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Notes
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English translation of the title: My Worlds Were Mixed Up
Contents
- Jai"Maska obłudnej wstydliwości", single work poetry (p. 7)
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Bajka na mężai"był sobie król",
single work
poetry
fable
The poem tells the story of a marriage in which the husband wanted his wife to adore him, and wasn't satisfied with her genuine love. By the time the couple has grown old, the husband has come to recognise the wife's love.
- [Untitled]i"wiersze moje są językiem skargi", single work poetry (p. 10)
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Emigracjai"Nie znając losu swego ani przeznaczenia",
single work
poetry
The poem is spoken by a 'we', whose migration experience is likened to waiting in a queue to get into heaven, and finally being turned away by God and returned to earth.
- [Untitled]i"Chodziłam z tobą do szkoły", single work poetry (p. 12-13)
- Bożei"zabarw nędzę moją tęczą", single work poetry (p. 14)
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[Untitled]i"Otrzymałam Życie Warszawy",
single work
poetry
The poem evokes the experience of reading in a Polish newspaper on board a flight to Poland the news of the arrest of the speaker's friends by the Polish secret police, ZOMO. The speaker describes her poems as landing with her at the airport in Poland, carrying a 'tongue paralysed with fear of force'. The poem is alluding to political repressions during the period of martial law introduced in Poland by the Polish Communist regime in December 1981.
- Spotkałem dziewczynęi"spotkałem dziewczynę", single work poetry (p. 16)
- Beznadziejai"Panie intelektualistki paplają", single work poetry (p. 17)
- List do J.B.i"jakarandy, koale i wiersze", single work poetry (p. 18)
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Domi"Znalazłam dla nas",
single work
poetry
The poem describes the home made by the speaker in a 'Dolina Szczęścia' (Valley of Happiness), with her son's cot placed among the sun's rays slanting 'Między konarami eukaliptusów' ('between eucalyptus branches'). The poem ends with the image of a friendly Gallah which 'uparcia powtarza/imiona mieszkańców okolicznych wzgórz' ('stubbornly repeats/ the names of those who live in the surrounding mountains').
- Wrażeniei"Miłość jest jak wiersz krótki", single work poetry (p. 20)
- Uwiodłeś mnie jak zamierzałami"Pieściłeś moje aksamitne ciało", single work poetry (p. 21)
- Tęsknotai"wrażliwa jak mimoza", single work poetry (p. 22)
- [Untitled]i"nie chcę", single work poetry (p. 23)
- Trwaniei"uniesienie", single work poetry (p. 24)
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Poczytaj mi Mamoi"Kiedy byłam taka mała",
single work
poetry
The poem is addressed to the speaker's young son, recalling how the speaker lived in her imagination as a child just as her son does now. It ends with the speaker saying that she can no longer wander through fairytale terrain like her son, but must 'live'.
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[Untitled]i"Ludzie przychodzą, odchodzą, wracają, bywają…",
single work
poetry
A poem about the cyclical quality of human existence, or the 'merry-go-round of life' ('Karuzela życia').
- [Untitled]i"Tajemnica życia.", single work poetry (p. 28)
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Modlitwai"ziemio ognista",
single work
poetry
A poem that affirms a deep attachment to the poet's adopted homeland (implicitly, Australia). The poem takes the form of a prayer or plea to the adopted homeland to be hospitable to the speaker. This country is characterised as a 'guardian of liberal violators of traditional values' ('opiekunko liberalnych gwałcicieli tradycyjnych wartości') and 'a country of many-coloured mercenaries of imaginary democracy' ('kraju różnokolorowych najemników urojonej demokracji').