84
PAI~TISAN
REVIEW
shows us his third sacred face, "The Face of Joyfltl Disappearance." [Reads
poem.] The poem contains wisdom beyond words and yet relies on words to
express itself and its ineffable, pure joy. Suddenly Milosz finds himself in the
place of his early childhood and, influenced by the nature around him-the
grass, the breeze, the sunshine-feels himself lifting out of himself, weeping as
his expression of that joy. The ego has disappeared, at least momentarily.
There's a sense of return to that place of childhood and a redemption from
exile, even if only momentarily-a deep sense of cosnuc homecom.ing.
Blanford Parker:
Lithuanians and Poles, poets, and other hUlTlan beings
have claimed feelings of kinship and admiration for Milosz. I feel a
moral and spiritual obligation to say something on behalf of Roman
Catholics and their relations to Milosz. Milosz belongs to Roman
Catholicism, but his role is different from that of John Paul
II.
Both
are of mammoth significance in modern culture, but Milosz is some–
times a Roman heretic. I will read one small but very great poem, "In
a Jar." It's indescribable how powerful this poem was
to
me when I first
read it.
Now, with allll1Y knowledge, honorable newts,
I approach the jar in which you live
And see how you float up vertically
to
the surface
Showing your bellies of vermilion color,
Color of flame, that makes you akin
To the alchemists' salamander living in fire. [...
J
This is a poem about the dualism of Christianity. Bonaventure's words
apocryphally or truly were, "Help me to walk in fire." What he meant by
that was, God help us-not in Hell but in purgatorial fire-to attain the
perfection requisite for eternity. It's a metaphor, a recognition as well as a
doctrine of Catholicism, of the imperfection of every man walking in fire .
It's Christian, dualist, reaching out for the transformation of the mortal
into the immortal; it's of the hierarchy of animal existence, human intel–
lect, and the divine overseer.
Jack Miles:
I'm going to speak about Milosz's prose rather than his poet–
ry, about the Catholic Milosz and about Catholics and Poles and Polish
Americans. First, however, I want
to
thank Czeslaw Milosz for agreeing to
this conference.
