WINNER (click for full-size)
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Kategoriarkiv: English
1:2
Above the clouds, everything is an optical illusion.
It’s a question of faith
that the airplane I’m sitting in is moving at 400 miles per hour
faster
than a horse carriage
and that another plane is not suspended in stillness
above the horizon at the end
of a tail of smoke
but is moving just as fast
without passing anything I can use as a background.
I’m not designed for great spaces.
I’m not mutated enough for these sights.
1:1
the moment I leave the country
my money turns to metal in my hand
and my language becomes a secret I can say out loud
I’m a radio broadcasting noise on all channels
I’m a newly built estate full of objects without function
their beauty preserved, but their sentimental value destroyed
because everyone who loved them
is dead
CPH-SHF-SHF-CPH
I recently travelled to Sheffield and back, and during the trip, I conducted the experiment of trying to write non-stop. It wasn’t easy – constant new impressions and being ushered from bus to train to plane etc. every few hours made for not-very-constant writing. But I did manage to complete a handful of writings, which were in Danish, but which could be easily translated into English. I figure this group of poems especially should be bilingual, considering the travel connection. :) So while I’m putting up a Danish poem from the trip every Wednesday, I’ll post the English version of said poem every Monday. The first one will be posted above immediately. I’ll tag these poems with ‘cph-shf-shf-cph’ and of course ‘English’.
Jeg er alene i en verden af kroppe [17:21]
I am alone in a world of bodies
that grasp my engineering feats
like leeches biting into a shoe
surprised that this flesh is without blood
Drag queen
It’s as if every day a peacock’s tail rises from your ass like a moonlit halo. I can’t see it, but I can feel its eyes staring at me like a starched audience. I try to match your glamour, but all my outfits are incomplete without that invisible accessory.
Reading: Paper
This piece is called ‘Paper’ and is from my book Noah’s Ark. The video was shot in Engelberg, Switzerland.
***
“When God told Noah that the flood was coming, he immediately started building a gigantic ship which was to contain a summary of everything. But if he had only made a ship large enough for himself and a large quantity of paper and ink, he could have created a truly new world through the description of everything he had seen. God created everything on Earth as a book for man to read, and so it was foolish just to choose a number of animals that wouldn’t mean more to Noah after the flood than before, and which would only repeat what had already been created. I believe Noah misinterpreted God’s command when he chose to bring a stable instead of a representation. He made his own existence superfluous.” Says the professor, while the students take notes. After the lecture, to the bitter and uncomprehending protests of the students, he collects all their notes and reads them with a contented look on his face. He doesn’t recognize his own thoughts in a single one. At the last minute, he remembers to add his own manuscript to the pile before putting everything into his waterproof briefcase.
