Poems by Marianne Larsen (2)
Stay where you are, even when you are asleep. Maybe open your eyes, if you wake up...
Marianne Larsen
Poems by Marianne Larsen
(2)
THE FURTHERMOST SHOP
the furthermost shop
lies like mist
before the eyes of the day's last
consumer
it seems to us clients
a reddish glow
from big display windows
is rising behind oceans
and distant whales of stone
we're trying to make it
before closing time
to see if the very
thing we want
has just come on the market
ourselves
----------------------------
in Danish
Den yderste butik
Den yderste butik
ligger som tågedis
for øjnene af dagens sidste
forbruger
som kundemenneske aner mand
et rødligt lys
fra store udstillingsvinduer
stige op bag oceaner
og stenhvaler i det fjerne
man prøver at nå frem
inden lukketid
for at se om det skulle være
kommet på markedet
som man lige står og mangler
sig selv
PASSIVITY
Uncover your left shoulder.
Press your lips against something missing there.
Maybe close your eyes.
Slowly sit down on the floor
in the corner of an empty room.
Stay in that position all day long.
Fall asleep in that position.
Stay where you are, even when you are asleep.
Maybe open your eyes, if you wake up.
-------------------------
in Danish
Passivitet
Blot den venstre skulder.
Pres læberne mod et savn dér.
Luk eventuelt øjnene.
Sæt dig langsomt ned på gulvet
i hjørnet af et tomt værelse.
Bliv i stillingen dagen igennem.
Fald i søvn i den stilling
Bliv hvor du er, også når du sover.
Luk eventuelt øjnene op, hvis du vågner.
HALLO
Every time the phone rings
I think it's somebody
mad with love
I refuse to believe
it's possibly
anyone else.
-----------------------
in Danish
Hallo
Hver gang telefonen ringer
tror jeg det er en eller anden
der er vild med kærlighed
jeg nægter at tro på
at det kan være alle mulige
andre
ONCE UPON A TIME
Once upon a time the grown ups woke me
from an afternoon sleep in late August.
I was lifted up from my bed.
Then put down.
They wanted to see if I could stand alone.
They had forgotten you don´t do that sort of thing
on a globe of clover flowers.
You crawl around on your four wings and fly.
-------------------------
in Danish
Der var engang
Der var engang de voksne vækkede mig
af en eftermiddagssøvn sidst i august.
Fra sengen blev jeg løftet op.
Og derefter sænket ned.
De ville se om jeg kunne stå fast.
De havde glemt at den slags gør man ikke
på en kløverblomstret klode.
Man kravler rundt påsine fire vinger og flyver
BETWEEN SHOPS AND OFFICES
Between shops and offices
suddenly this
a crowd of kids and adults
as usual with golden light
around their faces and their hands
as usual on their way
to thousand places
a crowd of kids and adults
a crowd of outdoors love
in the wind
between shops and offices
suddenly this
------------------------
in Danish
Mellem forretninger og kontorer
Mellem forretninger og kontorer
pludselig dette
en masse børn og voksne
som sædvanligt med et gyldent skær
omkring ansigter og hænder
som sædvanligt på vej
tusinde forskellige steder hen
en masse børn og voksne
en masse udendørskærlighed
i vinden
mellem forretninger og kontorer
pludselig dette
ONCE UPON A TIME
Once upon a time there was a telephone.
It stood in the living room of an eighty-year-old single women´s home.
Apart from the half hour when she went out shopping every day
the woman spent all her time in her living room
with the telephone and her pot plants.
After a long time had passed without anything happening
the telephone withered.
She carried it downstairs to the rubbish bin.
She was going down anyway with some old bread,
and to see if the snowdrops were in flower.
------------------------
in Danish
Der var engang
Der var engang en telefon.
Den stod i stuen hos en enlig firsårig kvinde.
Bortset fra den time det tog at gå i byen og handle ind hver dag
var kvinden altid i stuen hos telefonen og sine potteplanter.
Da der var gået meget lang tid, og der ikke skete noget,
visnede telefonen.
Hun bar den ned i skraldespanden.
Hun skulle alligevel ned med noget gammelt brød,
og ned for at se
om vintergækkerne var kommet.
AN EMPTY PLACE
you should have come
and have said
I like you very much
I hate the chair
you should have sat in
I am afraid my hatred
for that chair
is about to kill me
--------------------
in Danish
En tom plads
du skulle være kommet
og have sagt
jeg holder af dig
jeg hader stolen
du skulle have siddet i
jeg er bange for mit had
til den stol
det er ved at dræbe mig
ONCE UPON A TIME
Once upon a time there was a city in the night
with millions of locked doors.
Millions of inhabitants disappeared
into millions of locked rooms.
Did they all take me for a thief?
Once upon a time my unconscious had shut its gates.
It wanted to be left in peace.
Everything else about me walked around restlessly
circling the closed space.
