On the Crossroads of Asia and Europe

On the soldiers' shoulders
Ride the white doves of peace
With their eyes poked out

As long as the Afghan people
Are in need of help
The soldiers will remain
And remain and remain

We cry out
Butterflies and crickets in bondage
But who will understand
The language of butterflies and crickets

Those breathing freedom
Have a different set of problems
A shorter memory
They slip off to sleep untroubled
One day to wake up
In Afghanistan

Scrap

After us will be neither scrap metal
Nor a laugh
From beginning to end
We have had no illusions
All our uprisings
Lie packed in the foyer
Along with a toothbrush
And towel

When someone knocks on the door
The echo
Pounds through the empty years
But there is no call to action
No convoy to Siberia
Only the upstairs neighbor whose sink
Once again has overflowed
He comes wringing his hands to warn us

Last Supper

Thirteen of us still not released
A full table
Though missing
Are Christ and Judas
Victims of a cruel death

And we the living
Are joined together
To share our lost cause
The hand
With the rusted nail

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"A friend and fellow writer, speaking in reference to contemporary poetry, remarked to me not long ago that the true poets are not those in search of something to write about, but those whose subjects have discovered them. I find this confirmed in reading the poems of Tomasz Jastrun." -John Haines

"Here at last we have a generous selection of Tomasz Jastrun's poems and prose chronicling the disintegration of Poland, and celebrating the unlikely survival of the human spirit. We have Daniel Bourne to thank for guiding these poems into English." -John Witte, Editor, Northwest Review

"Deep gratitude to Daniel Bourne and Salmon Run Press for making available in English the profoundly moving voice of Polish writer, Tomasz Jastrun. This is crucial, empowering work." -Naomi Shihab Nye

On the Crossroads of Asia and Europecollects the poetry and satirical prose of Polish writer Tomasz Jastrun, winner of the 1983 "S Prize" from Underground Solidarity for his poetry during Poland's martial law period in the early 1980's.

Daniel Bourne teaches at The College of Wooster (Ohio), where he edits Artful Dodge, a journal of new American writing and literature in translation. Since 1980 he has been a frequent visitor to Poland, including on a 1985-87 Fulbright fellowship for translation work with younger Polish writers.

Salmon Run Press is one of only two Native American-Owned Publishing houses in America. Its titles are distributed internationally in the US, Canada, England, and Australia. Each year since 1991, Salmon Run has sponsored the National Poetry Book Award, of which On the Crossroads of Asia and Europe was the selection for 1998.