Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Róźewicz

SOBBING SUPERPOWER (Selected Poems)
by Tadeusz Różewicz

In Polish, the expression for wild blueberries is dzikie jagody. But there is also the word, borówki, another way to say blueberries and yet another, poziomki. Summertime in Poland, when the forests are in full delivery of their bounty, picking berries is a special tradition. It’s called, Na Jagody; literally translated, means: For Berries. There is even a name for the jars one uses called, łubianki. It is a common sight along the country-roads to see these berries next to the baskets of freshly, foraged mushrooms for sale.

“I see the forest where
I picked wild blueberries with you
The body was very agile then
And young like water”

This is from the poem Return to the Forest, written in 1951, five years after the war. After the betrayal. After the shattering of lives. After the slaughter. After the heart was damaged beyond repair, when it had nothing left to offer of itself but its own witness.

In the forward, written by Edward Hirsch, he says: “The war was such a traumatic event that for a new generation...
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