Imię i znamię

The poems plunge into family, Polish and Ukrainian nightmares. The poet's father, becoming Polonised, turned into an aggressive Polish nationalist while still speaking 'khakhlatsky', a mix of Polish and Ukrainian that was the poet's first language. His mother cries out in her dreams about deportation, and the book ends by revealing that all his maternal relatives served in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a fact hidden from him until he was about fifteen. Repetitions, broken motifs, archaisms, folklore and black humour make the poems sound like strange folk ballads.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Poetry

Length

56 pages in the original

Genres

Family, Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

Poland

First published

2011 by Biuro Literackie

Author's age

49 when first published

ISBN

9788362006830 (original)