Author: Árpád Kollár
Original title: Milyen madár
Title in English: Which bird
Publisher: Csimota
Year of publication: 2014
Number of pages: 58
Illustrations: Norbert Nagy
Out of the mouth of babes and in-depth analysis, child psychology and grownup psychology, or a simple, intent gaze at the world from above and from below, the book offers all of this at the same time. The poems that comprise it are reminiscent of prose, yet are bona fide poems. The subject of most of them leaves traditional children’s topics behind to take readers of all ages into areas that will make them wonder why no one has treated these obvious problems before.
The volume is the taking of accounts through poetry. On the one hand, it offers an inventory of the world of children, the body, the objects they own, the things they like or dislike, their fictitious and real environment, their families and acts and, on the other, it is the depiction, through surprising metaphors, of a very special universe that exists in the fantasies of children as well as those grownups who have retained their childhood fantasies.
The poems are characterized by a certain inner hesitation, thereby placing the child’s as yet wobbly world view into a brand new perspective, and through their special use of language, they bring to the surface mental processes that traditional poetic and syntactic structures are not sufficient to handle. This what gives the poems in the book with their refreshing quality and sense of novelty.
WHICH BIRD
who stole spring this year, which bird took it to the South,
and on which bird’s wing sneaked the winter back in from the North,
with icy teeth who bit the buds from the branches of bushes,
on which loft did he hid the snowdrop, the daffodil,
and where should we hide from winter, when we’ve changed our coats,
put the caps in drawers, lost our scarves long ago,
which northern bird brought this late snow back on us,
who will warm us when dad is already on a long trip away.
(Translated by: Zoltán Lengyel)
Three poems are available in French
