My paper aims at summarizing the situation of present-day poetry in
Poland, both in terms of important phenomena and processes. On the
basis of current developments I would like to offer a few predictions
about the possible future. The factual basis for the analysis is a
virtual visit
to a Warsaw bookstore, i.e., a
presentation of the books of poetry I saw during my recent visit to
Poland. This will detail the poetry to which readers in Poland are
presently exposed. It includes brief descriptions of recent volumes
by poets from different generations: Mi&lbar;osz, Rozewicz, Lipska,
Rymkiewicz, Pawlak, Swietlicki, et al., and also mentions currently
available anthologies, books of world poetry, and publications of
Polish poetry in translation to other languages.
The 1989 takeover in poetry had introduced a large group of young
poets who rejected the civic idiom of the 70s-80s and reintroduced a
civil perspective together with prosaic diction. After ten years they
are well established, sit on poetry competition juries, and publish
zines,
even when these are edited by
these same poets.
What are the signs that indicate future developments? The abundance
of poetry books is accompanied by the widespread complaint that people
don't read. Only in exceptional cases do poets have a large audience
(such as Swietlicki who performs as a pop singer). This, together with
the fact that it no longer functions as a civic forum, would suggest
further marginalization of poetry. However, the very recent revival of
literary games, limericks, Moskalik-s
(a new literary
genre), etc. which use fixed poetic forms and are wildly popular with
the public, may prompt creativity through discipline among
professional poets, and a switch towards form and craft in
high
poetry.