JOANNA KALINOWSKA

JOANNA KALINOWSKA

CARRIER OF MYSTERY

carrier of mystery

smiles to herself

she sees the universe  enclosed in a droplet

she is a priestess

guarding the gates between the worlds

and she is the gate herself

chosen by a soul

what's going to come back to her?

it is in her but it is not her

it feeds on her blood

but it gives her pure light

from which love will flow

the purest in the world

GRANDMA FLORA

you taught me to be faithful to my dreams

because they gave us wings

in your garden full of old-fashioned flowers

I found the land of  fairy tales

the old well seemed to be a passage

to the secret kingdoms

there were laughing elves in the raspberries

your beneficial presence was extended

and illuminated with your loving eyes

and no tears were seen in them

Under your care the flowers were blooming

the touch of your hands nurtured the cherries and pears

and our fretful hearts rushed to you

you were a quiet harbour - a safe haven

where a lighthouse on a rock

indicated the  way home

when the parks suddenly cut the thread of your life

everyone dispersed - for  all the world like scared pigeons

sometimes I think that the large crowd

of delighted angels surrounds you

DAILY BREAD

every day I make

from astral and silvery flour

the bread of my everyday life

I neither think about the field

on which the grain grew

nor about a man who sowed and collected it

I think about all dreams

and hopes which I had

before my dream closed my eyelids

and about all mornings

in the tickling laughter of the sun

what was the leaven for my bread

wherever I am  I carry it with me

hands move in the same prayer gesture

the air moves around my body

bubbles of happiness swell

and later I sit at the table

and I break it with my sons

wherever they go

they will take it with them

JOANNA KALINOWSKA

JOANNA KALINOWSKA, says about herself, that she was born under a wandering star. She, as a child (a daughter of an officer), often moved from one place to another. These constant changes taught her the openness and the willingness to meet new people and places. She spent many years in Poland. Sixteen years ago she moved to Italy. She has always been writing but she publishes now. Her book “Ascoltando Azzurro –Wsłuchana w błękit” was written so that people who speak different languages can express the same feelings. Three volumes of her poetry were edited and her poems were printed in various anthologies and magazines. She writes and publishes in two languages, both Polish and Italian. She loves these two countries. They are her homelands. She arranged “The Amici Italia-Polonia Association”. Its headquarters there is in Taranto — the city where she lives and works. She is a teacher, but she actually works as a translator and an activist of the Polish community. She is a member of the Warsaw Association of Literature’s Translators. Joanna works for the Italian literary-cultural group “La Vallisa”, too. She also cooperates with magazine of this group. She is the initiator and organizer of many cultural and social events.