blog • 3/24/2026
A Planet in Exile: How Anna Maria Mickiewicz Turns Stillness into Thunder By Shajil Anthru
[A review of the book “The Origin of the Planet” by Anna Maria Mickiewicz, winner of the 2024 K.M. Anthru International Literary Prize]
The Origin of the Planet stands as a powerful collection of free verse poetry. It shows how true depth emerges when themes like exile, loss, and history pour out in a personal, thoughtful voice—free from strict rules about form or structure. The poems feel natural and strong because the emotion drives everything.
Anna Maria Mickiewicz, born in Poland and now based in London, brings a wide, global view to her work. She is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, and former foreign correspondent. As an immigrant who took part in Poland's civil rights struggles during the 1980s, she lived in California before making her home in the UK. She writes in both Polish and English, founded Literary Waves Publishing, and has edited journals such as Contemporary Writers of Poland and Pamiętnik Literacki. Her award-winning book, The Origin of the Planet was earlier nominated for the Eric Hoffer Prize.
In 2024, this collection earned the K.M. Anthru International Literary Prize. The prize honors the unfulfilled dream of K.M. Anthru, who passed away on December 19, 2020. Before his death, while seriously ill, he shared his wish to become a publisher and editor. In August 2020, the international magazine Litterateur Redefining World was launched, open to all, with K.M. Anthru as its managing editor. Later in 2021, after the demise of K.M Anthru, prize and foundation were instituted along with the continuance of the magazine. Through the prize and its foundation, the goal is to build a worldwide space for creativity, social progress, and sustainable growth—using literature, art, culture, skill-building, and efforts to protect nature.
Anna Maria Mickiewicz now stands alongside other honored writers such as Jack Foley (USA), Ivan Argüelles (USA), Antonino Contiliano, Italy, Rosa Jamali (Iran), Giacomo Cuttone, Italy (Italy), Anvar Abdullah, India (India), and Sudhakar Gaidhani, (India).
This book gathers 53 poems, with an introduction by Anthony Smith. Smith is a poet, and a retired English teacher from secondary school. He grew up in the East of England, then volunteered in Afghanistan in the early 1970s after university. Later, he taught English in West London schools, often to refugees and new immigrant students. He traveled across Afghanistan and returned to England overland. After retiring, he made another land journey, this time from Uzbekistan back home. His own book of poems, Remembering and Stopping Places, came out in the UK. Much of his poetry and prose grew from those two long trips.
Smith opens his introduction with the striking line:
"Take a journey with Socrates in these poems!"
He points to several standout pieces—"socrates meets jung”, “after Socrates” , and “Socrates facing hot weather”,
Socrates represents a clear, self-questioning conscience—humble and aware. Jung, on the other hand, points to the narrow, ego-centered world of personal awareness. The poems explore the tension, dialogue, or clash between these two ways of seeing. Socrates seems to move quietly through the entire book, appearing and disappearing, asking questions that cross every border.
One poem captures this mood perfectly:
“eucalyptus silver is choked with stillness and slow destruction
it tempts with disorder
this should not be like this . . .
this tranquility is astonishing
it won’t be like this . . .
plants are looking for shelter
it wasn’t supposed to be like this . . .
eucalyptus shadow
it was not supposed to be this way
but it will definitely be different.
—London 2020”
The poems take us to places the poet has lived in or visited—the smells, colors, and feelings she absorbed. Yet what stays with the reader is a deep sense of nostalgia, along with a sharp awareness of how time flows and carries hidden depths.
Seen another way, the collection becomes a journey around the world. As a Polish immigrant who moved from Poland to California and then to London, Mickiewicz crosses continents, cities, and landscapes. The poems do not follow a straight path. Instead, they build through stories of being uprooted, fading identity, wonder, and grief in each location. Every place act as both setting and symbol, stirring something inside us. At the same time, the book reaches a "planetary" scale, highlighting the poet's borderless identity. The title poem and the book itself open with the image of eucalyptus trees choking in unnatural stillness during the 2020 lockdown. The silver-green leaves reflect light in a cold, distant way—perfect for a poem filled with frozen calm and broken natural order. The word "silver" carries weight here, not just beauty. It hints that the planet itself hangs in cold suspension, out of balance.
