Poems in english
3 poems in english from "On the other side", ed. Gyldendal 2008.
Translated by Lars Bastholm.
BENAJARAFE
here we are, then
seeing the tourists end the season
the beaches desolate
suddenly we spot the dead
africans who drowned fleeing from hunger
on the other side
and washed ashore
we must do something
the Eurocrats say
and decide to donate more money to
patrolling
as if the guarda civil wasn't already
looming over us like wasps
their rotating blades
cutting away the protective fonds
the local fishermen dragging ashore
leave them be
the seagulls take them
(like low-fat fast food hah hah hah)
the eyes especially
must be delicacies
full of horizons
HOME
there are other places than this
we don't know them
our own little implosive outskirts
here we stand
our own little mall
light through glass
dunking tins of canned mackerel
there is america there is thessaloniki
the ultimate fantasy: australia
not for us
what have we done to deserve this happiness
(oh the mackerel
you tiger-striped dream
of predators in the sea grass
in the darkness under the bed
merciless)
CHINATOWN 2
there are things I didn't say
other things
aside from what I also didn't say
essentially different
this adds a timbre I think
to the whole story a dying glimpse
of strange light as such
important to include
we sit behind heavy drapes
monumentally
with chicken feet in our soup
and unidentified vegetables
my face passes through your hand
love is not knowing everything
but mostly believing and again
be amazed