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Tag: poem

Shadow

I have never been particularly fussy—a glass of tap water and a piece
of contemporary drama would be enough to nourish the body and soul
of my own creation. So, spoiled by all the words I read by the dim light
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 12/12/202212/12/2022 1 Minute

A silent film

Sometimes I wish life had a better score than just the foleys. It could be
that I care so much about the music because I have a precarious influence
over the script and the direction seems, to say the least, uncertain, and yet,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 06/12/2022 1 Minute

The orphans of the lea

I don’t like cut flowers. I have always preferred the unexpected sight of a wild one,
sprouting between the flagstones at the edge of the pavement, in an unclean gutter
just beneath the eaves, or in a crack in the façade of a building, as if almost casually
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 04/12/2022 1 Minute

The first sentence

I have never been quite sure of the first sentence,
but what is the worst that could happen—a shrug
or an equally adequate reaction? At least words,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/12/2022 1 Minute

It is what it is

A man’s whole life in a single stanza—what would that be? An arbitrary anecdote
with a half-baked punchline over a pint of lager that dared to turn into a good work
of fiction in the attic of a morgue? Perhaps. But this would imply that it is possible
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/11/2022 1 Minute

If only Kiton and Brioni made straitjackets

Scribblers sometimes mistake ink for blood, or maybe the other way around.
When it happens, shattered glass slashes through pages that, all of a sudden,
lack subtle onomatopoeias, even though they were never short of promising
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 28/11/2022 1 Minute

By the way

We are going to die. Yes, and we will die in a well-covered silence that changes
nothing—see visitors’ beds, which count the strenuous hours of uneventful sleep
with the precision of borrowed time—a performance reluctantly paid in advance
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 28/11/2022 1 Minute

Paradise lost

Sometimes I think back to my adolescence, with its hopeless battle with acne
and hectic masturbation schedule on a creaky couch beneath a shoddy replica
of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa I was supposed to pray to every night
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/11/2022 1 Minute

The grey sheep

I’m not sure what is expected of me, or I don’t remember—assuming someone told me that once,
when I was looking for something tangible, even just a bruised apple—although it hardly matters,
or so they say, as long as I follow the flock. But maybe that’s all it really is: knowing the decorum
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/11/2022 1 Minute

A substitute

I envy you, my boy, with your damn good name, a noble one, still oblivious
to the bitter taste of the lecherous garden’s fruit, where the precious moments
behind the curtains provided a temporary substitute for innocence by stealing
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 18/11/2022 1 Minute

A perfection of my own

In a way, I gave up on my chances. For a time, life was about perfection,
which was tantamount to the good of the great Athenian. And even if not,
there’s always been a perfect body, perfect job, perfect family, with a wife
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 13/11/2022 1 Minute

An unintentionally blank page

Immersed in the words of emphatic announcers, with each new cleft sentence
less inclined to elicit that wicked “who are you?,” did you stop asking questions
because everything became complicated, or did everything become complicated
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 12/11/2022 1 Minute

Earworms

What should you do if you get strong chords stuck in your head and can’t get them out?
Or perhaps they are words, repeated over and over, like an unscheduled interlocution
with yesteryear’s obsessions, except that there is only inexpressible dread on your part.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 05/11/202205/11/2022 1 Minute

On All Saints’ Day

Sitting in the armchair by the window, I looked at the fallen
leaves soaked in the rain, beaten by the heels of passers-by
rushing into the unknown as far as the dust they are made of,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 02/11/2022 1 Minute

The right attitude

When a foreigner on the street asks you for the whereabouts of the semen centre,
you know that this is not what he meant. But still, as you try your best to conceal
that, admittedly, improper mixture of amusement and astonishment on your face,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/10/2022 1 Minute

On my squeamish urbanite nose

When a daily shower becomes synonymous with the lap of luxury, a bath even more so,
living alone, not to mention working remotely, starts to look nothing short of a blessing.
Don’t get me wrong, I take care of my personal hygiene and I believe in its importance,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 28/10/2022 1 Minute

Nothing new in the north

Awoken by a heavy rumble on the windowsill, I embraced autumn’s moody morning
with columns on yet another new prime minister, soaring electricity bills, and the war
in Ukraine—the usual, I guess. Then, after this exercise in my meticulously implanted
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/10/2022 1 Minute

