Szymon Babuchowski’s work adheres to the religious-philosophical movement in contemporary poetry (W. Wencel, P. Sarna, M. Cielecki etc.), sometimes called “new metaphysics” (K. Maliszewski), for whom Christian tradition is the prevailing point of reference. We see some signals of a poetry world view drawing from a religious axiological horizon in Babuchowski’s first volume (Matters of Life, Matters of Death, 2002; mentions in the third edition of the Father Baka Competition). In later poetry collections (The Time of Clattering Clackers, 2004; Poems to the Wind, 2008), the search for the sacred becomes an essential part of the poet’s lyrical imagination, though the everyday details of life still hold an important place. Religious symbolism also encourages this reading of Babuchowski’s best volume, Departure Schedule (2011), dedicated to his wife, who speaks of real journeys from the author’s life, and evokes the topos of the road as a metaphor for God’s plan (incidentally, the poetry goes beyond this sphere into communal experiences, such as the Smoleńsk disaster).

The poetic spiritual maturation of the protagonist (the alter ego of the author), first involving youthful romantic disappointments, doubts, and hesitations, over time, after some essential inner cleansing and finding peace in the heart, being reborn into a testimony of a Christian affirmation of human existence. Published in 2014, Babuchowski’s selection of poems Before You Come: Metaphysical and Religious Poems – the second after The Orange Tree (2011) – brilliantly visualizes the sacred dimension of his poetry. Among its key contemporary patrons is Wojciech Wencel, and from the more remote past, Jerzy Liebert. Critics also point out the poet’s affinity for literary tradition (e.g. “meliczny,” or language-oriented poetry), and a style that sometimes unexpectedly breaks down into modern forms of communication (text messages).

Babuchowski presents his work in musical form with his band, Dobre Ludzie (an extension of the Babuchowski & Filipowicz project). In conceiving these poetic songs and singing them, he takes the role of the “music-making poet” (as he calls himself). The stylistically diverse work of the group (Latino music, rock, blues, jazz) eludes easy classification. Their crowning achievement was the album Gentle Crossing, released in 2015. Babuchowski’s poems have been translated into Spanish, French, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, and Montenegran.