Marcin Świetlicki

Marcin Świetlicki performs the poem Świerszcze (Crickets) with his band:

GRILLOS

Dije: conozco un lugar
al que van a morir los gatos.
Pregunté: ¿quieres verlo?
Respondió: no quiero.

Dije: está limpio y es importante.
Dije: es claro y el primero.
Pregunté: ¿quieres verlo?
Respondió: no quiero.

Lo dijo de una manera
que tuve que darle la espalda.
Desde aquel momento
lentamente
me voy acercando
a la salida.

De Países fríos 2

Traducido por Abel Murcia en su blog Al trasluz.

CRICKETS

I said: I know a place
where cats come to die.
I asked: wanna see it?
She replied: I don't.

I said: it's important and clean.
I said: it's primary and bright.
I asked: wanna see it?
She replied: I don't.

She said it in such a way
that I had to turn away from her.
And since then
slowly
I'm approaching the exit.

From here.

ŚWIERSZCZE

Powiedziałem: znam takie miejsce,
gdzie przychodzą umierać koty,
Zapytałem: chcesz je zobaczyć?
Odpowiedziała: nie chcę.

Powiedziałem: jest czyste i ważne.
Powiedziałem: jest jasne i pierwsze.
Zapytałem: chcesz je zobaczyć?
Odpowiedziała: nie chcę.

Powiedziała to w taki sposób,
że musiałem odwrócić się od niej.
Od tamtej pory
powoli
zbliżam się do wyjścia.


Zimne kraje 2 (Kraków: Zebra, 1995).

Marcin Świetlicki (Lublin, Poland, 1961). Poeta, corrector de la revista "Tygodnik Powszechny", autor de novelas policíacas y líder del grupo "Świetliki" y "Czarne ciasteczka". Vive en Cracovia desde 1980.

Marcin Świetlicki (Lublin, Poland, 1961). Poet, author of detective novels, and a singer of "Świetliki" and "Czarne ciasteczka". Since 1980 Świetlicki has lived in Cracow. He studied Polish at the Jagiellonian University, for many years he worked as a proofreader at "Tygodnik Powszechny". He has won various prizes and awards for his poetry, including the 1996 Kościelski Prize.

An impaired and alien cult poet, he is by his own definition someone who has "never really or completely been in the mainstream". Świetlicki's work has an intense effect across the literary spectrum: critics have not remained indifferent, the public eagerly buys up new editions, and young people identify with his message, perhaps because he has also fronted the rock group "Świetliki" since 1993. He is almost always seen as an outsider, a rebel, and a voluntary exile from the spheres of official culture. On the other hand, being an outsider means, in this case, not only standing off to the side, being rootless, discouraged, indifferent, prickly and harsh, but also being an alert and sensitive observer of a false reality, exposing the animality of his own and others, that is hidden behind the facade of culture and faith. He is a critic of manners, an ironist, a traumatic patriot. He has not cut himself off from public life "once and for all," but rather "again and again," and he keeps scratching at old wounds.

Selected Bibliography:

• Zimne kraje / Cold Countries, Warsaw-Cracow: bruLion, 1992
• Schizma / Schism, Poznan: Obserwator, 1994
• Zimne kraje 2 / Cold Countries 2, Cracow: Zebra, 1995
• Trzecia połowa / The Third Half, Poznan: a5, 1996
• 37 wierszy o wódce i papierosach / 37 Poems about Vodka and Cigarettes, Bydgoszcz: Świadectwo, 1996
• Pieśni Profana / Songs of a Profane, Gladyszow: Czarne, 1998
• Czynny do odwołania / Open Until Further Notice, Wołowiec: Czarne, 2001 (more...)
• Wiersze wyprane / Laundered Verses, Legnica: Biuro Literackie, 2002

Selected translations:

• Finnish: Toukokuun sodat / The May Wars, Nuori Voima, 1995

Source: www.polska2000.pl, Copyright: Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza

From here.