justifies nothing
explains nothing
renounces nothing
encompasses no whole
fulfills no hope
creates no new rules of the game
takes no part in merriment
has a defined place
it must occupy
if it’s not esoteric
if it’s not original
if it doesn’t awe
apparently it’s as it should be
it obeys its own imperative
its own capabilities
and limitations
it loses against itself
it can neither take the place of
nor be replaced by any other
open to everyone
devoid of mystery
it has many goals
it will never achieve
Tadeusz Różewicz is widely considered to be the most influential post-war Polish poet. He has published over twenty volumes of poetry, and is a major playwright, essayist, and fiction writer. He lives in Wrocław, Poland. Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Różewicz, translated and annotated by Joanna Trzeciak, will be published by Norton in 2010.
Joanna Trzeciak teaches in the NEOMFA program in creative writing at Kent State University. Her translations have appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Harper’s, Poetry, and the Paris Review, among others. Miracle Fair, a collection of her translations of Wisława Szymborska, was awarded the 2001 Heldt Translation Prize.
