milosz

i have been reading a collection of poems by czeslaw milosz. i read them in the morning before i start the days work.

i find his poetry hard to grasp, but here is a stanza i especially liked. it is from "throughout our lands", written after milosz had moved to the united states from his native poland:


If I had to tell what the world is for me
I would take a hamster or a hedgehog or a mole
and place him in a theater seat one evening
and, bringing my ear close to his humid snout,
would listen to what he says about the spotlights,
sounds of the music, and movements of the dance.