Written in London during the COVID pandemic, the poem uses eucalyptus with purpose. These trees, brought to the UK in the 19th century, are not native but planted for decoration. They grow fast, stay green, and sometimes survive harsh weather at higher spots. Knowing this adds layers to the opening line about silver eucalyptus suffocating in stillness and slow decay.
Many poems catch the strange, frozen feeling of London's lockdown, when normal life stopped and everything felt wrong. Works like "pandemic," "another alexandra palace spring," "morning," "morning winging," and "desert rain in London" share this.
They speak to the quiet sadness, the longing for change, the blurred seasons, and the shared stillness felt by people everywhere—giving the poems a truly universal reach.
London appears often, in titles such as "britannia," "London beat," and "a London dream." Parks like “regent's park”, “another alexandra palace spring”, and “lebanese cedar”, everyday scenes with “pigeons in enfield”, and cultural spots like Tate Britain all come alive. The fog, rain, and lively mix of cultures pulse through these lines. At times, we sense the immigrant's quiet distance or fragile sense of safety.
Poems such as "pigeons in enfield", "boss," "postmodernist times," "britannia," and "coffee" paint portraits of a woman sinking into deep sadness. From London, the poems reach farther, calling up many lands and the feeling of belonging to several worlds at once. Pieces like "the sky above california", "London, Taipei”, "in oxford," "devon," "cornish canvas," "the ballad of penzance," "beyond the horizon," "there, the town on the black sea coast" and “lebanese cedar”, carry us to California, Asian cities, Oxford, rugged coasts, Black Sea towns, Ireland, Ukraine, Lebanon, and more. "in oxford" leads to ancient courtyards, lavender roses, and angelic stone carvings—opening space for quiet, dreamy thought. "london, Taipei" blends London with Asia through coastal waves and yellow evenings under hazy skies. "devon" and "Cornish canvas" evoke rugged shores; "beyond the horizon" touches Ireland in 1839. "the state of war" nods to Estonia.
These places trace the poet's own path of movement—Poland to California to London—and her blended cultural roots. Poland returns through memory and history, not as it is today but as the poet recalls it from childhood, loss, and political pain. Family figures appear: grandmother, mother, father, an old wrestler, a sharp-dressed young man in a café, an elderly woman from Poland. We see cattle trucks rolling east in wartime terror, the empty silence of 1980s martial law. In "shoes," shoes walk into the sunset but never toward sunrise again. That quiet grief becomes ours too. Echoes of 20th-century suffering rise through dreams, objects, and scenes in poems like "cherries" and "paper scraps are the best.” "a london dream" recalls wartime deportations. These are poems that carry the heavy weight of exile, yet they hold tender, powerful glimpses of loved ones and private sorrow, turning raw feeling into something lasting.
Poems such as "a frame of the sun," "my mother," "birth," "morning," and "morning winging" show gentle, shining views of family and grief. Dedications to her late son bring extra emotional strength.
References to Joseph Conrad on writing in a foreign tongue in “joseph cornard’s reflection”, “socrates facing hot weather”, “monet's lilies”, and the “lebanese cedar” stretch geography into deeper cultural and philosophical ground. Through all these places, Mickiewicz seems to map her inner world, shaped by constant movement. The poems do not show tourist views; they hold sharp sensory pieces and emotional shapes. In the end, they guide us not just across countries, but through the lived feeling of existing between them.
The planet appears both near and endless. This collection links far-apart points without hard borders. It becomes a careful record of exile, loss, history, and quiet wonder.
The English word "ivy" comes from Hebrew roots meaning “God's gift" or even "wine." Recall the lines Anna wrote in another poem called "May":
“Language braided with ivy
touches the streams of rain
Clouds thunder, swelled with the wind
They breathe heavily with the smell of forsythia and lilacs
The pond swings a silver fir tree
The time of sunny spaces is coming
London 2018”
These words hold the heart of her poetry—gentle yet deep, touching the world with grace and quiet power.
