ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/09/2021 1 Minute

mirrored me

when i look at my naked body in the mirror,
all i see is a history written in the surgical scars.

so i am that longing corpse, not quite old yet, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 19/09/2021 1 Minute

a cold fire

i think i am falling for you,
although i have a feeling
that what really attracts me ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 19/09/2021 1 Minute

old men are dreamers

when i mistook you for someone from my distant past,
it was just an innocent mistake, a bit amusing actually.
and even looking at the world through your eyes, i only ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 1 Comment 18/09/2021 1 Minute

elegy written in a city cul-de-sac

no need, my boy, to shed a tear
when, lost in the crowded urban
thicket, you enter a blind alley. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 15/09/2021 1 Minute

her four of a kind

i met her by chance at the hellenic
lectures. enchanted, i watched her
taking notes with her swan fountain ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 6 Comments 13/09/202113/09/2021 1 Minute

nine-twelve

it is my sunday with the kids.
we are going to the science centre.
i think they will like it and maybe ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 12/09/2021 1 Minute

nine-eleven

first, nineteen men killed two thousand
nine hundred and seventy-seven people.
then the “war on terror” began, which has ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 11/09/2021 1 Minute

a history of what?

as i read the history of the greco-persian wars,
portrayed as the great war between east and west,
as a clash of two civilisations, i can not help but feel ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 10/09/2021 1 Minute

the way i am

i am a straight, white, middle-class, able-bodied male.
i am a highly paid, well-educated white-collar worker.
i am a european union member states’ passport holder. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 09/09/2021 1 Minute

a supposition

if i could simply leave,
turn off the light, and slam the door,
drawing this galling lease to a close, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 08/09/2021 1 Minute

the effortless comfort of pity

if you only read texts that you agree with,
then you will just reinforce your biases.
so i read the tragic sense of life and feel sorry ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 07/09/202107/09/2021 1 Minute

anniversary

a year ago, i woke up early in the morning,
ate a bowl of porridge for breakfast, brushed my teeth,
changed clothes, and spent the next few hours exploring ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 04/09/2021 1 Minute

undefined

the adage says, money does not make you happy,
to which someone added, but it allows you to be
comfortably unhappy. and in this sarcastic remark, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 04/09/2021 1 Minute

would i dare to ask?

what does it mean to be a free man?
what does it take? would i dare to ask
the lycians who set fire to the citadel ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 03/09/2021 1 Minute

not all shines through

we dream of being stars, but the only thing
we manage to achieve is being a piece of rock,
and not even the big one that shines with reflected ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 02/09/2021 1 Minute

the confession of a liar

listening to the silence of the wise man
in the agora trying to convince me that
i write to leave behind a shadow of my ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/09/2021 1 Minute

the order of things

there is this commentator i love to read
and always think about her as beautiful
and smart, and then regret that she is a lesbian ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/09/2021 1 Minute

every next last one

going out for a walk along the promenade in the evenings,
sitting on a bench in the deep shade and exchanging
indifferent glances with the shoelaces passing me by, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 31/08/2021 1 Minute

identity

i am the burning of a chafed ankle.
i am the swelling from an infected tooth.
i am the gurgling in a sore stomach. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/08/2021 1 Minute

my little worries

do i still have a chance for an indecent
line of catullus whispered in my ear
in a crowded lift? will i ever find a garter ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 29/08/2021 1 Minute

i play it safe

sometimes i like an essay about a new book
more than the book itself, and i find myself
settling for the former more and more often. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 28/08/2021 1 Minute

summer with monika

it was a long night on a train to the seaside.
we were boy scouts from the mining basin.
they were girl scouts from the highlands. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 1 Comment 28/08/2021 1 Minute

everything i need

are all the books i have
all the books i need?
i have a diary of an emigrant ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/08/2021 1 Minute

threnus

i can still hear incoming messages
even though my phone is silent.
and then i wake up sweaty at four ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/08/202101/09/2021 1 Minute

the right one for the question

since when has reading for pleasure
become an obligation? do not ask
the writer, ask the owner of a private ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 25/08/2021 1 Minute

a simple seashell that i never had

she once said that all she dreamed about
was being a mother and not necessarily
a wife. it is funny because all i dreamed ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 23/08/2021 1 Minute

one day will become now

one day, i may hold one’s hand
without fear. for now, let me walk
with my hands in my pockets ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 1 Comment 22/08/202123/08/2021 1 Minute

a wake up call

they do not need us any more, women.
they just keep us around as we are handy
sometimes. but though it is our own fault, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/08/2021 1 Minute

seeking a reason

are the tears in my eyes the result of yawning
after a sleepless night, or of reading verses
to distract myself from the missing pillow ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/08/2021 1 Minute

the dilemma of the truth-seeker

if by writing i try to understand
what has happened in my life,
then each stanza touches a true story, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/08/2021 1 Minute

hardly an expert

if i were asked what love is, i would say,
ask the blind for the colour of their eyes,
or the deaf for the timbre of their voice, ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/08/2021 1 Minute

is stagnant water bound to rot?

fun and games, writing, is it not?
sometimes we hit, miss more often,
and usually somewhere in between. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/08/2021 1 Minute

if you would rather have

do you remember the words i wrote
for you, the lines that over time began
to escape your attention, the metaphors ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/08/2021 1 Minute

kintsukuroi

is the signature enough
to negate half of my life
and which half? the one ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 19/08/2021 1 Minute

a year of separation

the year has passed. just a glance
and my reflection in a roadside puddle
dries up. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 18/08/2021 1 Minute

the wall with no moon gate

i once met wild geese
from the garden
of the floating cup. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 16/08/2021 1 Minute

stiffed

when i pass a couple on the street,
sometimes i glance at them to spot
that glimmer of male resentment ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 14/08/2021 1 Minute

a libation out of the cup

we only have to walk about
until our legs become heavy,
and then we can lie down. ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 13/08/2021 1 Minute

tsundoku

i look at my bookshelves with a sense of regret.
there are books there that i have not yet matured
to read, and books that have passed their time ...
continue reading

Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 12/08/202112/08/2021 1 Minute

Posts navigation

Older Posts
Newer posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 64 other followers

Archives

  • Aug 2022 (3)
  • Jul 2022 (5)
  • Mar 2022 (3)
  • Feb 2022 (15)
  • Jan 2022 (25)
  • Dec 2021 (33)
  • Nov 2021 (38)
  • Oct 2021 (33)
  • Sep 2021 (23)
  • Aug 2021 (26)
  • Jul 2021 (18)
  • Jun 2021 (29)
  • May 2021 (15)
  • Apr 2021 (4)
  • Mar 2021 (1)
  • Feb 2021 (18)
Blog at WordPress.com.
hidden pilcrow
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • hidden pilcrow
    • Join 64 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • hidden pilcrow
    • Customise
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...