This is Episode 106 of Poems for the Speed of Life.

Today's poem is "Mysticism for Beginners" by Adam Zagajewsky.

Adam Zagajewski was a Polish poet, novelist, translator, and essayist who died in 2021 at the age of 75.

His life and death are notable in the current moment, for a couple of reasons. First, he was born in 1945 in Lviv, a city then in Poland, and now in Ukraine. As a baby his family was expelled from the city as part of the Soviet Union’s post-war Polish population transfers policy, which had been ratified with the support of the Soviets’ war allies, including the United States and Britain.

Second, as a young poet he was a member of the Polish Nowa Fala, or New Wave, a movement which aimed to “stand against the falsifications of reality and the appropriation of language by communist ideology and propaganda”. In our present age of propaganda, misinformation and disinformation, of war in Europe, Zagajewski’s work provides

Irish writer Colm Tóibín said Zagajewski “makes the space of the imagination connect with experience; things seen and heard and remembered in all their limits and sorrow and relished joy have the same power for him as things conjured.”

This poem is a good representation of that. Sitting at an Italian cafe, observing those around him, he is moved into a discussion of life itself: its many mysteries, and how we are always just beginning.

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For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠.

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Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com