Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Poetry

The New Century

By Ewa Lipska
Translated from Polish by Robin Davidson & Ewa Elżbieta Nowakowska

The new century came as no surprise.
Already past midnight, we call it by name.

Your dress beside the bed.
My suit, a pirate flag.

Reports warn us
of the slippery surface of history.

The question, what happens now?
we send back to the party.

We speak to each other in fireworks.
A groggy noun in the mouth.

We subject breakfast to laboratory tests.
314 calories on a white plate.

Zipped fast as lightning
into a life-proof vest.

Translation of “Nowy Wiek.” Copyright Ewa Lipska. By arrangement with the author. Translation copyright 2007 Robin Davidson and Ewa Elżbieta Nowakowska. All rights reserved.

English

The new century came as no surprise.
Already past midnight, we call it by name.

Your dress beside the bed.
My suit, a pirate flag.

Reports warn us
of the slippery surface of history.

The question, what happens now?
we send back to the party.

We speak to each other in fireworks.
A groggy noun in the mouth.

We subject breakfast to laboratory tests.
314 calories on a white plate.

Zipped fast as lightning
into a life-proof vest.

Read Next

67.180.5