He’s freed from his loneliness by the word. Isn’t that the point of poetry? Breaking through the walls of solitude. Poetry is the great S.O.S. of loneliness. — Anna Kamieńska, from “Industrious Amazement: A Notebook,” Poetry; Mar2011, Vol. 197 Issue 6, p503
Poems crystallize from the substance of time. A cluster of moments, like bees dangling from the hive’s mouth. — Anna Kamienska, from “Industrious Amazement: A Notebook,” Poetry (March 1st, 2011)
The poems deluged me. They came at me like wild bees. — Anna Kamieńska, The poems deluged me. They came at me like wild bees. — Anna Kamieńska, from “A Nest of Quiet: A Notebook,” Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamienska. (Paraclete Press April 1, 2008)
Even a painful longing is some form of presence. — Anna Kamienska, from “A Nest of Quiet: A Notebook,” trans. Clare Cavanagh, Poetry (1 May 2012)
Writing down your thoughts is both necessary and harmful. It leads to eccentricity, narcissism, preserves what should be let go. On the other hand, these notes intensify the inner life, which, left unexpressed, slips through your fingers. If only I could find a better kind of journal, humbler, one that would preserve the same thoughts,… Continue reading Anna Kamieńska
I’ve learned to value failed conversations, missed connections, confusions. What remains is what’s unsaid, what’s underneath. Understanding on another level of being. — Anna Kamieńska, from “A Nest of Quiet: A Notebook,” transl. Clare Cavanagh, Poetry (May 2012)
Somewhere unwritten poems wait, like lonely lakes not seen by anyone. — Anna Kamieńska, from her notebook (1968), Astonishments, trans Grażyna Drabik and David Curzon (Paraclete Press, 2008)
Joy – it’s not just a gift. In a sense, it’s also a duty, a task to fulfill. Courage. – Anna Kamieńska, Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamienska. Paraclete Press (MA); First Edition edition July 1, 2007) Originally published 2007.
The sky creaks with the plumes of unread poets. — Anna Kamienska, from “In That Great River: A Notebook.” Poetry (June 1st, 2010)
I don’t believe in the next world. The world is one. One reality. Death isn’t a gateway to the next world, maybe just the opening of blind eyes. – Anna Kamienska, from “Industrious Amazement: A Notebook,” Poetry, Mar2011, Vol. 197 Issue 6, p503.
The Vale of Soul-Making 