Review: Dear Beloved Humans

To Feel Less Alone
Review: Dear Beloved Humans

Allison D'Arienzo

Grzedorz Wróblewski
Translated by: Piotr Gwiazda
Poetry Collection
Lavender Ink / Diálogos
Cost: $19.95

The biggest question we as humans can ask is: “Why?” The contemplation of our mortality frequents art in many forms, and Grzedorz Wróblewski’s poetry not only contemplates the human experience, but also discusses what it means to exist in our current society. His writing sheds light on topics like capitalism, heteronormativity, and the normalization of violence in a way that is new and abstract. The reader must want to actively seek out what the meaning of each poem is and, by doing so, they become closer to the topic that Wróblewski selected to discuss.
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Grzedorz Wróblewski’s Dear Beloved Humans, is a collection of poems spanning multiple decades of authorship. Born in Warsaw in 1962, Wróblewski grew up in the creative communities and culture of Poland where he began his career as a poet and artist. In 1985, Wróblewski emigrated to Denmark, prompting a shift in perspective and a new form of inspiration for his poetry. As I read through this collection, I found myself understanding the turmoil that Wróblewski felt over the course of his life and the humorously analytical and at times nihilistic way in which he portrayed his surroundings in his writing.

This deep connection to societal issues and political statements is interwoven in almost all of Wróblewski’s work. One of the poems that stands out most is his work titled “Metamorphosis,” in which the speaker relates himself to that of a carrier pigeon. The poem dives into the animalistic behavior humans have in a capitalistic society and the general formatting of the lines mixed with the lack of punctuation adds a sense of urgency and chaos to the language. The middle of the poem demonstrates this best:

holy shit what's going on
why yes of course sir right away
I'm as everyone knows I'm broadly speaking a
   SOMEBODY says the carrier pigeon
so I run and jump
carry baskets bags containers cartons
withdraw money so much to do so much to do
(lines 21-27)

As I read, I found myself pushing forward to get to the next line, much like the speaker who is pushing forward and trying to succeed in a system meant to destroy them. The abstractness of the language also adds to the chaos and doubles down on the sense of fear and confusion the speaker has.

Capitalism, commodification, and the structure of society are some of the main themes in Wróblewski’s writing. They surface in other poems like “The Moon,” “Ostrich Farm,” and “BEVERLY SMILE.” Yet Wróblewski also delves into other, more nuanced ideas. His poem “Decline” is written in all capital letters and discusses the destruction of God and loss of faith in society through the repetition of lines like, “HAS ANYONE SEEN GOD?” (line 4) or “I WANT MY GOD!” (line 15). Wróblewski’s expression of this deviation from face is exemplified by his subversion of typical poetic formatting with his use of all capital letters. In many ways, this pattern of transformation, whether it be content or format, is a signature for Wróblewski and he uses it to expand on topics like grief and loss to give them a new twist.

To expand, poetry itself feels very much at home next to modernist style poetry. The writings of T.S. Eliot is comparable to the melancholic feel and subject matter of Wróblewski’s work, while the abstraction and absurdity in format and style are similar to that of e.e. cummings. I found myself apprehensive at first because of these characteristics, but grew to enjoy the extra level of analysis and interaction each poem required. For example, in his poem “A Quiet Evening After a Long Day’s Work,” Wróblewski depicts a speaker eating dinner while watching television. The beginning is mundane and then shifts to violence by saying “a street protest/ on channel one, they killed a man/ who knew too much, why did he know so much?” (lines 3-5). This movement to violence is mentioned very casually and the poem quickly shifts back to the speaker changing channels and eating his dinner. I enjoyed how this poem allowed me to analyze the normalization of violence in our society and its effects. Even the last lines which read, “I may have a hole in my tooth, a badminton match/ on channel two, they’re playing well/ but it’s getting late for me!” (lines 9-11) could be interpreted as having another meaning. The toothache, a nagging and subconscious pain, could stand in for the underlying pain of what the speaker is witnessing. The time of the evening and the speaker thinking of sleep could be his way of removing himself from the situation or even saying it is too late for him to understand what he is seeing.

As I read, I felt that not only Grzedorz Wróblewski, but also his translator Piotr Gwiazda, created an interactive reading experience in which the reader could identify with at least one of the plights mentioned in the collection. All of Wróblewski’s poetry was originally crafted in Polish. The translator for this collection, Piotr Gwiazda, discusses the challenges of finding commonalities in the Polish and English language and how to properly convey Wróblewski’s original texts to English readers. In his preface, Gwiazda writes, “it is possible to view the version included in this volume as a collaborative work of the poet, his friend behind the camera, and his English translator,” (pp. XX) as it works as an almost conceit that the translation is transforming the poetry, even if unintentionally. This collaborative nature is also well displayed in the actual content layout of the book. The poetry in this book is displayed on the right pages in English and in their original Polish language on the left page. This mirror image of the poetry allowed me to still feel connected to Wróblewski’s original words and, though I don’t speak Polish, at least visually see the origins of his writing.

Overall, Dear Beloved Humans, brings the reader closer to topics many of us try to avoid and does so through speculative and conceptual uses of language and form. With pen and highlighter in hand, I paged through this collection eagerly annotating and dissecting Wróblewski’s words to find the deeper messages and would implore potential readers to do the same.