Grzegorz Wróblewski

Hunters Homecoming

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Magpies

In soiled dressing gowns, drowsy and silent,
they drink warm compote from white mugs.
Nurses play dominoes with them.

A retired surgeon, mister Z., reads
a Franz Kafka short story aloud: Es ist eine kleine Frau;
Von Natur aus recht schlank... Then he puts

the book down and sits under a plastic, folding
table. There, he mimics the magpies that build
their nest on the other side of the net. (Two

surprised pedestrians suddenly quicken
their pace.)

     Translated by Adam Zdrodowski

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What Makes Happiness

Painter, playwright and poet Grzegorz Wróblewski was born in 1962 in Gdansk, grew up in Warsaw, and has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, since 1985. He has exhibited in both Denmark and Germany, and has published a number of books of prose and poetry, including some which are English translations of his work. "Magpies" comes from his chapbook These Extraordinary People which was published by erbacce-press in 2008.

Adam Zdrodowski, the translator of "Magpies", is preparing his PhD on Elizabeth Bishop. His other translations include Lifting Belly by Gertrude Stein, prose pieces by Raymond Roussel and William S. Burroughs as well as poems by James Schuyler and Mark Ford. He is the author of two collections of poetry: Przygody, etc. (Adventures, etc.), 2005, and Jesień Zuzanny (Susanna’s Autumn), 2007. He lives in Warsaw.

 
 
 
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