Thursday, April 12, 2018

Polish for Beginners

I always thought you were Polish
with your exotic blonde beauty
so I polished my few phrases of that language.
You never know when it might be useful.

The day after I overheard you had gone

home to a country that is not Poland
I was in a bar speaking Polish
with some old drunk who said
he thought I was an angel.



originally published in Poetry Scotland and first posted on this blog ten years ago.

Meanwhile over on Crafty Green Poet, you have a 2nd chance to read my poem Windmills


20 comments:

polona said...

this reminds me of something that happened many a year go when yugoslavia was still one country.
we were travelling somewhere in serbiaand on a bus there was a student from gabon (i think) he heard someone callingmy name and he turned to me: "vous etes pologne?"
"oui, je suis polona," i replied but that was about all the french i could muster.
turned out he spoke very good serbian but slovenian sounded different (it is but not that much) to him, so he thought we were polish. we continued the conversation in serbian afterwards, was easier for all of us :)

Noah the Great said...

That ending is great :D.

Odessa said...

i love this one. the title is perfect.

Crafty Green Poet said...

POlona - I like that story!

Noah, odessa, thanks!

I was so busy this week, that I forgot that this prompt was supposed to be a prose poem as well as on the topic 'overheard'. Oops!

Anonymous said...

As I am multilingual, it does get interesting at some points!

Good one, this!

last journey

Anonymous said...

As usual, very careful control over the tone and the structure highlights the thought, there is that accuracy and preciseness required to convey an original perspective on the idea and a resultant suspension of any unnecessary arabesques or images. Almost invisible craft.

Anonymous said...

this is wonderful! so many nuances packed in. hopeful and melancholy and wry, too.

Anonymous said...

brilliant ... I love the irony and unpredictability in your poem.

Anonymous said...

I love the irony and the humor. A flowing poem, as always from you.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Gautami = yes, its fun being multilingual, though you must be more truly multilingual than I am.

Gingatao - I love your thoughtful reviews of my poetry, thanks

Seb, Christine, sister ae - thanks,

Joyce Ellen Davis said...

I thought this was hilarious, in a sad sort of way....

Crafty Green Poet said...

pepek - I guess it is!

Linda Jacobs said...

Perceptions! Your ending is magical! I love a short poem that can say so much!

Scot said...

great poem/excellent ending. wow

Jessica said...

Sad and lovely. Fantastic ending!

gkgirl said...

i loved that it was a story
as well as a poem...
and the ending was fantastic....

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful! So many nuances here and visually stimulating as well! So nice to be back amongst friends from the old Poetry Thursday site!

Anonymous said...

I like this poem, and was not expecting it to end this way. True?

Crafty Green Poet said...

Regina Clare, good to see you back!

Gardenpath - yes its true (more or less!)

Linda, Scot, Jessica, gkgirl - thanks!

WH said...

Love the ending!