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Contents

PROLOGUE

PART I.

THE GREAT MARINETTI CAR
LIBERTY, RATS AND SANDPAPER
THE SHIP PROPELLER
A FOUNDLING AMONG EBONY TREES
THE UNDERGROUND BIRD-WATCHING BLIND
THE BAGPIPER
TO THE FOREST LODGE, WHEN?
THE TWENTY-THIRD SNOWFALL
THE REBELS' SUPPER
(unfinished)
DRESS UP YOUR INNER TEDDY BEAR
EVENING PRAYER
WINTER SONNET
LISTENING TO MUHAMMAD ALI
THE MAILMAN
UNDERGROUND
A RUG FOR HOSPITAL STREET
BALLAD ABOUT THE POLICE SEARCH OF OUR HOME
I INHABIT YOUR HEART AS A BAT
THE LOST TRIBE
YOU TOO WOULD WATCH YOUR HEAD
A POEM ABOUT INFINITE PROGRAMS
DEMON
THE KOLOZSVÁR HORROR
THE SAME RIVER
instant photo at the münich railroad station
THE POOR RELATION FROM THE WOODS
ONE NIGHT IN WALES
THE POET FROM MEMPHIS
YOUR UMBRELLA
FOR MY BIRTHDAY
THE KERCHIEF STOLEN UNDER THE GRASS
...AND THOSE WHO DIDN'T
HUNG OVER
BURIAL IN ST. GEORGE
WHAT I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP
when you become the US president
WHERE THAT FLAPPING COMES FROM
I KNOW THIS IS NOT HOW IT GOES
THE VISIT BY THE SHOCK-WORKERS
YOU DEPARTING IN A RED DOPPLER DRESS
INDIAN WORDS ON THE RADIO
YOU TAKE A PLANE
KAFKA AND HIS SISTER STOP IN BUDAPEST ON THEIR WAY TO LEBANON AND RUN INTO THE ARTIST CSONTVÁRY
A TALE OF THE BLACK OWL
HAPPY YESTERYEAR
AT HOUDINI'S BIRTHHOUSE IN BUDAPEST

PART II.

THE SONG OF A BENEVOLENT DICTATOR
EPITAPH
PRAYER FOR THE FALLEN HEROES(SONG OF A CLERGYMAN)
IMRE NAGY: THE PRIME MINISTER'S SONG
KATINKA: GRANDFATHER'S SONG
PRINCE WORONIECZKI'S BALLAD
PAVEL'S SONG ABOUT CONTINUITY
PAVEL'S PRAYER
NARRATOR: The Moral. About Mortals.
SUSAN'S FUNERAL SONG
THE IMAGE OF GOD, OR ELSE THE PRESENT AS THE SUBJECT OF A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE FUTURE
BALLAD OF JANTSI PEG LEG
TWO SCENES FROM THE DRAMA LIBERTÉ '56
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
ADDENDA
A NOTE ON TRANSYLVANIAN HISTORY

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Prologue

Playful lexicon with a dada undertone that emphasizes quality of life over art by using art to focus attention on the absurd behavior of the power structure? Yes, this is Géza Szőcs. Imaginative language with a dusting of the surreal characterizes Liberty, Rats and Sandpaper. Even the title of his book effectively irritates the senses and evokes sarcastic emotions. His sensibility is terrestrial, not sentimentally celestial. Szőcs understands that allowing abstract gods and flawed humans to make important life decisions risks leading civilizations down one garden path or another. Flawed deities are created by flawed humans, and Szőcs recognizes this irony:

Rain can see itself grow through snow
as its mirror-mask in the sod
the way weeds can penetrate
the dentures of a buried god.

He also pulls no punches when it comes to demystifying demagogues:

when you become the u.s. president
and with golden water pistols in your pocket
you play cops-and-robbers by yourself
in the corridors of the white house

Welcome to Liberty, Rats and Sandpaper, an intelligent journey through the psyche of one of Hungary's most innovative and outspoken poets. This book by Géza Szőcs deserves the international attention that it is finally receiving.

Alan Britt, Poet
Lost Among the Hours
Towson University, 2016

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