Possibilities...a chat with Szymborska

This blog is in honor of a great Poetess...Wislawa Szymborska...for those who may not know her, she was a woman who won the Nobel Prize for Literature...she was born in 1923 in Poland.

Her poetry, or at least what I have read, is captivating and speaks of the hardships of life with this undercurrent of hope and endurance, but like every person there are days the hope is harder to grasp. It makes me think and felt heard.

The other day I was flipping through a book I have that is a collection of her works, (ISBN 0156011468) and found the poem, Possibilities, and it struck me how approachable she was. Her life was not one of ease as anyone who is familiar with history would surmise of someone who was born in Poland and grew up during World War II. But as I read this poem I thought what I would write to her...though I'm prefacing now it would not be as eloquent or poetic, but the poet in me knows I would be heard by the poet in her. Of course behind each line is the question...'to what'...but I guess that's half the fun...deciphering the question.

We've all seen those email chains...fill out x questions about yourself and send it on...Wislawa just wrote some of her answers...not all of them, just a selection on one day...who knows if she would have changed them on a different day, or if these were long forming opinions, collections she'd made through life...a cullmination.

But today I want to write her back.

Her poem will appear first, so mine makes sense later. On some things you will see we are friends, on others that our friendship would be deep because of the differences we would accept in the other.

Possibilities

I prefer movies.

I prefer cats.

I prefer the oaks along the Warta.

I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky.

I prefer myself liking people

to myself loving mankind.

I prefer keeping a needle and thread on hand, just in case.

I prefer the color green.

I prefer not to maintain

that reason is to blame for everything.

I prefer exceptions.

I prefer to leave early.

I prefer talking to doctors about something else.

I prefer the old fine-lined illustrations.

I prefer the absurdity of writing poems

to the absurdity of not writing poems.

I prefer, where love's concerned, nonspecific anniversaries

that can be celebrated every day.

I prefer moralists

who promise me nothing.

I prefer cunning kindness to the overtrustful kind.

I prefer the earth in civvies.

I prefer conquered to conquering countries.

I prefer having some reservations.

I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.

I prefer the Grimms' fairy tales to the newspapers' front pages.

I prefer leaves without flowers to flowers without leaves.

I prefer dogs with uncropped tails.

I prefer light eyes, since mine are dark.

I prefer desk drawers.

I prefer many things that I haven't mentioned here

to many things I've also left unsaid.

I prefer zeroes on the loose

to those lined up behind a cipher.

I prefer the time of insects to the time of stars.

I prefer to knock on wood.

I prefer not to ask how much longer and when.

I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility

that existence has its own reason for being.

~

Possibilities...

I prefer books.

I prefer dogs.

I prefer the pines along the Wasatch.

I prefer Dickens to Phil McGraw.

I prefer myself liking people

to myself loving mankind.

I prefer keeping a camera onhand, with plenty of batteries, just in case.

I prefer the color purple.

I prefer not to maintain

that tv is to blame for everything.

I prefer exceptions.

I prefer to leave early.

I prefer talking to doctors about something else.

I prefer the old book bindings, with plenty of room in the ditch.

I prefer the absurdity of writing poems

to the absurdity of not writing poems.

I prefer, where love's concerned, nonspecific anniversaries

that can be celebrated every day.

I prefer politicians

who promise me nothing.

I prefer cunning kindness to the overtrustful kind.

I prefer the earth au naturale.

I prefer the yielding to the dogmatically unyielding.

I prefer having some reservations.

I perfer the hell of order to the hell of chaos.

I prefer the Grimms' fairy tales to the newspapers' front pages.

(In fact I would prefer chemistry tables to the newspapers' front pages.)

I prefer leaves without flowers to flowers without leaves.

I prefer dogs and cats with uncropped tails.

I prefer sincere eyes, since mine speak thus.

I prefer desk drawers.

I prefer many things that I haven't mentioned here

to many things I've also left unsaid.

I prefer zeros on the loose

to those absent from my registers.

I prefer the time of stars to the time of cold faced clocks.

I prefer to knock on wood.

I prefer not to ask how much longer and when.

I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility

that existence is a gift from God, and our greatest discovery

is ourselves in Him.