Anna Świrszczyńska is considered an innovator of poetic language in Poland. Her talent was noted and appreciated by Czesław Miłosz.

Jestem baba [I Am a Hag], her famous book from 1972, helped change the course of Polish literature and made the author one of its most significant poets. No one had written about female experience so openly and uncompromisingly before. The collection immediately caught the attention of readers and critics surprised by this literary volte-face. Świrszczyńska, previously known mainly as a children’s author (and less so as a poet and playwright), had not been thought of as belonging among the top-tier authors. Her volume Collected Poems allows us to follow the long path she travelled from her debut Wiersze i proza [Poems and Prose] to the posthumous collection Cierpienie i szczęście [Suffering and Happiness]. The book features all the poems from the volumes published between 1938 and 1985 (and work found among her papers after her death), as well as librettos and song lyrics. The evolution of the poet’s style consisted of embracing conciseness and almost completely rejecting figurative speech, while creating a psychologically credible “corporeal” lyrical “I” – a woman speaking about her marital, maternal and sexual experiences, as well as about male violence and oppression in the world of stereotypically perceived gender roles. These themes and subjects, first introduced in the collection Wiatr [Wind], then placed front and centre in Jestem baba [I Am a Hag], and explored further in the volume Szczęśliwa jak psi ogon [Happy as a Dog’s Tail], allowed Świrszczyńska’s poems to be read in the context of feminism. Her poetic chronicle of the Warsaw Uprising, Budowałam barykadę [Building the Barricade], also caused a stir, presenting the traumatic experiences of that time through the eyes of a woman (Świrszczyńska served as a nurse). The poet’s last volume, Cierpienie i szczęście [Suffering and Happiness], addressed issues such as old age, suffering and happiness. And the very much alive “haggish” corporeality.

Karol Alichnowicz

Translated by Piotr Florczyk

I RUN ON THE BEACH

I run on the beach.

People are surprised.

– A grey-haired hag who runs.

I run on the beach

with a cheeky face.

People laugh.

– Grey-haired and cheeky.

They approve.

WHILE BUILDING THE BARRICADE

We were afraid, building the barricade

under fire.

Barman, jeweler’s mistress, barber,
all of us cowards.
The housemaid hit the ground
hauling a cobblestone, and we were very afraid,

all of us cowards –

groundskeeper, stallholder, pensioner.

The pharmacist dragging the toilet door

hit the ground,
and we got very scared,
smuggler girl, dressmaker, tram driver,

all of us cowards.

The boy from a reform school

fell dragging a sandbag,
and we got scared
for real.

Although no one forced us,

we built the barricade

under fire.

TOMORROW THEY’LL CUT ME OPEN

She came and stood beside me.

I said: I’m ready.

I’m bedridden in the surgical clinic in Kraków.

Tomorrow

they’ll cut me open.

I have many powers in me. I can live,

I can run, dance and sing.

All of that is in me, but if need be,

I’ll walk away.

Today

I take stock of my life.

I was a sinner,

I banged my head against the ground,

I asked for forgiveness

from earth and sky.

I was beautiful and hideous,

wise and stupid,

very happy and very unhappy,

oftentimes I had wings

and I sailed through the air.

I trampled thousands of trails in the sun and in snow,

I danced with a friend under the stars.

I saw love

in many human eyes.

I ate with admiration

my slice of happiness.

Now I’m bedridden in the surgical clinic in Kraków,

and she stands beside me.

Tomorrow

they’ll cut me open.

Outside the window are May trees beautiful with life,

and in me are humility, fear and peace.

MY DAUGHTER

I built a house,

I chose a man,

I do my work.

Then I’ll go and my daughter will come.

She will build a house,

choose a man,

do her work.

Then she will go.

By giving birth I condemned her.

Translated by Piotr Florczyk