Tag: literary allusion

A letter to young me

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

Do you remember the day you learnt
the difference between epistemology and epistolography,
and the fountain pen with emerald green ink
you chose because it seemed more appealing
than the serenity blue?

You couldn’t have known that the letters
would turn out to be a sentence
with a costly parole on the fleeing horizon
and a bitter aftertaste
that would stay with you as you go.

So, ditch the pimp king from Stratford
with his lovey-dovey quarto
and Veronese balcony,
and embrace the Frankfurt recluse
while you still can.

More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com

Blushing

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

I like mornings
of overcast skies
when the excess sunlight
doesn’t hinder reading
by the window
of the Château de Silling—
a blushing quinquagenarian
falling victim to a hassle
most people call life.

More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com

Dreamers

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, W.B. Yeats

Would unfinished business be better
than no business at all?
I’d say that’s a question whose answer might lie
somewhere in one of Landor’s six volumes
of ‘Imaginary Conversations’
or in a chance exchange in the lobby.
But if you appreciate—
that’s the crucial part—
a glass of water and a self-portrait
by Giuseppe Arcimboldo
and aren’t embarrassed to shed a tear
while watching a film about books
with the future Dr Lecter reading Yeats,
you might already share
the sentiment.

More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com

The tourist

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

I’m not a very interesting specimen,
a hostage to awkward silence
and unforeseen circumstances,
but we don’t invent autobiographies
to live up to them—
this is what guestbooks are for—
and I like the idea of ‘or something’,
and that the most intimate personal detail to reveal
is the taste of blood after biting my tongue.
Also, for someone who doesn’t drink,
I devote a lot of attention to potations
served as a triune chorus of gratitude,
which sounds rather appalling, yet it’s still better
than some unfortunate magnanimity of intention—
the mother of all exhaustion in both,
regardless of whether I prefer to be situated
in Beatrice’s basement or Virgil’s attic.

More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com

Mocking birds

Published on by Maciej ModzelewskiLeave a comment

My humble neighbours have recently started exercising
their vocal cords, only I’ve never ordered Wordsworth’s The Daffodils
to be recited in magpieese on my bedroom windowsill
at five in the morning.

However, it did get me thinking: what if the answer really is forty-two—
although I’m still not a cricket fan—but it was ordered by magpies, not mice,
and I’m stuck amongst shadows, alone, in this panopticon
full of sophisticated probability engines?

But why do I feel
like one ancient Greek is mocking another again?

More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com