Duzia woda, duzia loda – bynajmniej nie dno. Coś dla naszych Atlasowych kolegów z „Lodzi” Kaliskiej.

The comic potential of the newly launched National Repository of Objects of Culture and Science is delightful. Enter Świetlicki Marcin in its search engine and it instantly asks whether you might have meant ‘regimental common room’, offering ‘young people in a common room’ or ‘a parade on Święty Marcin Street’. 

Hats off, respect: few poets possess as broad a range of associations as this government portal, conceived to integrate culture and administration. It could be used to play the Parisian Surrealists’ café game cadavre exquis. And if the administration begins to use it more widely, we shall soon live in a country that matches the visions of Sławomir Mrożek.

Importantly, the portal is remarkably stable: for a second day, the hussars have been charging across its home page without altering their direction of attack by so much as an inch. A charge non-stop, 24/7. That too offers comfort in such uncertain times. 

To cool down, one can turn to Świetlicki’s earlier work and its prophetic lines about the media snowmen swirling around us. The most accurate search result would be the lines from the popular poem Duzia woda (idem, P i e ś n i  p r o f a n a …, p. 37;  www.youtube.com/watch??v=PTHRchcWJ5k): 

‘(It will appear in a moment
as it always does:
those
fucking
hussars).’

They will appear and will not go away. They will remain with us for some time. Into battle, Kaliska Hussars!