|
epitome of incomprehensibility
|
It's when you're playing hooky from the Polish writers you're supposed to be writing about that someone pops up on your Soundcloud playlist who's not only Polish, but is singing lyrics from a Wisława Szymborska poem (Nic Dwa Razy).
What's that like? Well, it's like the time you came across a Szymborska book in the library after you had to memorize her name for a dull Cultural Currents quiz. You pick up the glossy newish book, noting the Polish text paired with the English - a concept you haven't seen or noticed done before - and find that the words are actually interesting. You remember a poem about small objects falling down and how it represented 9/11 (maybe you just made this up). Things fall down. The centre cannot hold. You have a morbid sense of poetry.
And it's as if Lana Del Rey *actually* put a Sylvia Plath poem to music, instead of just name-dropping her. (No hate, especially not for "Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have" - it's because I like it that I poke fun at it, as one might tease a friend.)
Lana in the dell. I don't think her musical persona is as "authentic" as she pretends, but that's the thing - it's a persona. Nostalgic anachronistic Americana = Norman Fucking Rockwell.
Anyway, yes, Sanah is imprecisely the Polish Lana Del Rey, and through her I discovered "Nic Dwa Razy."
In English translation, it begins,
"Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice."
|
240429
|