Sighing, twisting, turning.
And so did you.
--------------------
in Danish
Der var engang
Der var engang en by med millionvis af låste
døre om natten.
Millionvis af indbyggere, forsvundne
i millionvis af aflåste rum.
Troede de da allesammen at jeg var en tyv?
Der var engang mit ubevidste havde lukket portene.
Det ville være i fred.
Alt andet ved mig gik hvileløst rundt udenfor.
Kredsede omkring det tillukkede.
Sukkede og vred sig.
Og det samme gjorde du.
ONCE UPON A TIME
Once upon a time I was standing right out in the sunshine.
This caused an air of transparency to embrace me all over.
I pretended nothing had happened and could only stand and look
far away into the clarity against my skin.
-----------------------------
in Danish
Der var engang
Der var engang jeg stod op midt i solskinnet.
Det bevirkede at en gennemsigtig luft kom nærmere.
Jeg lod som ingenting. Og kunne bare stå og se
meget langt i det klare mod huden.
HERE I AM
hugging the air
with you in it
when I am alone
--------------------
in Danish
Her er jeg
en favnfuld luft
med dig i
når jeg er alene
ONCE UPON A TIME
Once a time there was some of the colour orange
amongst the pebbles on the beach.
It was in the form og some flotsam –a workman´s glove.
I picked it up and took a long time to let it go.
The colour orange, and the glove.
Some ”made-in” labels named the places of their manufacture: Life.
------------------------
in Danish
Der var engang
Engang var der noget orange mellem et par strandsten.
Det forestillede en ilanddreven arbejdshandske,
som jeg samlede op og var længe om at give slip på.
Et ”made-in” –mærke gjorde rede for det orange
og handskens fremstillingssted: livet.
I FEEL
your present
arrange
every single one
of my cells
as only cells
can be arranged
to mean
love
-----------------------
in Danish
Jeg føler
dit nærvær
arrangere
hver eneste en
af mine celler
som kun sådan nogle
kan arrangeres
når der menes kærlighed
med dem
CONSULTATION
My psychology stays shut.
My senses are off on their travels.
The feeling in my lips has gone to bed early.
My blood type takes a walk in unnamed cultures without ruins.
My temperature is watching movies on the secret screens of
vanished walls.
My metabolism leans on an oaktree.
My voice is at singing lessons indoors.
My heart's also there.
My marrow spends its time trying to figure out
what songs are about.
--------------------------------
in Danish
Konsultation
Min psykologi holder lukket.
Mine sanser er på rejse væk.
Læbernes fornemmelser er gået tidligt til ro.
Min blodtype går tur i unavngivne kulturer uden ruiner.
Min temperatur ser film på forsvundne vægges lærreder.
Mit stofskifte læner sig mod et egetræ.
Min stemme er til sanglære indeni.
Hjertet er der også.
Min marv får tiden til at gå med at forstå
det der synges om.
SHOPPING
I go out to buy
a three-day-old breeze.
I get it at half price.
They say it is as good as new.
Neither reeds nor lovers
have worn it out.
It may still work many days to come
Work for what?
I forget to ask.
The offer seems so arvantageous.
---------------------
in Danish
Indkøb
Går ud og køber en tre år gammel sommerbrise.
Får den til halv pris.
De siger den er så god som ny.
Hverken siv, græs eller forelskede
har slidt nævneværdigt på den.
Den kan godt virke mange år endnu.
Jeg glemmer at spørge til hvad,
så fordelagtigt forekommer tilbuddet.
NIGHT
Black wax material covers up the stag figures
outside the shops when evening falls...
I have found remnants of it on the window ledge.
The shiny polished turnstiles which ornament
the entrance to the clouds...
I go through them every day.
Hearts on the point of beating the air intensify the silence
around the statues in the park...
I woke up to just such a silence a little while ago.
The empty glittering water surrounding the night
resembles glass...
The last time they wrote something about it
in the newspaper it was:
blue and raining.
---------------------------
in Danish
Nat
Det sorte voksmateriale, hjortefigurer uden for
forretningen
dækkes til med, når det bliver aften---
Jeg har fundet rester af det i vindueskarmen.
Det blankpudsede tælleapparat, som pryder indgangen
til skyerne---
Jeg går igennem det hver dag.
Bankeklare hjerter i luften, der giver stilheden
omkring statuerne i parken spænding---
Sådan en lydløshed vågnede jeg op til for lidt siden.
Det tomme, blinkende vand, som omgiver natten
og ligner glas---
Sidste gang de skrev noget om det i avisen var det:
blåt og det regnede.
EVENING FLIGHT
to flee where a shining whole day
has lain in the grass
to flee where there's no other possibility
than the possibility of feeling
the day's remaining warmth in the grass
to flee where a longing which is everyone's
suddenly stops, freed from doubt:
I feel it
I have it
I know some people's love
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