A list of five recommended kissing locations in Warsaw, Poland, as well as two not recommended locations

Kovacik, Karen

Digital Commons @ Butler University

BoothVolume 2 | Issue 2 Article 25-13-2010The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, PolandKaren KovacikFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/boothThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Booth by anauthorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact fgaede@butler.edu.Recommended CitationKovacik, Karen (2010) "The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, Poland," Booth: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 2.Available at: http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/booth/vol2/iss2/2The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, PolandAbstractA list of five recommended kissing locations in Warsaw, Poland, as well as two not recommended locations.Keywordslist, kissing, poland, warsawThis article is available in Booth: http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/booth/vol2/iss2/2The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, Poland : boothhttp://blogs.butler.edu/booth/2010/05/13/the-top-five-kissing-spots-in-warsaw-poland/[5/18/2010 7:18:56 PM]ABOUT ARCHIVES LINKS NEWS SUBMITThe Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, Polandby Karen Kovacik5) At the Café Antykwariat, preferably in the back room, at the table tucked intoa prewar armoire—warning: no door—which will mean less privacy but a goodview of the 1920s pinup in fedora and smoky stockings, perched on the sink in atrain compartment, or the trapeze artist wearing only sequins, dizzy above thelion.4) In the last row of the Kino Kultura during a thunderstorm, while watchingForman’s Loves of a Blonde, or just after, when the Soviet-era sconces turn on,and the matronly usher opens the exit door onto a courtyard even smaller thanthis cinema, now dark and wet.3) At a Chopin concert in the rose garden of the Park Łazienkowski, when theflowers are past their prime, and the pianist has departed from the standardrepertoire, and you’re trying not to touch, but she’s embarked on a tarantella,and you sit ear to ear, not breathing, feeling each willow-switch of sound.2) In the PZO, the Polish Optical Warehouse, which once stored carpet samplesand now houses artists—you can’t miss the blue eye winking on its roof—andon one weekend each June, its padlocked doors open, and you pass a mancanoeing through the courtyard’s sandy soil and a woman dressed as MarieAntoinette singing Puccini, and holding hands, you wander through corridors ofeye charts that open onto exhibits, such as the three fresh graves, their soilmounded in the shape of women’s bodies, and you wonder if you’re the only1Kovacik: The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, PolandPublished by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 2010The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, Poland : boothhttp://blogs.butler.edu/booth/2010/05/13/the-top-five-kissing-spots-in-warsaw-poland/[5/18/2010 7:18:56 PM]PUBLISHED: May 13, 2010FILED UNDER: Uncategorizedperson turned on by death and Fellini. Apparently not…1) On a pedal boat in the Park Kamionkowski, which abuts the Wedel candyfactory, so everything smells like chocolate—even the dragonflies hovering overthis cocoa-colored pond surrounded by poplars desperate to propagate, givingoff the white fuzz that catches in your hair, and all the cyclists, runners, andsquirrels are trying to stave off time, even when the sun melts into thechocolate water, and you stop pedaling for a good ten minutes, semisweet,bittersweet, filled with cognac and rum.N.B. Not recommended:a) Taking the elevator to the top of the Stalinist Palace of Culture, where youwill look out over the microscopic sellers of ersatz amber, knockoff colognes,and hyacinths, and feel like Satan tempting Christ, the Vistula River now yours,the billboard ads for pushup bras, the trams impatient to get past the newlyrestored Hotel Polonia with its buttercream facade, where no one can afford tostay.b) The KFC on Jerusalem Avenue, even if 25 years ago when the storefrontbelonged to Natasza, a Soviet-era Lane Bryant, you saw a man standing in hiswindow above the neon “N,” blowing smoke rings, naked.Karen Kovacik directs the creative writing program at Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis. She’s the author of several collections ofpoetry, including Metropolis Burning (Cleveland State, 2005), Beyond theVelvet Curtain (Kent State, 1999), and Nixon and I (Kent State, 1998). In2004-05, she spent the year in Poland on a Fulbright grant to translatecontemporary women poets. Her translations have appeared widely insuch journals as APR, Boston Review, West Branch, Crazyhorse_and Mid-American Review.NAME: required  EMAIL: required, not published  HOMEPAGE:  COMMENT: Leave a Comment2Booth, Vol. 2 [2010], Iss. 2, Art. 2http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/booth/vol2/iss2/2The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, Poland : boothhttp://blogs.butler.edu/booth/2010/05/13/the-top-five-kissing-spots-in-warsaw-poland/[5/18/2010 7:18:56 PM]Butler MFA Contact Us Facebook© booth. Powered by WordPress and Manifest« Previous PostELSEWHERE3Kovacik: The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, PolandPublished by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 2010

The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, Poland

http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=booth

The Top Five Kissing Spots in Warsaw, Poland

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Digital Commons @ Butler University