onsdag 10 augusti 2016

Stitched in quilt : The law of love

 

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  Det tycks som om jag förlorar kampen om bokleveranserna och tvingas senarelägga upplösningen av PMC i nästa vecka. I kväll får ni åtminstone utslaget från de två avslutande kvartsfinalerna.

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  I den tredje kvartsfinalen möttes USA och Litauen. Poeterna fick medelbetyg kan man säga. Första halvlek slutade 4-2 till Litauen och det var Ilze Butkute som fick den högsta poängen, en trea. Hennes dikt har en minnesvärd titel.

To yearn is to walk with one's hands, by Ilze Butkute
(Published in Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences. Volume 60, No.1 - Spring 2014. Translation: Rimas Uzgiris)

Forgive me, I didn’t tell you – I grew up in a circus.
They left me to study with the magician –
to draw a handful of rabbits from the night.

And someone without a ticket,
unbuttoned to the dusk, taught me
the courage to rise – never to shatter.

I was raised by ten dwarves.
I helped them with costumes and makeup,
and leaning over, I listened to lullabies –

I outgrew them and my time there.
They would tell me: to travel is to be late
to those places that don’t know you.

I was raised by a blind acrobat –
he trained me to forget the pull of the earth
and to walk with my hands through every


town of the valley so that my shoes
would fill up with the sky. In a field
of narrowing tires, I was the target.

And I wasn’t allowed to touch – not the walls,
not strange voices, not fear – until I could
stand still through the flight of knives:

whatever is domesticated by the blade – remains.
They remembered me of their own accord.
Please, just don’t say that you pity me.

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  I andra halvlek var det amerikanska Juliet P Howards tur att erhålla en trepoängare. Men det räckte inte för USA eftersom andra halvlek slutade 3-3. Litauen går till semifinal med totalt 7-5. Marius Burokas hade inte lika starka dikter i den här matchen, men jämnheten förde laget vidare. Juliets dikt får ni här:

Ida Mae's quilt: Lady Fern, by Juliet P Howard
(Published in http://talkingwriting.com/. December, 2011.)


Ida Mae stitches sea-foam green throughout her favorite quilt. 
When springtime sun hits the cloth at just the right angle, 
deep collard-colored veins split skin, 
while white powder puff clouds kiss cotton candy blue borders. 
Ida gets lost staring at that sky. That sky frames trees; 
those trees become chartreuse algae hanging from an ocean of cloth, 
its cover so bright it lights her room at night. 
Ida spends hours cutting fabric. 
Her fingers trace perennial lacy fern-green leaves; 
delicate stitching extends over swatches of cloth; 
sturdy tentacles push up and out through cracks in rock, cloth, even skin. 
Ida’s fingers, worn from sewing, cutting, stitching, 
seek moistness, trace delicate fingertips upward, 
as new fronds sprout from her fingers.

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  Ryssland tog sig an Danmark i den sista kvartsfinalen. Första halvlek var väldigt svår att poängsätta. Till slut landade poängen i en 4-2-ledning för Ryssland. I andra halvlek fick endast Morten Søndergaard och Andrej Sen-Senkov utdelning, tre till Morten och två till Andrej. Slutresultatet blev alltså Ryssland-Danmark 6-5 och ryssarna får mäta sig med grannlandet Litauen i semifinal.
  Kvällens sista ord går till Morten Søndergaard.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Carlisle Wall (The Lovers)

The lovers, by Morten Søndergaard
(Danish original from At holde havet tilbage med en kost. Copenhagen, 2004. Translation: Barbara Haveland and John Irons, 2007.)

I awake in a land where the lovers have seized power. They have introduced laws decreeing that no one will ever again have to look away, and that orgasms need never come to an end. Roses function as currency, the insane are worshipped as gods, and the gods are considered insane. The postal service has been reinstated and the words ‘you’ and ‘I’ are now synonymous. After the revolution it was decided that broken-hearted lovers should be eliminated for the safety of those happy in love. When they track me down I immediately surrender. The executioner is a woman and it is quickly done. It is winter and I have not met you yet.

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