Everything I Don't Know

En savoir plus sur le livre

What good luck to finally have in English the writings of the brilliant Jerzy Ficowski, a poet who lived at least seventeen lives, fighting in the Warsaw Uprising and later traveling for years with the Roma people across Poland. He opposed his government, watched authorities ban his poems, and translated from various languages, most notably from the tongue of silence. Beautifully translated by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer, these poems document the tragedy of the Holocaust with a direct and uncompromising voice, reminiscent of great poets like Różewicz and Świrszczyńska, while remaining uniquely his own. A piece such as 'I was unable to save / a single life' will compel you to take this book home and cherish it for life. Thanks to these inspired translations, we can now appreciate Ficowski, one of Poland's best-kept secrets. This collection is a marvel of clarity and range, exploring subjects from the paradox of its title to final poems about bumblebees, Satie, and nature herself, who 'shudders / with a tsunami.' We are fortunate to discover yet another genius of 20th-century Polish poetry.