The great writer Hanya Yanagihara and The New York Times Style Magazine invited Grzegorz Kwiatkowski to take part in their “TMicronovel” series.
For this installment of TMicronovel, which typically pairs a photo and a very short work of fiction, we went in a slightly different direction: Below is “decree”, a poem by Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, who, in addition to being a poet — his new collection, “Crops”, comes out Nov. 1 — is also a member of the post-punk band Trupa Trupa. Kwiatkowski also shared an image that he took at the French military cemetery in Gdańsk, Poland.
decree
the president of the state of S.
at the instigation of myriad citizens
issued a decree
annulling death
from one day to the next the cemeteries were transformed
into verdant parks
and hospices and hospitals
into kindergartens
we stand on the market square
of one of the towns of S.
watching
the faces of the townsfolk:
we see no fear
no trace of sleepless night
someone has written
on the nearby wall:
innocent sunsets
Translation: Peter Constantine
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