Tag: belonging

The tangential

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

Caught in ungraceful ageing,
like the past imperfect
clinging to a collection of grainy photographs,
Mr Honk felt tangential
every time he was greeted by a neighbour
with the unfamiliar ‘Ay ay, fit like?’
or ‘Foos yer doos?’,
unable to muster the expected
‘Nae bad, chavin’ awa’ in response,
not because of the vernacular barrier
but for the simple fact that he’d answer the hum
of a foghorn or oystercatcher’s cry
rather than admitting that he longed for a touch
of unadulterated soma.

More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com

Not quite family

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

After spending the greater part of my adult life in Scotland, I’m starting to wonder who I really am, because—technically a Pole—not only am I not visiting the old country, but I have even stopped using my mother tongue, since there aren’t very many opportunities for it, and English has now become not only my spoken and written language, but I even think in it. To be frank, I no longer know or care what happens in Poland, and if it were not for the passport I have to renew every ten years, I doubt I would pay more attention to the place than I do to the Solomon Islands. However, I can’t really call myself Scottish, or British for that matter, as I have never really applied for citizenship, mainly because I would have to swear allegiance to the current monarch and his heirs and successors, a thought that burns my republican soul like hellfire. So, I live my little life as an emigrant—a state of mind akin to that of a poor distant relative living in a spare room—if I may allow myself such an analogy—a household member, but not quite family.

More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com

A denizen of grey

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

When does a tourist become a burgher,
and for a pedantic, yet unassuming gentleman
like myself, would it be an insurmountable transition?
After all, when I walk down Back Wynd,
no one can guess one way or the other,
and two decades in Granite City have instilled in me
a certain taste for grey, whether it be walls
or headstones.

Birds of a feather

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

I’ve heard that if you look like a duck
and you quack like a duck,
then you are a duck, even if the rest of the flock
sees you as an odd—let alone a dead—one,
and yet, the eccentrics and the hopeless aside,
few things feel as unwelcoming as the world
of yellow rubber.