Krystyna Lenkowska has proved herself in different literary genres but she should be referred to predominantly as a poet, as it is in this genre that she has so far expressed herself most completely and has managed to achieve what is pursued by all consciously creative writers: her own unique diction. As I have been a keen observer of her pursuits in almost every single poem since the 2nd volume she published, I am perfectly able to confirm what I have written so far about her art in the literary section of the "Rzeczpospolita": Lenkowska is very consistent in building her poetic home, taming the element of lyricism with an intellectual afterthought, so that she can retain the distance from herself and the surrounding reality she depicts.

It is true to say that such a general strategy is specific to a certain type of Polish lyric, but Lenkowska is very effective, within that strategy, in using the vocabulary from various distant registers of modern Polish to create metaphors which are at blatant odds with the fossilized expectations of the readers, so that the recipient's temporary helpless astonishment should reflect the helplessness of the Author herself who is made to face the matter and structure of the world and the matter and structure of the language used to name it. In her poetry, Lenkowska sets out to rationalise and reconstruct such moments of astonishment and helplessness, as -she apparently believes -it is by writing that one can tame the reality and pave the road "toward oneself", which is otherwise unattainable.

Janusz Szuber, Sanok, 5th May, 2006