GREAT FATHER
You will never understand me, Son.
Now,
when you walk down a colorful
street in Copenhagen, you see two dealers
and a huge balloon-like rat.
Enjoy this view!
You will never understand me, Son.
Admire the ladies who put lace panties
in their bags.
Enjoy your life while you can.
ARMAGEDDON DAYS
There was nothing unusual about it.
Children played in the squares,
and alcoholics slowly drank beer
on the benches.
The sun suddenly changed its color.
The policeman fired
a bullet,
but it hit the nearby trees.
And the world ceased to exist.
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PROPHETS
I'm looking for happiness, could you
advise me on how to find it?
And what is happiness for you?
That's what I don't know, I'm tracking
happiness to no avail.
Once you find it, come to me again.
Then I won't need you anymore.
You have it within you, but you must first
see the man with the bird's head
on the solar orb.
It's too complicated.
Happiness is not a watermelon thrown
in the trash.
Grzegorz Wróblewskiwas born in 1962 in Gdańsk and grew up in Warsaw. Since 1985 he has been living in Copenhagen. English translations of his work are available in Our Flying Objects (trans. Joel Leonard Katz, Rod Mengham, Malcolm Sinclair, Adam Zdrodowski, Equipage, 2007), A Marzipan Factory (trans. Adam Zdrodowski, Otoliths, 2010), Kopenhaga (trans. Piotr Gwiazda, Zephyr Press, 2013), Let’s Go Back to the Mainland (trans. Agnieszka Pokojska, Červená Barva Press, 2014), Zero Visibility (trans. Piotr Gwiazda, Phoneme Media, 2017). Asemic writing book Shanty Town (Post-Asemic Press, 2022).
With Notes of Irony
Call it dogged by bad luck.
Call it a fool’s prophecy.
Call it fate lighting a cigarette
after it fucks you in the arse.
Call it an albatross around your neck.
Call it an ancestral curse.
Blame it on crossing paths with a black cat.
Blame it on your astrological sign.
Blame it on the neighbour who dabbles
in witchcraft. Blame it on the devil.
Blame it on your treacherous spouse
for opening an umbrella
inside the house. Blame it on a bad penny.
Blame it on a broken mirror.
Blame it on the politician you elected.
Blame it on old age.
Blame it on the youth of today.
Say to yourself you deserve it all.
Say it with gusto.
Say it’s one giant goat rodeo.
Say it’s too late to turn it around.
Say it while donning the paint of a tragic clown.
Say it with self-entitlement.
But for pity’s sake, never say
it’s the sum of your choices.
Few people flourish at one point of time because of their past concrete Deeds, but, at the same time, people criticize such people mercilessly for any gain without useful strategy.
EARNING FOR SUFFERANCE
People earn money for self and family happiness, but there will be no sight of happiness seen anywhere in their life, rather such people land in more & more problems with complicated tax evasion cases and ultimately such people suffer for want of peace of mind.
STRUGGLE FOR PEACE OF MIND
I don’t think so, there is Peace of Mind for any person. If anybody say’s so he has, it is sure such person is bluffing with an eye on some favor. But, it is sure that Peace of Mind cannot be purchased, but one will get the Peace of Mind by virtue of his/her good character deeds and discipline in life.
IMAGE TARNISH
The brand image of a person cannot be tarnished by anybody other than himself/herself, if his/her deeds, character and antecedents are not good.
STRATEGY FAILURE
I can’t blame anybody for my own failures, but, during the success period, had I maintained good financial management discipline and good public relations, the failure should have not dared to reach me, if my strategy in management and execution of projects was good.
NO FREE MEAL
One can’t work for free as there is no free-meal, but, free-meal can’t be given for free as at the end of the free-meal, management may ask for little donation like fund for use of developmental activities.
QUALITY OF FOOD
In olden days, the quality of food items was so good that peoples’ longevity was 100 years; whereas, these days lack of quality of food items makes the longevity to 50 years, it’s all because of adulterations and bad habits, as is evident these days.
PATIENCE IN LONG QUEUES
People can’t wait in long queues at ATMs, Banks and at Cinema Theatres, but, people wait in long queues for long hours at Temples to have a one minute God’s darshan, as this is linked to sentiment.
SATISFACTION MEMORIES
The broken stones represent the broken failures, but, molded stones are the success and concrete diamond stones.
Domestic Air Travel
He’s at
The airport now,
He hasn’t flown
In about
Four years,
A combination
Of Covid
And his London,
As he enters
The airport,
The first thing
He hears
Is one of his
Fellow Americans
Asking what
A terminal is.
Taylor Dibbert is a writer, journalist, and poet in Washington, DC. He’s author of the Peace Corps memoir “Fiesta of Sunset,” and his debut poetry collection is due out later this year.
