Spirituality and Religion in American Culture, Olomouc 2000

Selected Poems by Georgia Scott

Georgia Scott´s poetry has been published in the United States, Britain, and in translation in Denmark and Poland. She has given readings before illegal meetings of Solidarity in the 1980´s, for Boston and Washington DC area television and most recently Gdansk television in commemoration of 20 years of Solidarity.

 

19?? - 19??

The worst of it

wasn't the shortages.
You learned a love of soup
like your mothers and their mothers before.

The worst of it

wasn't the choices,
whether to buy sandals or boots
that year for your child.

It wasn't even the curfew.
Carry some pills
and you could claim someone was ill.

No. The worst of it was the sound

a window opening in the night
and a shout.
Your upstairs neighbor pointing his arm.
And the police following it
after someone.

Small Islands

What can you say? Beyond the words
for children and for tired,
the scars on our bellies tell as much.
The circles around our eyes tell even more.

So many small islands of women.

Standing in the playground between our homes
we heard the news of the shipyard strikes
from a woman in an apron who came running
from sandbox to sandbox. We cleared the shovels.

We took the children inside.

 

World War II; or, The English Lesson

It's just too much to say.
The "w's" make a comedy of her mouth.

The lips, so lush in Polish,
wobble back and forth,

do a Marilyn Monroe walk
in skirts so tight

every step is a pain.

 

From The Good Wife by Georgia Scott available direct from the University of Salzburg Press or write to angcm@univ.gda.pl

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