Marcin Świetlicki (born in 1961) has already been recognized as the most intriguing, versatile and rebellious voice in contemporary Polish poetry. Notoriously, at the start of his poetic career he refused to accept a poetry prize from Czesław Miłosz, reciting instead one of his own poems: ‘One day this city will belong to me.’ In Kraków he works as a proof-reader for the renowned weekly Tygodnik Powszechny; he also performs as an actor and, together with his group, Świetliki, he has released albums with musical settings of his poems (influences include Tom Waits, The Fall and John Coltrane). He has published, among others, Zimne kraje 1 (Cold Countries 1, 1992), Schizma (Schism, 1994), Trzecia połowa (Third Half, 1996), Pieśń profana (Song of the Profaner, 1998; nominated for the NIKE Prize) and Czynny do odwołania (Unclosed until Further Notice, 2001). In his work Świetlicki questions the poetry of testimony, political resistance, big words and high-flown ideals. Instead, his attention concentrates on the individual with his ‘achiness’ and discomfort, which delineate the borders of the private world, keeping out unruly abstraction. It is exactly this ability to perceive darkness and pain that keeps him alive, that testifies to life, creativity, growth. Wry humour, irony and colloquial diction mark Świetlicki’s language – the main ally, though at times fallible, in his poetic pursuits, his risky balancing between death and pain, pain and life, life and longing.