Two poets spend an evening waiting — away from their love, in darkness, in silence, in a private inventory of yes and no — Linda Gregg and Adam Zagajewski, on Soothing Stanzas, Season 2: Love Unrequited.
New York Address by Linda GreggThe sun had just gone outand I was walking three miles to get home.I wanted to die.I couldn’t think of words and I had no futureand I was coming down hard on everything.My walk was terrible.I didn’t seem to have a heart at alland my whole past seemed filled up.So I started answering all the questionsregardless of consequence:Yes I hate dark. No I love light. Yes I won’t speak.No I will write. Yes I will breed. No I won’t love.Yes I will bless. No I won’t close. Yes I won’t give.Love is on the other side of the lake.It is painful because the dark makes you hearthe water more. I accept all that.And that we are not allowed romance but only its distance.Having finished with it all, now I am not listening.I wait for the silence to resume.
Transformation by Adam Zagajewski(translated by Clare Cavanagh)I haven’t written a single poemin months.I’ve lived humbly, reading the paper,pondering the riddle of powerand the reasons for obedience.I’ve watched sunsets(crimson, anxious),I’ve heard the birds grow quietand night’s muteness.I’ve seen sunflowers danglingtheir heads at dusk, as if a careless hangmanhad gone strolling through the gardens.September’s sweet dust gatheredon the windowsill and lizardshid in the bends of walls.I’ve taken long walks,craving one thing only:lightning,transformation,you.