Facing The River
Czeslaw Milosz did not believe he would ever return to the river valley in which he grew up. But in the spring of 1989, exactly fifty years after he left, the new government of independent Lithuania welcomed him back to that magical region of his childhood. Many of the poems in Facing the River record his experiences there, where the river of the Issa Valley symbolizes the river of time as well as the river of mythology, over which one cannot step twice. This is the river Milosz faces while...
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Czeslaw Milosz did not believe he would ever return to the river valley in which he grew up. But in the spring of 1989, exactly fifty years after he left, the new government of independent Lithuania welcomed him back to that magical region of his childhood. Many of the poems in Facing the River record his experiences there, where the river of the Issa Valley symbolizes the river of time as well as the river of mythology, over which one cannot step twice. This is the river Milosz faces while exploring ancient themes. He reflects upon the nature of imagination, human experience, good and evil—and celebrates the wonders of life on earth.In these later poems, the poems of older age, this Nobel laureate takes a long look back at the catastrophic upheavals of the twentieth century; yet despite the soberness of his themes, he writes with the lightness of touch found only in the great masters.Joseph BrodskyI have no hesitation whatsoever in stating that Czeslaw Milosz is one of the greatest poets of our time, perhaps the greatest.
At a Certain Age\ We wanted to confess our sins but there were no takers.\ White clouds refused to accept them, and the wind\ Was too busy visiting sea after sea.\ We did not succeed in interesting the animals.\ Dogs, disappointed, expected an order,\ A cat, as always immoral, was falling asleep.\ A person seemingly very close\ Did not care to hear of things long past.\ Conversations with friends over vodka or coffee\ Ought not be prolonged beyond the first sign of\ \ boredom.\ \ It would be humiliating to pay by the hour \ A man with a diploma, just for listening. \ Churches. Perhaps churches. But to confess there what? \ That we used to see ourselves as handsome and noble \ Yet later in our place an ugly toad \ Half-opens its thick eyelid \ And one sees clearly: "That's me."\ \ \ Facing the River. Copyright © by Czeslaw Milosz. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
At a Certain Age3A Lecture4Why7Capri9Report13A Goddess16The Manor17A Certain Neighborhood18A Naiad18Who?19City of My Youth20A Meadow21Translating Anna Swir on an Island of the Caribbean22To My Daimonion24The Wall of a Museum27Biography of an Artist28The Garden of Earthly Delights: Hell29Realism30One More Contradiction31Woe!32Pierson College33Sarajevo34To Allen Ginsberg36A Human Fly39House in Krasnogruda40A Polka-Dot Dress41Plato's Dialogues43Undressing Justine44Retired49Wanda51To Mrs. Professor in Defense of My Cat's Honor and Not Only55You Whose Name57This World58Happenings Elsewhere59A Hall61After Enduring62Body63In Szetejnie64
\ Helen VendlerThe work of Milosz reminds us of how much power poetry gains from bearing within itself an unforced, natural, and longranging memory of past customs; a sense of the strata of ancient and modern history; a wide visual experience; and a knowledge of many languages and literatures.\ \ \ \ \ Joseph BrodskyI have no hesitation whatsoever in stating that Czeslaw Milosz is one of the greatest poets of our time, perhaps the greatest.\ \ \ Library JournalAdd to the classic Bells in Winter (Ecco, 1996. reprint) and Collected Poems (LJ 4/15/88).\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsThe river of the title is the river of the Issa Valley in Lithuania, the region of his childhood, to which the Nobel Prize-winning poet returned in 1989 after a 50-year absence. Naturally, the river is also the river of time, and these unsentimental poems are precious meditations on life's wonders and ravages from the perspective of old age. Translated by the author and Robert Haas. (RC) Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \
