Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. When in 2006 Tadeusz Różewicz won the Polish Culture Foundation's Golden Sceptre lifetime achievement award, he presented the Little Sceptre-awarded by the major winner to his favorite younger artist-to Tadeusz Dąbrowski, with the words: "One day he'll swap his little sceptre for a big one." "Restlessly inventive, sharp-witted, and intent on raising mischief, the poems in BLACK SQUARE are so much fun to read, it's almost easy to overlook how deeply serious they are—and how dark. Dąbrowski is part life of the party, part heavy-hearted metaphysician, and he plays his two sides off each other like an expert comedy team with a knack for aphorism and philosophical speculation. "Nothing would be bearable if I weren't / endlessly somebody else," he writes, embracing the ever-changing nature of identity—and leaving us thankful he remained himself long enough to complete this brilliant, unforgettable book"—Timothy Donnelly.

Author City: Gdańsk POL

Tadeusz Dąbrowski was born in northern Poland in 1979. From his first volume, published in 1999, he has been critically acclaimed for poetry that combines a tone of metaphysical meditation with the theme of love. His poems are like snapshots taken by a sensitive camera that captures moments filled with the "caring absence" of God and intimacy with the woman the poet loves. Here we find gravity laced with humor and sublimity mixed with pleasure. So far Dąbrowski has published five volumes of poetry in his native Poland, which have won him numerous awards. His work has appeared in translation in thirteen European languages. English translations of his poems by Antonia Lloyd-Jones have been published in several leading literary journals, including Agni, American Poetry Review, and Tin House. BLACK SQUARE is his first collection to be published in English.