The Polish Poets
The Polish Poets

Summary/Abstract: The cooking, woodcutting, and reading were equal elements of an integral life. We wanted books to have the passion and texture of clear-eyed originality. The notion of a book as a holiday from reality or touted “good read” didn’t do much for us. We wanted to encounter something that would move and surprise us. When I started to read the Polish poets––especially Czesław Miłosz, Zbigniew Herbert and Wisława Szymborska––in translation, I felt, “Ah, this is what I have been waiting for. This is it.” “It” meant the depth of history grounded in individual art so scrupulous it could take the measure of the monstrosities of the twentieth century.

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