{"product_id":"9780983297031","title":"The Colonies","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"A vital new poet in the Polish language.\"— Adam Zagajewski\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTomasz Rózycki's sixth book seems like nothing if not an attempt to grapple with Elizabeth Bishop's question, \"Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?\" But for Rózycki questions of travel and foreignness are never separate from those of history—personal history, political and national history, the history of things and places and trauma.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"Coffee and Cigarettes\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhen I began to write, I didn't know\u003cbr\u003ethat poems would transform me, make my skin\u003cbr\u003etranslucent, I'd become a weary ghost\u003cbr\u003ewho, sleepless, roams the streets as if to ride\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003ea high till coming down, then go to bed\u003cbr\u003ewith rabid dawn. But light would find me still\u003cbr\u003e• ut wandering and dropping in on friends,\u003cbr\u003eflat broke, a louse, a varmint, summoned by\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eyour nakedness or even just your sighing.\u003cbr\u003eAnd honey, how was I to know what all\u003cbr\u003ethese dumb poems would make of me, that you\u003cbr\u003ewould summon me to life, and thanks to you\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eI would become the visible, in bed\u003cbr\u003ebeside you, waiting till you fall asleep.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eTomasz Rózycki\u003c\/b\u003e has published six books of poetry, including \u003ci\u003eThe Forgotten Keys\u003c\/i\u003e , winner of the Koscielski Prize. He has been nominated twice for the Nike Prize, Poland's most important literary award. He lives in his hometown, Opole, with his wife and two children.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eMira Rosenthal\u003c\/b\u003e has received NEA and Fulbright grants and held fellowships at the MacDowell Colony and the Vermont Studio Center. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as \u003ci\u003ePloughshares\u003c\/i\u003e , \u003ci\u003eThe American Poetry Review\u003c\/i\u003e , Slate, and the \u003ci\u003eNotre Dame Review\u003c\/i\u003e .\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Zephyr Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47017693446384,"sku":"9780983297031","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780983297031_p0.jpg?v=1763880205","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780983297031","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}