[Author :Shajil Anthru, Kerala, India]
The Origin of the Planet stands as a powerful collection of free verse poetry. It shows how true depth emerges when themes like exile, loss, and history pour out in a personal, thoughtful voice—free from strict rules about form or structure. The poems feel natural and strong because the emotion drives everything.
Anna Maria Mickiewicz, born in Poland and now based in London, brings a wide, global view to her work. She is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, and former foreign correspondent. As an immigrant who took part in Poland's civil rights struggles during the 1980s, she lived in California before making her home in the UK. She writes in both Polish and English, founded Literary Waves Publishing, and has edited journals such as Contemporary Writers of Poland and Pamiętnik Literacki. Her award-winning book, The Origin of the Planet was earlier nominated for the Eric Hoffer Prize.
In 2024, this collection earned the K.M. Anthru International Literary Prize. The prize honors the unfulfilled dream of K.M. Anthru, who passed away on December 19, 2020. Before his death, while seriously ill, he shared his wish to become a publisher and editor. In August 2020, the international magazine Litterateur Redefining World was launched, open to all, with K.M. Anthru as its managing editor. Later in 2021, after the demise of K.M Anthru, prize and foundation were instituted along with the continuance of the magazine. Through the prize and its foundation, the goal is to build a worldwide space for creativity, social progress, and sustainable growth—using literature, art, culture, skill-building, and efforts to protect nature.
Anna Maria Mickiewicz now stands alongside other honored writers such as Jack Foley (USA), Ivan Argüelles (USA), Antonino Contiliano, Italy, Rosa Jamali (Iran), Giacomo Cuttone, Italy (Italy), Anvar Abdullah, India (India), and Sudhakar Gaidhani, (India).
This book gathers 53 poems, with an introduction by Anthony Smith. Smith is a poet, and a retired English teacher from secondary school. He grew up in the East of England, then volunteered in Afghanistan in the early 1970s after university. Later, he taught English in West London schools, often to refugees and new immigrant students. He traveled across Afghanistan and returned to England overland. After retiring, he made another land journey, this time from Uzbekistan back home. His own book of poems, Remembering and Stopping Places, came out in the UK. Much of his poetry and prose grew from those two long trips.
Smith opens his introduction with the striking line:
"Take a journey with Socrates in these poems!"
He points to several standout pieces—"socrates meets jung”, “after Socrates” , and “Socrates facing hot weather”,
Socrates represents a clear, self-questioning conscience—humble and aware. Jung, on the other hand, points to the narrow, ego-centered world of personal awareness. The poems explore the tension, dialogue, or clash between these two ways of seeing. Socrates seems to move quietly through the entire book, appearing and disappearing, asking questions that cross every border.
One poem captures this mood perfectly:
“eucalyptus silver is choked with stillness and slow destruction
it tempts with disorder
this should not be like this . . .
this tranquility is astonishing
it won’t be like this . . .
plants are looking for shelter
it wasn’t supposed to be like this . . .
eucalyptus shadow
it was not supposed to be this way
but it will definitely be different.
—London 2020”
The poems take us to places the poet has lived in or visited—the smells, colors, and feelings she absorbed. Yet what stays with the reader is a deep sense of nostalgia, along with a sharp awareness of how time flows and carries hidden depths.
Seen another way, the collection becomes a journey around the world. As a Polish immigrant who moved from Poland to California and then to London, Mickiewicz crosses continents, cities, and landscapes. The poems do not follow a straight path. Instead, they build through stories of being uprooted, fading identity, wonder, and grief in each location. Every place act as both setting and symbol, stirring something inside us. At the same time, the book reaches a "planetary" scale, highlighting the poet's borderless identity. The title poem and the book itself open with the image of eucalyptus trees choking in unnatural stillness during the 2020 lockdown. The silver-green leaves reflect light in a cold, distant way—perfect for a poem filled with frozen calm and broken natural order. The word "silver" carries weight here, not just beauty. It hints that the planet itself hangs in cold suspension, out of balance.