Dilemmas of my own

I wonder what it would be like if my surname were Young, if it would suit me,
especially now, in my late forties, when I feel anything but young. Unfortunately,
none of the twelve shillings’ worth of words occupying my desk brings anything
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 25/10/2022 1 Minute

The disembodied

I missed the morning sunlight trying to decide if I really knew that “here is one hand,”
and now, as raindrops trickle down on my reflection in the window, all I can think about
is the disembodied lady and how much she differed from health faddists and the ones
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 23/10/2022 1 Minute

All the pleasures, simple or not

There are simple pleasures like a late-summer beach walk,
the aroma of freshly baked bread, and waking up after a full
night’s sleep, and there are those not as obvious, like a passage
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/10/202223/10/2022 1 Minute

A night train

I had my chance for a happy life, or at least for a meaningful one,
and now all that’s left is an artificially prolonged apathetic wait
for a prompter to cue from behind the limelights my final line.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/10/2022 1 Minute

The smile of my choice

Carving a jack-o’-lantern is as alien to me as ending a sentence
with a preposition, and yet I got used to the latter once I learned
the islanders’ tongue. Buying a pumpkin shouldn’t be a big deal
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 18/10/2022 1 Minute

A brief reflection on the meaning of life over a pint of lager

A saddle-goose once saw death’s head upon a mop-stick weeping.
“What is the matter, my gaunt bud?” he asked, since tears were dripping,
but what could be said at the sound of a bell beyond the timeless
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 17/10/2022 1 Minute

Harbor nights

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I think of La Divina, who, all of a sudden, comes
to mind like a gift-wrapped bedtime prayer begging: pietà, pietà! Too late to play
the record leaves me with a distant memory of that great ugly voice of hers, once
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 16/10/202216/10/2022 1 Minute

I see you are happy now

I guess it is easier to just say, “I see you are happy now.” But one doesn’t smile
too widely, doesn’t laugh too loudly, and wanders around with their fist clenched
tight on the bottle neck. Happiness, I mean. You know, that almond-milk-bathed
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 15/10/202215/10/2022 1 Minute

The peripheries

I was never really fond of yellow, not until I met Miss Georgia Lass.
Two seasons later, only a hint of metaphysical indiscretion remained
unpraught in the canary shade. And just like that, the realisation came
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 13/10/2022 1 Minute

Who are you?

Sometimes I wonder who you are—you who read my words.
I’d like to think I have affected, perhaps even changed, your life,
but I guess it’s just something people like myself fantasise about,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 08/10/2022 1 Minute

To do the dance exactly right

There are only two kinds of people in the world—there are women
and there are not. I am not. I know this could be seen as a somewhat
narrowed perception of reality, but what can I say? I am a simpleton
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 06/10/2022 1 Minute

A shift in punctuation

There are notes in my handwriting that fill the blank pages on the backs of volumes
crowding my bookshelves, each a trivial remnant of a stranger I believe I once knew.

Sometimes when I look at them, it comes to my mind: all this effort and no sign
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 05/10/2022 1 Minute

A birthmark

My birthmark is invisible, like all the books piled up in every corner
of my memory. I simply lack the sturdy biography, steeped in dramatic
paradoxes, that has served so many so well. And I guess there really is
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 04/10/2022 1 Minute

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

On time

You are never on time. “I’ll see you in ten minutes” could mean anything
from half an hour to a lifetime or so. It used to bother me a lot. I perceived
your tardiness as disrespectful and still smiled at you, trying to keep my cool.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 31/08/2022 1 Minute

That old devil moon

It never entered my mind that the kind of blue, the blue in green,
could simply squeeze me like a night in Tunisia, where smooch
sometimes follows great expectations, but often settles for alone
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/08/2022 1 Minute

A sonorous tryst

Forgive my verdant embouchure, timidly practised in dark alleys,
and guide my fingers through respite in somewhat hurried pizzicato.
There is no shame in apposition set off by commas, casually,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 29/08/2022 1 Minute

Cooking for one

I was going to make a proper dinner,
but once again settled for a banana mash
with nuts, Greek tahini and currants.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 28/08/2022 1 Minute

One could always use a fountain pen

When did we stop using fountain pens? I used to like the blue scribbles
on the pages of my notebook. And why would someone else’s words,
if one found them not worth the ink, still be kept in the ethereal depths
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 27/08/2022 1 Minute

The one

I’m not looking for someone perfect,
but someone who would trade empty pots
on the windowsill for a good synecdoche
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/08/2022 1 Minute

What happened after the last wedding?

