"unanimous omninudity"
Fikowski, Matthews, Joudah, Kim, Szymborska, Hooker
Jerzy Fikowski (tr. from Polish by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer):
William Matthews:
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Fady Joudah:
Suji Kwock Kim:
Wisława Szymborska (tr. from Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak):
John Lee Hooker, “Onions,” rec. 1963:
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What a lens to look at the morning through, these onion poems. The strange devastating images in the Joudah poem on the one far end and the "domestic perfume" of Matthews on the other. And all the wordplay in the Symborska translation -- daimonion, omninudity . . I wonder what it was like in the Polish original and how the translators managed it!
Poland wins again.