Written in London during the COVID pandemic, the poem uses eucalyptus with purpose. These trees, brought to the UK in the 19th century, are not native but planted for decoration. They grow fast, stay green, and sometimes survive harsh weather at higher spots. Knowing this adds layers to the opening line about silver eucalyptus suffocating in stillness and slow decay.
Many poems catch the strange, frozen feeling of London's lockdown, when normal life stopped and everything felt wrong. Works like "pandemic," "another alexandra palace spring," "morning," "morning winging," and "desert rain in London" share this.
They speak to the quiet sadness, the longing for change, the blurred seasons, and the shared stillness felt by people everywhere—giving the poems a truly universal reach.
London appears often, in titles such as "britannia," "London beat," and "a London dream." Parks like “regent's park”, “another alexandra palace spring”, and “lebanese cedar”, everyday scenes with “pigeons in enfield”, and cultural spots like Tate Britain all come alive. The fog, rain, and lively mix of cultures pulse through these lines. At times, we sense the immigrant's quiet distance or fragile sense of safety.
Poems such as "pigeons in enfield", "boss," "postmodernist times," "britannia," and "coffee" paint portraits of a woman sinking into deep sadness. From London, the poems reach farther, calling up many lands and the feeling of belonging to several worlds at once. Pieces like "the sky above california", "London, Taipei”, "in oxford," "devon," "cornish canvas," "the ballad of penzance," "beyond the horizon," "there, the town on the black sea coast" and “lebanese cedar”, carry us to California, Asian cities, Oxford, rugged coasts, Black Sea towns, Ireland, Ukraine, Lebanon, and more. "in oxford" leads to ancient courtyards, lavender roses, and angelic stone carvings—opening space for quiet, dreamy thought. "london, Taipei" blends London with Asia through coastal waves and yellow evenings under hazy skies. "devon" and "Cornish canvas" evoke rugged shores; "beyond the horizon" touches Ireland in 1839. "the state of war" nods to Estonia.
These places trace the poet's own path of movement—Poland to California to London—and her blended cultural roots. Poland returns through memory and history, not as it is today but as the poet recalls it from childhood, loss, and political pain. Family figures appear: grandmother, mother, father, an old wrestler, a sharp-dressed young man in a café, an elderly woman from Poland. We see cattle trucks rolling east in wartime terror, the empty silence of 1980s martial law. In "shoes," shoes walk into the sunset but never toward sunrise again. That quiet grief becomes ours too. Echoes of 20th-century suffering rise through dreams, objects, and scenes in poems like "cherries" and "paper scraps are the best.” "a london dream" recalls wartime deportations. These are poems that carry the heavy weight of exile, yet they hold tender, powerful glimpses of loved ones and private sorrow, turning raw feeling into something lasting.
Poems such as "a frame of the sun," "my mother," "birth," "morning," and "morning winging" show gentle, shining views of family and grief. Dedications to her late son bring extra emotional strength.
References to Joseph Conrad on writing in a foreign tongue in “joseph cornard’s reflection”, “socrates facing hot weather”, “monet's lilies”, and the “lebanese cedar” stretch geography into deeper cultural and philosophical ground. Through all these places, Mickiewicz seems to map her inner world, shaped by constant movement. The poems do not show tourist views; they hold sharp sensory pieces and emotional shapes. In the end, they guide us not just across countries, but through the lived feeling of existing between them.
The planet appears both near and endless. This collection links far-apart points without hard borders. It becomes a careful record of exile, loss, history, and quiet wonder.
The English word "ivy" comes from Hebrew roots meaning “God's gift" or even "wine." Recall the lines Anna wrote in another poem called "May":
“Language braided with ivy
touches the streams of rain
Clouds thunder, swelled with the wind
They breathe heavily with the smell of forsythia and lilacs
The pond swings a silver fir tree
The time of sunny spaces is coming
London 2018”
These words hold the heart of her poetry—gentle yet deep, touching the world with grace and quiet power.
[Author :Shajil Anthru, Kerala, India]