Description
Book SynopsisDariusz Sosnicki's poems open our eyes to the sublime just beneath the surface of the mundane: a train carrying children away from their parents for summer vacation turns into a ravenous monster; a meal at a Chinese restaurant inspires a surreal journey through the zodiac; a malfunctioning printer is a reminder of the ghosts that haunt us no matter where we find ourselves. Among the perpetrators and victims, buzzed or wasted to the bone, gliding without their blinkers on in the ruts of the national fate-they're not at home. Dariusz Sosnicki is an award-winning poet, essayist, and editor in Poland.
Trade Review"The World Shared is a dream-catalogue of surrealist riffs and humble strangeness." --Biblioasis "This first American book from the prolific and celebrated Polish poet and critic not only survives translation; its urbane, articulate, unpredictable free verse positively flourishes in the American English that the facing-page edition provides ... the poetry introduced here has come to stay." --Publishers Weekly "[The World Shared] is destined to become an international classic ... Sosnicki is a fearless and tenacious intellectual whose poetry exhibits flashes of brilliance that illuminate our most obscure and often unacknowledged fears about contemporary life." --The Journal "Sosnicki has loads of talent, and this volume offers North American readers entry into his necessary poetry ... "Sosnicki reaches out to each of us, tries to wipe the anonymity off our faces, and to recover, if not rescue us, as an archeologist recovers a mud-smeared amulet from a deep stratum." --Entropy
Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS ONE 4 LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER 5 FROM THE GROUND FLOOR 6 GOING DOWN 7 VISIONS OF THE MIDWEST PRAIRIE 8 WYNTON MARSALIS AND THE BOSTON SYPHONY ORCHESTRA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF SEIJI OZAWA ON THE FRENCH MUSIC STATION “MEZZO” 10 MONSTER 12 CHINESE ZODIAK 13 A WORKER ON A SCAFFOLD, A MINOR RASTER OF THE DEBRIS NETTING 14 THREE ROOKS 15 POEM AGAINST MONEY 16 A MOUSE IN A BUCKET 17 MARLEWO 18 RAIN. A RHETORICAL QUESTION 19 IN WINTER, THREE HOURS BEFORE DAWN 20 TWO 21 MR. P. CONFESSES: I’M NOT AN URBAN GUERILLA 22 MR. AND MRS. P. AND MOTOR VEHICLES 23 MR. AND MRS. P. AND THE SADNESS OF ANIMALS 24 ALPHABET OF MR. P.: THE ETHOS OF READING 25 ALPHABET OF MRS. P.: TABLE 26 ALPHABET OF MR. P.: SHOPPING BAG 27 ALPHABET OF MR. P.: SHOES or the Opinion of Mr. P. on the 2008 Olympics 28 ALPHABET OF MR. P.: AUTUMN COAT 29 MR. AND MRS. P. AND ANTI-WANDA 30 ALPHABET OF MRS. P.: POTTED PLANTS (in December) 31 MR. AND MRS. P. AND THE PRICE OF SUGAR 32 MR. AND MRS. P. FANTASIZE ABOUT MOVING or On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life 33 SUMMER OF MR. AND MRS. P. 34 THREE 35 THAW 36 THE HYDRANT ON LACHOWICKA STREET 37 BIRD SONG 38 WASPS 39 HOW DOES ONE GO DOWN THE STAIRS 40 MAUNDY THURSDAY 41 THE IKARUS 42 TONERSTAINS 43 OF THINGS AND PEOPLE 44 HOLY CROSS LAMENT 45 EARTHLY DELIGHTS 46 NOTES 48 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 49 [Polish poems not yet included]
