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Poetry Readings: Under This Island

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Poetry Readings: Maurice
Julia Hartwig Poet
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I tu pozwolę sobie zaraz przeczytać wiersz, który zawsze znajduje sobie jakichś zwolenników, ponieważ ludzie chowają koty, a... a wiersz jest o kocie. Tytuł jest Kot Maurycy.

 

Wyzywają go od rabusiów gangsterów oszustów i wyłudzaczy

uliczników i zabijaków

Przeszkadza w posiłkach wskakuje na stół

i buszuje wśród szklanek i kieliszków

rozrywa paczki z jedzeniem przynosi w pyszczku złowionego szpaka

który postanowił zwiedzić pieszo trawnik przed domem

i zapłacił życiem za ten nieostrożny spacer

żąda bezapelacyjnie wejścia lub wyjścia z pokoju czy kuchni

wdaje się w zażarte bójki z sąsiedzkimi kotami

wydając przy tym przerażające wrzaski drapieżnika z dżungli

Nie schlebia nikomu i jest nieugięty w swoich chęciach

obojętny na nakazy i pieszczoty

tak pieszczoty bo nie zważając na jego naturę

pieszczą go i tulą

zachwycając się jego miękkim chodem i zręcznymi skokami

[podają mu najlepsze kąski i pozwalają spać na swoich łóżkach]

Więc nie za cnoty i charakter nagrodą jest miłość

i nie za posłuszeństwo ani lojalność

ale za wdzięk i niepokorność

za życie samo w sobie w całej jego oczywistości

Wielka jest bowiem w nas potrzeba kochania

I'll read a poem now which is always popular with people because people keep cats and this poem is about a cat. It's called Maurice.

 

They call him names robber thief gangster swindler

street mongrel and brawler

He leaps onto the table interferes with meals

rummages among glasses and china

tears apart food parcels brings in his mouth a starling

that decided to visit the lawn in front of the house

and paid for the careless walk with his life

 

He demands categorically to be let in or out of a room or the kitchen

enters fierce battles with neighbourhood cats

making frightening screams of a predator in the jungle

He flatters no one is unyielding in his desires

indifferent to orders and caresses

yes caresses for despite his nature

they caress and cuddle him

enchanted by his soft lope and agile leaps

[they give him the best morsels let him sleep on their beds]

 

So love is not a reward for virtue and character

obedience or loyalty

but for charm and insubordination

for life in all its raw nakedness

Great indeed is our need to love

 

Taken from 'In Praise of the Unfinished: Selected Poems' (2008) translated, from the Polish, by John and Bogdana Carpenter.

Born to a Polish father and a Russian mother, Julia Hartwig (1921-2017) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator and author of children's books. She studied at the University of Warsaw, the Catholic University in Lublin and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Czesław Miłosz called her 'the grande dame of Polish poetry'. Julia Hartwig was one of the few poets in Poland who made masterly use of poetic prose. She translated poems by Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Max Jacob, Cendrars and Supervielle, and published monographs on Apollinaire and Gerard de Nerval. She also translated from English, and published a large anthology of American poetry which she co-edited in 1992 with her late husband, the poet Artur Międzyrzecki.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: Maurice

Duration: 1 minute, 42 seconds

Date story recorded: June 2010

Date story went live: 15 June 2011