This post is also available in: polski (Polish)

“Glimpses” / “Mgnienia” / by Daria Danuta Lisiecka take me to various places.

First I get off at the railway station in A. – Aleksandrów Kujawski, darling stop of a provincial town in Poland, my friend and poet waits for me there.

***

At the railway station in A.

clocks were stilled –

each one at a different time

on the roof

birches have grown.

Time crowds through

slits in the silence

it’s doing its own thing

It’s a kind of meditation between the micro and macrocosm. My wandering

– so Daria describes her poetry.

This poetry book has been published quite recently and despite the time of current isolation it crosses borders. Since “Mgnienia” arrived in Galway I made a new ritual. In the morning after when, I drink coffee with a cat on my knees I read one or two of Daria’s poems. Then at the beginning of a new day I feel that I have a friend next to me. I don’t need to fly  over the sea.

Daria’s poems are the pathway

From the railway station in A. the poems take me to another city in Poland – Łódź, which appears in red. I have never seen this city in that colour. On the next page, between sunrise and sunset, Nick Cave defrosts longing, and I get an inspiration for a meeting. Because in the verses of Daria’s poetry, often someone is mention.

(…)

let’s go to Prague.

Each of its points of A.

Let it be November, let the wine mature in Hradčany

(…)

– Daria writes in the poem “November in Prague“

When I read this poem before its published, I went to the memory, when I was meeting halfway with my friend Lilka, many years ago. At that time I lived in Wrocław, she was living in Warsaw, so halfway between us was Poznań. There we used to meet and spend together all day in quite a similar climate that Daria wrote.

(…)

I save a journey with a friend

for smile

longing whistle of locomotive

glides on the narrow

track

Despite the melancholy that shines between the verses, the poet whispers to me:  Explore the present feelings in the space, where you are. So I am in the small living room, which is also the kitchen and my workshop. And I hate this mini place more than once and love it more than once.

***

White raven

of silence

circling over my table

6 am

new day is still

not slit

by tap of heels

by fragrance of coffee

by door slamming

stagnation –

mountain ash

behind the window

look at me

through all leaves

through all colours

Daria’s poems are like cats

they follow their own paths and enchant us by details of their world.

The creative process is an internally effect, it is done in my head and only externalises what it requires

-so the poet emphasizes.

The title glimpses from the volume of poetry was drawn with a stick, and then transferred to the cover. Whole book is in chamois colour – it is a name of a beautiful natural-coloured. Also, it was printed completely ecologically, from recycled paper.

I think it’s worth to having such a ray on the bed cabinet or maybe in the bag. Because it subtly accentuates a colour even on the grey wall. Some verses I am reading several times, and each moment they contain something new.

Or maybe these poems will cause you to visit Aleksandrów, and then by walking to nearby Łazieniec, where for almost 20 years Daria has been organizing the literary festival Nationwilde Meeting of Poets “White Locomotive” in memory of local poet Edward Stachura.

Last time I attended the festival, coming from Ireland.

– Liza, do you remember the train station in A.

– I asked my friend who came there with me.

– Of course, I remember this time, it seems to me as if it were yesterday.

Do you like to read a poetry? What do you think about this post?