Twyla M. Hansen (f. 1949) växte upp i nordöstra Nebraska på mark som hennes morföräldrar odlade i slutet av 1800-talet. De var invandrare från Danmark. Hon bor och arbetar i Lincoln, där hennes trädbevuxna mark upprätthålls som "urban wildlife habitat". Det är av betydelse att nämna hennes engagemang för naturens livsmiljöer eftersom det genomsyrar hennes dikter.
Hennes senaste bok, Dirt Songs: A Plains Duet (Backwaters Press 2011), är ett samarbete med Linda Hasselstrom. Boken vann 2012 Nebraska Book Award för poesi, och var finalist till the Willa Literary Award och till High Plains Book Award.
Hennes nordiska rötter behandlas med en "twist" i dikten "Saga".
Saga, by Twyla M. Hansen
(from Dirt songs : a plains duet : poems. Omaha, Neb. : Backwaters Press, 2011.)
They're still at it, waging battles worthy of a Viking
headline som ten centuries later, those northern
legendaries who stormed sea and land by boat.
Stockholm had declared itself the Capital of
Scandinavia. Copenhagen responded, flexing
muscle, attempting to retake its 16th-century trademark.
And it seems IKEA, the furniture giant, uses Swede
names for its shiniest, comfiest furnishings while Danish
towns are relegated to doormats, rugs and carpets.
No accident, according to one critic. "It is exactly 350 years
since Swedes took the Halland, Skåne and Blekinge regions
from Denmark." Demographic lessons die hard.
Raiders with style, the Vikings turned out to be
technologists ahead of their time, builders of sophisticated
ships and towns, and not just bear-skinned berserkers.
But with all those fjords and feuds between them, who can
blame one or the other for claiming Odin to be on his side?
As it happened in this country, too, late 19th century,
whenn my Dane grandfather registered for citizenship
at the county courthouse, the Swede clerk entered
granddad's name ending in "son" instead of "sen".
Half a world from their homelands, the Swede shrugged,
said it didn't matter, while at his mercy Hans Peter Wilhelm
Paulsen knowing blødende well it did.
***
Hon har varit presentatör åt The Humanities Nebraska Speaker’s Bureau sedan 1992, och arbetat med läs- och diskussionsprogram samt workshops över hela Nebraska.
Nu har hon ett liknande program genom The Nebraska Arts Council. Sedan hon blev Poet Laureate har hon skapat en Facebook-sida för att ytterligare kunna sprida artiklar, nyheter, dikter, länkar till webbsidor och andra föremål av intresse för poeter, författare och läsare i Nebraska.
Taking the Young Child, by Twayla M. Hansen
(from Dirt songs : a plains duet : poems. Omaha, Neb. : Backwaters Press, 2011.)
I take the young child to see the blossoms:
four-direction openings of the pure white cross -
Cornus. She is only three, yet she knows of gift,
rises on her tiptoes to inhale it. But of suffering?
The pain of storms, covering my ears when branches
twist and fall from unseasonable weather. Oh
dogwood of the southern hardwood forests, I worry
over your misplaced finery, your tender display.
The young child, without hesitation, gathers each
bloom - lilac, tulip, viburnum - imprinting spring.
Her eyes are hazel, lips a cupid rose, hair the silk
of maplewood, her face the flower I bend to kiss.
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