In 1948 the family moved to Poland and settled down in a one-room thatched house in the village of Łazieniec near Aleksandrów Kujawski, the mother's inheritance. Stachura finished grade school in Aleksandrów Kujawski in 1952, completing the program in just three years, even though, according to his mother, his skills in Polish were at first inadequate. He began high school in Ciechocinek. Originally Stachura planned a career in electrical engineering, and he also liked biology and geography, but his interests gradually shifted toward the visual arts and literature. Following conflicts with the school and with his father, Stachura moved to join his brother in Gdynia where he finished high school, graduating in 1956. During that time he published his first poems. After an unsuccessful attempt at enrolling in an arts college, he returned home, working menial jobs, writing poetry, and corresponding with other young writers. He then moved to Toruń, where he attended lectures in the art department at Nicolaus Copernicus University, and participated in the literary movement of the city.