Wrocław, The Nineties

We here so
forever unemployed at the mercy of one great metaphor
we write somber letters happy verses and odes to whateverness
we drink delusive toasts to some kind of end yet the bottom never shows

We here so
constant we’re dancing with our eyes closed groping
for mutual gestures nods and well-made beds
we make small politics and cheap phrases
boys love girls girls love boys
boys suffer insomnia and myths girls sleep sweetly

We here so
each in some sort of walk or in a temporary paddock
we quench ambition with half-pints and ads “Be proud!”
waiting for our special five minutes
so many years late for Europe’s great party

We here so
merely romantic
counting on makeshift houses and beds
naively nursing love
with perfect crime breeding culprits and lost generations
useless we look into the future through the dirty glass

We here so
and nothing else

Wrocław 1998

Translated by Katarzyna Jakubiak