As presumptuous as it might be, I think we nailed
the sobriety of all the microwaved expectations
out of the marital freezer, none of which exceeded
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 25/08/2022 1 Minute

After you left

It’s been two years since we drew that bold line
and abandoned the canvas somewhere in the loft.
I gave up the easels. You let the brushes and paints go.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/08/2022 1 Minute

Shame

After many a night, when the constant parade of substitute futures
diving into my halcyon booth leaves an aftertaste of a sealed body,
I wander the deserted beach, chased by the enraged cries of seagulls
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 21/08/2022 1 Minute

Words never rust

“Words never rust, I promise.” That is what you said, remember?
Yet, it still feels like mocking Harlequin and Columbine at Tivoli.
And you can’t even wink now, once we have played all the classics
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/08/2022 1 Minute

The cadaver of me

When windows become doors and doors windows,
when every next bus stop is a rushed page away,
and a kachina doll collection takes on such importance
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 18/08/2022 1 Minute

One day

I thought if I moved on, one day I would have a decent bed,
lined with satin strokes and a longing “once upon a time,”
with Chet’s Almost Blue and merrily misplaced cufflinks
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 17/08/2022 1 Minute

Hope against hope

I remember when “for ever” simply complemented “are we there yet?”,
only to turn into “for as long as it is humanly possible” over time.
But as The Freewheelin’ has stopped spinning over the winter months
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 09/08/2022 1 Minute

The inheritance

Sometimes I take pictures of genre scenes
with half-empty bottles. I hoard them in rolls
of undeveloped film lying around in the drawer
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 07/08/2022 1 Minute

My deathbed bride

When I close my eyes, will they shine
once you trade my touch piece for the waterway toll?
You know, there is no room for us both,
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/08/2022 1 Minute

The anatomy lesson

I remember you asking me, what if the only autobiography is a few stains
on the shower curtain and an online shopping history? Would I regret it?
As we stand on the crowded bus, my fingertips brush against the spine
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry 2 Comments 29/07/2022 1 Minute

Nothing left but small talk

When there is nothing left but small talk,
like a sip of water, the silence goes smoothly
along with a bag of scorned books and a bundle
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/07/2022 1 Minute

Sunday morning

It’s Sunday morning. Someone on the telly mentions Wordsworth. You know him
vaguely, akin to one of those random Latin proverbs you try to impress others with
while pretending not to notice labels dangling from your wrists. It’s Sunday morning.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 24/07/2022 1 Minute

The tower

My name is Rapunzel. I live in the tower. Nothing fancy,
but no point in complaining. After all, who is to notice
that the cheap wallpaper has long since stopped pretending
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 23/07/2022 1 Minute

What can’t I see?

When I was young, I used to read novels. I read a lot.
And then I stopped. Probably because I wished
for something more, something better, something real.
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 20/07/2022 1 Minute

All the trinkets of the day

Waking up hurts. A glass of buttermilk and a handful
of vitamins as a breakfast substitute and a momentary
dedication to oral hygiene measure the effort needed...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 05/03/202205/03/2022 1 Minute

Only the fear and tears

I didn’t sleep well last night.
Already disheartened, I spent the usual
eight hours in front of the computer. ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 04/03/2022 1 Minute

All it takes

It takes a comedian to stand firm on a besieged stage
where every day is a deadly rehearsal for a tragedy
written and directed by an amateur historian. It takes ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 02/03/2022 1 Minute

He is playing the cursed card!

