What’s
necessary?
You
have to write out an application,
and
attach your curriculum.
It’s
irrelevant how long you’ve been alive
Better
keep your curriculum short.
You
must be concise and select the events,
Change
landscapes into addresses
And
half-remembered dates into remembered ones.
Of
all your loves your married one is enough,
and only mention living children.
It
matters more who knows you than who you know.
List journeys made but only if abroad.
Of belonging to something, but never say why.
Decorations
bestowed without any motivation.
Write
as if you never speak to yourself
And
you avoid yourself.
Skim
over cats, dogs and birds,
bric-a-brac
from the past, friend and dreams.
Cost
over worth
And
the title rather than the contents.
Better
give your shoe size, than reveal where
the
person you’re mistaken for goes.
Put
a photograph in with your ears showing.
Form
is important, not what you feel.
What
can you hear?
The
sound of the paper shredding machine.
WISLAWA
SZYMBORSKA