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| POET'S CORNER Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska (1891-1945) This week's poet was born in Cracow in 1891 as Maria Kossak, daughter of the famous painter Wojciech Kossak. Her family owned a villa ideally situated on the outskirts of Cracow's Renaissance old town. A childhood fall caused complications with her back and posture, and her anxious father sent her throughout Europe for the best medical attention. The treatment was successful, but only after many years of constant therapy. Young Maria didn't attend primary or secondary school, but received a rich education at home. She was an avid reader. She also audited lectures at Cracow's art academy. She began writing poetry in early childhood, but her first collection of poetry, Niebieskie migda?y (literally "blue almonds," idiomatic for "daydreaming"), was not published until 1922. A year later she published a second collection entitled Róz.owa magia (Pink Magic). She befriended, and was influenced by, many members of the Skamander poetic movement. She married three times. Her second, unsuccessful marriage was to the painter Jan Pawlikowski, and later she married an air force officer named Stefan Jasnorzewski. Curiously, she retained the name of her second husband rather than her own famous family name. After the invasion of Poland in 1939 she accompanied Jasnorzewski to Romania and France and finally to England, where he served with a Polish squadron. Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska's war years were spent isolated from both her husband and her occupied homeland. Beset by ill health, she died in Manchester in 1945. In addition to several collections of poetry, Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska published a number of plays. Love and nature were the great central themes in her poetry, imbibed with directness and playful openness. Today's poem comes from her 1932 collection Surowy jedwab (Raw Silk). We are presented with a mermaid who suffers a fate similar to the little mermaid in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. Her sense of isolation is almost as intense as the physical pain she feels treading upon the scorched earth. We are left to imagine for ourselves why she allowed herself to be placed in such a predicament; maybe ill-considered love or the curiosity to see the world beyond her cool watery realm. Even though this poem was written many years before those lonely years in England, we can feel the personal voice of Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska empathizing with the sad fate of people finding themselves far from home with no tangible contact with their homeland and family. GENEALOGICAL TREE I know you my homeland, oh my most beautiful sea! My blood runs loud like the hum of your grassy meadows. From your own sea bed my genealogical tree In coral secretively grows. A sharp cut sliced open my silvery scales-deed done! Now I'm dying of thirst having sweltered in the Sun. Even the lightest step upon the earth makes me wail, Just like the mute mermaid in Andersen's fairy tale. That is why every strong wave holds me to ransom. That is why I yearn for the memory of family ties- And for a profound depth, seriousness and freedom With the salty-sea waters streaming from my eyes. Introduction and translation by Barry Keane |
| POET'S CORNER Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska (1891-1945) (Part 2) Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska was a passionate woman who articulated women's sexuality in ways unique to poetry before or since. Perhaps her honesty stemmed from her adolescent traumas with her back and posture following a childhood fall. Although the years of rehabilitation brought about a full recovery, but the restless desire to pursue an active and fulfilling life never left her. Like all of us, she desired happiness, but unlike some, she was not prepared to settle for less. Born into a famous artistic family, and married three times and having achieved the status of one of the great Polish poets of her time, Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska could boast of having had a colorful and eventful life. She found true love in her third marriage to Stefan Jasnorzewski, a pilot who was incidentally quite a bit younger than herself. Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska's poetry, due to its erotic or "love-obsessed" nature, upset some pious quarters, but the poet didn't brook such petty sourness. For her, love was body and only body and all else was just talk and superfluous decoration. Indeed, as far as she was concerned a man's manliness with a woman was the key to a world of thrilling fantasies. In short, to deny one's sexuality was to deny oneself everything. This short poem, entitled Lions in a Cage, makes the point quite clearly: A lion, sleepy and naked, sprawls, not smelling prison. Sprawling, looking into the eyes of the king of creation. He comes close, whole in his mane and manliness; A lady looks on and weeps, full of resentfulness! Pawlikowska-Jasnorszewska's poetry was a call to people to seek out and risk emotional entanglement. She felt that only through romantic relations could one find a path towards becoming a completely happy person. It is difficult to say whether the ageing woman of this next short poem has lived her life in hostile or fearful isolation, but for one reason or another she has come to the point where she can no longer reject her longings. Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska senses the goading regret in her heart. Of course, nowadays older people are less afraid to take advantage of numerous social outlets so as to possibly meet that special person, but sadly all too frequently years of aloofness take their toll on a person's social skills, and they make the safe and easy choice to remain severed from emotional contact. The Lady Who Waits She waits, she looks at the watch of her years, She bites her hanky with impatience. Beyond the windows the world pales and grays... And maybe it's too late for a guest's entrance? Introduction and translation by Barry Keane |
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