And suddenly, it went quiet for a moment
of disbelief. He is playing the cursed card,
only it has long ceased to be just another ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 28/02/2022 1 Minute

Putin, go fuck yourself

It would seem that everything was going according to plan.
The weather was good, the protesters came in decent numbers,
there were flags, banners full of angry slogans, candles. ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 27/02/2022 1 Minute

Kyiv, not Kiev

My word processor struggles with the name Kyiv.
For some baffling reason, it suggests that I mean Vicky.
At least it does not mind a psychopath, a thug, terror, war, ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/02/2022 1 Minute

No time for regrets

A bully gets bolder over time,
taking advantage of the passivity of decent people.
So now, as we wring our hands over Kiev, ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 25/02/2022 1 Minute

Why die for Kiev?

Do you remember these words?
To fight alongside our Polish friends
for the common defence ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 24/02/2022 1 Minute

A pain in the…

Well-mannered people mince their words,
presumably so as not to hurt the feelings
of others. But when one casually mentions ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 22/02/2022 1 Minute

People like us

Nobody loves people like us.
Endearingly naive and possibly
just as self-centred, we crave ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 18/02/2022 1 Minute

The cadence of her steps

First, there was the ancient lyrical cadence
of handclapping, which scared the gulls
and attracted the eyes of rare passers-by. ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 16/02/2022 1 Minute

Is there any coffee left, Dad?

“Let’s talk about Friday night.”
“You know, it’s only Tuesday morning?”
“That’s exactly my point.” ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 12/02/2022 1 Minute

The day after yesterday

Solitude requires concentration. It all starts the day before, in the evening,
with the effort of setting the alarm clock, until “effort” and “time” stop
being synonyms. The vocabulary soon expands to include a new definition...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 10/02/202205/03/2022 1 Minute

Necessities

“Your dinner is in the microwave.” He stared at an old plastic container
with a misshapen lid, filled with a random mix of vegetables, some fresh
and some canned, and water with a dash of olive oil. Dinner has always...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 09/02/2022 1 Minute

Nothing but silence

His greatest ambition had always been to be uneven,
somewhat passé in every step he took,
as he denied himself too much sense ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 08/02/2022 1 Minute

The misery of the poet’s life

The poet was cursing the misery of his life. The small hermitage
in the centre of a large city that he now shared with Mr. Nothing
and Platocrates witnessed many of his misfortunes. Once conceived ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 06/02/2022 1 Minute

To invent the fly

As he wandered through the shouting streets of Friday night,
Mr. Nothing wondered if it was worth trading his tinnitus
for the promise of fun at McNasty’s, as the name itself was ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 05/02/2022 1 Minute

On the eve of returning to the office

Upset Mr. Nothing tried to remember the last time he had tied
the Windsor knot. The blue shirts hung neatly in the wardrobe,
waiting for the moment he would return to his previous routine. ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 01/02/2022 1 Minute

Xin nian kuai le / San nin fai lok

There were words that had been uttered
with great emphasis in the rush of youth
that had misunderstood a disillusioned old man, ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 31/01/2022 1 Minute

The usual glass of cognac

Hearing the moped passing down the street,
Mr. Nothing thought about that morning
when, instead of the usual glass of cognac, ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 30/01/2022 1 Minute

Two years ahead

“In a week, you will be forty-seven.” As he listened
to the first gusts of Storm Malik, the poet wondered where
their names might have come from, but at these words, ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 29/01/2022 1 Minute

That long glance

He was probably a little more articulated than most of his peers,
and at that point, too deprived of any further illusions to stand
the excess of their attention without even a single bitter note. ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 27/01/2022 1 Minute

After summer comes spring

Undercooked yellow split peas taste exactly like
undercooked yellow split peas. There is nothing
surprising about it, and you know it beforehand, ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 26/01/2022 1 Minute

On the waiting list

As lofty as it might sound, the prolonged wait to meet destiny
made Mr. Nothing sometimes forget the taint in his chest.
But then a twinge or a waiting list reminder brings him to heel. ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 25/01/2022 1 Minute

Just like the first time

The old business card used as a bookmark
told Mr. Nothing the last time he had attempted
to read the sesquipedalian first-fruits of the poet, ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 24/01/2022 1 Minute

The one who asks the question

There were words that Mr. Nothing did not trust
the dictionary to provide an adequate definition for.
For instance, what was he supposed to say ...
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Maciej Modzelewski English poetry, poetry Leave a comment 23/01/2022 1 Minute

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