[CW-Grad] Wislawa Szymborska

[Jie Tian]

It cannot be true. I always hear her voice fluttering in the wind, in the world.

Szymborska. Szymborska.

In May 2010, I opened our MFA graduation reading with her poem.

Szymborska.

On 2/2/12, Rachelle Cruz <rachelle.a.cruz at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thank you for sending this, Andrew.
>
> Szymborska was incredible.
>
> Best,
> Rachelle
>
> *****
> Rachelle Cruz,
> Host of "The Blood-Jet Writing Hour" Radio Show
> www.thebloodjet.wordpress.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 4:35 PM, Gabriela Jauregui <
> gabrielajauregui at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>> Yesterday was a very sad day, from Szymborska's death to Mike Kelley's
>> untimely death as well. He was a pioneer in contemporary art, he was
>> generous, hardcore, rigorous, and gave much to young californian artists
>> and fellow artists of his generation too. He will be missed. He will be
>> remembered.
>> from Mexico City with love,
>> Gabriela
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 5:24 PM, Juan F Herrera
>> <juan.herrera at ucr.edu>wrote:
>>
>>>  One of the best - so true, so luminous...
>>>
>>>  ¡Szymborska Presente!
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Andrew Winer [andreww at ucr.edu]
>>> *Sent:* Thursday, February 02, 2012 2:37 PM
>>> *To:* RezaAslan at yahoo.com; Nalo Hopkinson; Goldberry Long; 'susan
>>> straight'; 'Chris Abani'; Michael Jayme; Tom Lutz; Laila Lalami; Juan F
>>> Herrera; Christopher Buckley; Michael Ryan Davis; 'Stephen Ellis'; 'Emily
>>> Margaret Wells'; 'Ricardo Zamorano'; cwgrad-announcements at lists.ucr.edu;
>>> fatimafmirza at gmail.com; Stephen E Cullenberg; Vorris Nunley; Traise
>>> Yamamoto; Perry Link
>>> *Subject:* Wislawa Szymborska
>>>
>>>   Dear All,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> One of the modest giants of letters passed from the world yesterday.
>>> Here is one of her poems.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> NO TITLE REQUIRED
>>>
>>> It has come to this: I'm sitting under a tree
>>>
>>> beside a river
>>>
>>> on a sunny morning.
>>>
>>> It's an insignificant event
>>>
>>> and won't go down in history.
>>>
>>> It's not battles and pacts,
>>>
>>> where motives are scrutinized,
>>>
>>> or noteworthy tyrannicides.
>>>
>>> And yet I'm sitting by this river, that's a fact.
>>>
>>> And since I'm here
>>>
>>> I must have come from somewhere,
>>>
>>> and before that
>>>
>>> I must have turned up in many other places,
>>>
>>> exactly like the conquerors of nations
>>>
>>> before setting sail.
>>>
>>> Even a passing moment has its fertile past,
>>>
>>> its Friday before Saturday,
>>>
>>> its May before June.
>>>
>>> Its horizons are no less real
>>>
>>> than those that a marshal's field glasses might scan.
>>>
>>> This tree is a poplar that's been rooted here for years.
>>>
>>> The river is the Raba; it didn't spring up yesterday.
>>>
>>> The path leading through the bushes
>>>
>>> wasn't beaten last week.
>>>
>>> The wind had to blow the clouds here
>>>
>>> before it could blow them away.
>>>
>>> And though nothing much is going on nearby,
>>>
>>> the world is no poorer in details for that.
>>>
>>> It's just as grounded, just as definite
>>>
>>> as when migrating races held it captive.
>>>
>>> Conspiracies aren't the only things shrouded in silence.
>>>
>>> Retinues of reasons don't trail coronations alone.
>>>
>>> Anniversaries of revolutions may roll around,
>>>
>>> but so do oval pebbles encircling the bay.
>>>
>>> The tapestry of circumstance is intricate and dense.
>>>
>>> Ants stitching in the grass.
>>>
>>> The grass sewn into the ground.
>>>
>>> The pattern of a wave being needled by a twig.
>>>
>>> So it happens that I am and look.
>>>
>>> Above me a white butterfly is fluttering through the air
>>>
>>> on wings that are its alone,
>>>
>>> and a shadow skims through my hands
>>>
>>> that is none other than itself, no one else's but its own.
>>>
>>> When I see such things, I'm no longer sure
>>>
>>> that what's important
>>>
>>> is more important than what's not.
>>>
>>> ~ Wislawa Szymborska ~
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> (Poems New and Collected 1957-1997,
>>>
>>> trans. S. Baranczak and C. Cavanagh)
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> CWgrad-announcements mailing list
>>> CWgrad-announcements at lists.ucr.edu
>>> http://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/cwgrad-announcements
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> http://www.gabrielajauregui.net
>> http://www.surplusediciones.org
>> http://www.nidada.net
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>