Stones from Central Park
Written by Dariusz Lebioda
Translated from the Polish by Stanley H. Barkan & Adam Szyper
Narrated by Bill Wolak
i brought a handful of stones from central park
they lay in america for millions of years
waiting for my hand
i picked them up from the ground and put them
into my pocket
they flew with me over
the atlantic
now they are lying on a shelf
and will stay there
i touch them
and think–
how much had happened in my life
how many times beaten by a club
spat on and cheated
trembling and going insane
i could not touch them
i think about my childhood friends
and enemies on the same street
about my passions and the birth of children
moments of hunger
and appeasement
stones from central park
so warm and
so cold
like people–so alive
and later so dead
Dariusz Tomasz Lebioda is a Polish poet, writer, literature professor, translator, and editor who was born in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 1958. In 1994 he received Ph. D. in Polish literature at Gdansk University and then taught in Kazimierz Wielki University. He was Visiting Professor of The State University of New York at Buffalo – SUNY (2002) and longtime researcher at Polish universities and colleges. He is the author of almost a hundred books of poetry, novels, short stories, diaries, essays, scientific monographs, and translations. He is the leading poet of the New Generations in Poland–poets born between 1950 and 1960. His works has been translated into many languages and he has been a featured poet at many world literary festivals.
Stanley H. Barkan is a poet, translator, editor, publisher. Since 1971, his Cross-Cultural Communications has published 500 titles in 59 different languages. His latest books include: Pumpernickel, translated into Persian by Sepideh Zamani, As Yet Unborn translated into Dutch by Germain Droogenbroodt, and From Rhythm to Form, with paintings by Marsha Solomon.
Adam Szyper was born Dec. 6, 1939, in Lodz, Poland. He came to U.S. in 1962. He was a poet and a translator. His books in English include: Did You Hear the President’s Speech Tonight?, 1984; And Suddenly Sp