I have lately read in the internet some blog entries and poems written by American poets in which I felt a condescending attitude towards Europe and Europeans. Since I was born in Europe and live here now I started to feel addressed - even though I have also an American citizenship, I've spent many years in the USA, almost my entire family lives there and I love that country. I felt that I need to talk about it, write about it, and do something with the uneasy feeling that I discovered inside of me. 

When I moved from one country to another I always found myself in a similar situation - defending the country I just moved from and trying to understand the new one that I just started to live in. I always wished that the people would start to concentrate on the things that we could do together, on the things that we could learn from one another but most of the time - confronted with someone new from another country, from another culture and perhaps from another religious background - most people react by looking at the differences, at things that divide and those things they talk about again and again. After a few moves from one country to another I could have predicted the conversations I was going to have in the first few months. What a boring perspective. Instead of having fun, enjoying life, books, movies, food, I was going to have hour long conversations about the differences between Europe and America, between France and Germany, between Austria and Poland, etc... A pain in the neck... I don't like those conversations. I can't stand them. Luckly enough - there are some people I know long enough in Europe and long enough in America that I don't need to waist my time discussing the differences of the history of  the 2 continents that I live on. Because Only the surface is different - deep down all the people are similar. Lets try to look deeper inside instead of looking on the surface. Or if you don't feel like looking deeper inside let's at least try to like, or even better - love each other. When we fall in love, we overcome the differences, we stop looking at the surface, we stop analyzing things, and we feel how close one human being is to another despite his religion or the country of his origin.

A poem that I wrote thinking about living in between cultures - having 2 citizenships - the American and the Polish and having lived in Austria and in France on top of that 2 citizenships..:

my cotton candy cloud

above the Atlantic Ocean
watching the waves
and the coast coming closer
between cultures
outside
but then again
inside of them
on a white sugary cloud
how I do love cotton candy in Vienna's Prater
and on Coney Island
sweet cotton candy
on the bottom of my soul
and why do Americans think so highly of themselves
only because they have so much space
and more chewing gum
cars
tv sets
movie stars
singers
tv stations
homeless people in big cities
spaceships
nuclear bombs
than the rest of the world
and why do they despise Europeans
that cloud is so pretty and it really is above
sweet cotton candy
tastes really the same in Paris, Vienna and New York
and Coca Cola tastes the same everywhere
and kisses in a dark alley
and hot skin on hot naked skin
in an old elevator going up to the 21st floor
why do Europeans think so highly of themselves
because they have more old buildings
music
paintings
sculptures
and houses that have been built over 1000 years ago
and have been kept for so long
how I love the house of my friend Ines
from the 13th century
so cozy and warm windows so small
and only one family lives there since the 13th century
but why does she think
being in charge of culture in her town
that Americans have no culture and are so naive
but at the same time so aggressive
why does she spoil the nicest evening with the great Spanish wine
by the old fireplace
raising her voice
asking me the question
why do they want to control the world
and "why are you so American"
and why am I in the middle
in the rain
on the ground in between
I have to fly up to my cloud
above
where I am alone with my laptop
my sweet cotton candy cloud
over the Atlantic somewhere
and I hope
that one day
when I will be in the Hamptons
by my so wonderful friends
I will not hear again
"those Europeans! You are not really European
you belong to us"
please
come
join me on my cotton cloud
if you think
that there is no perfect place
no better place
there are no perfect people
no better people
but love is perfect
holding me tight is better
feeling hot breath on the neck
flying up to the stars with me
and falling then into the night
darker than the darkest night
but never touching the ground
flying up again towards the glimmering stars
mouth on mouth
eyes in front of eyes
come fly with me around the Universe
and back
let me taste your sweet memories
of your first kiss
let us fly on my white sweet cotton candy cloud
to Europe
and let us make love
in one of the old gates
to some old castle
or on a hill in the Toscany between ripe grapes
put the grapes in my mouth
and forget the prejudices against Europeans
I will eat grapes from your hand
in Toscany and in California
and then
taste the sweet grape juice on your tongue
flying with you again
up to the cloud above the prejudices
and then up to the stars
where you will take me
dancing with me in a slow motion
and together we will forget
the history
the past wars
between the shooting stars inside
outside
above
the differences
I will give you the best blueberries you have ever tasted
from a forest in the east of Poland
and I wouldn't mind
if you would pour over them
the greatest maple syrup from Vermont
how great your fingers would taste
after eating those blueberries
if you think
that love is better
than everything else
come to my cloud

Bozena Intrator