Published August 2024 by Seagull Books
The sixty-four poems in A Calligraphy of Days reflect Krzysztof Siwczyk’s wide-ranging and variegated style. Born in 1977, Siwczyk has lived most of his life in the Silesian city of Gliwice. In 1995, he became a wunderkind of the Polish poetry scene with his debut volume Wild Kids, an edgy and unsentimental narrative of youthful tribulations and urban malaise during Poland’s transition from communism to capitalism. Siwczyk’s poems careen down the page at great speed, relying on clever turns of phrase or an idea that illuminates a larger meaning. As in calligraphy, a meandering subterranean process connects meaning and memory, thought and verse. Teased to the surface, words and images emerge in rapid, terse, and precise bursts.
Throughout his career, Siwczyk has never ceased to challenge our sense of who we are—changing course multiple times in the process. Following several volumes full of expansive lines, his most recent works offer spare meditations on illness and grief. Clipped and understated, these post-Holocaust poems address our inability to speak of death and tragedy.
Review
“The translations are sensitive to the tone of the original Polish poems and read seamlessly: there is little sense of barrier between us and the original work, which is a testament to the translators’ skill.
This is a compelling selection that will surely invite more people to explore the work of a provocative yet thoughtful poet.” ― Magdalena Kay, World Literature Today
“A Calligraphy of Days does an excellent job of showcasing the poet’s various inceptions of self. There are beginnings upon beginnings, a state of becoming that never takes itself for granted. The poems work by vigilant observation and the negotiation of the feeling that arises from such worldly evidence. Finally, one senses that the poet wants to belong to the world, to believe in it, yet holds himself against it, resisting communion. This contentiousness is admirable. This wanting to belong, but not allowing for it, makes for thrilling poetry.” ― Catherine Theis, On the Seawall
About the Author
Krzysztof Siwczyk is an award-winning poet, critic, and essayist from Poland. He has published over fourteen volumes of poetry, and his work has been translated into numerous languages, including Italian, French, and German. He lives in Gliwice, Poland, and works at the Rafal Wojaczek Institute in Mikolów.
Piotr Florczyk is an award-winning poet and translator of a dozen volumes of contemporary Polish poetry. He teaches global literary studies at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Alice-Catherine Carls is Tom Elam Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Martin. She is a translator from Polish and English into French and from French into English.
Find out more and buy the collection here:
A Calligraphy of Days by Krzysztof Siwczyk | Seagull Books
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