Language: Norwegian
Poet: Kristin Berget
Translator: Kathleen Maris Paltrineri
Region: Norway
SHARE:
if the sea draws back
Five poems by Kristin Berget, translated from Norwegian by Kathleen Maris Paltrineri
Kristin Berget debuted in 2007 with the collection of poems loosing louise. She has since published five collections as well as the novel Sonja Sacre Coeur. Nominated for the Brage Prize in 2017, and when the light comes it will be fantastic is Berget’s first collection translated into English.
Kathleen Maris Paltrineri is a Visiting Writer in Literary Translation at the University of Iowa and a 2021-2022 Fulbright Translation Fellowship recipient to Norway. Her translations of Kristin Berget have appeared in Guernica, Brink, and Poetry in Action. Paltrineri’s poetry has recently appeared in Bennington Review, CALYX, and jubilat.
*
We must share this
be here in warmth sheltered from the whimsical sea it will storm again
The breasts are full of milk that rushes
The mouths: identically sugarstinking
The sea will roll in over the beach salt dries the lips seaweed is unwound
from the hair
Now it rushes in
Forests are filling
The tide must promise
to take the heather
back with it
*
Vi må dele dette
være her i varmen i ly for det lunefulle havet det vil trekke opp igjen
Brystene er fulle av melk som driver
Munnene: identiske sukkerstinkende
Havet vil rulle inn over stranden saltet tørke ut leppene tangen vikles ut
av håret
Nå driver det inn
Skogene fylles
Tidevannet må love
å ta lyngen
med tilbake
*
The lighthouse lantern flickers asleep we wake in fits and starts before floating day and night between
sleeping and waking Here the mountain air is sharp the ptarmigans startle wake us eventually
Now the sea rises draws in over the pebbles it will leave behind shells and gravel
Everything that falls out of boats and ships can be washed into new forms
collecting at the edge of the woods for us to gather tomorrow
if the sea draws back
*
Fyrlyset flakker søvnen vi våkner rykkvis før vi flyter et døgn mellom
søvn og våken Her er fjellufta skarp rypene støkker vekker oss til slutt
Nå stiger havet drar seg innover rullesteinene det vil legge igjen skjell og grus
Alt som faller ut av båter og skip kan vaskes til nye former
legge seg i skogkanten for at vi skal kunne samle i morgen
hvis havet drar seg tilbake
*
They had taken her from us to weigh and measure her still bleeding I lay
with my legs high It was Saturday morning the light was dim We must explain to her
about the light about the dreams made visible on the surface of skin about the tide
that rises about the branches that might grow about the forest that calls
The forest is calling
*
De hadde tatt henne fra oss for å veie og måle henne jeg lå med beina høyt
blødde fortsatt Det var lørdag morgen lyset var dunkelt Vi må forklare henne
om lyset om drømmene som kommer til syne i det ytterste hudlaget om havet
som flør om grener som kan vokse om skogen som lokker
Skogen lokker
*
Do not be fooled this is not a folktale This is we move continually
toward darkness among the wild sweet peas that bloom in pasture A sunflower
has lost its way by means of a bird And clover we need the nitrogen
we say Dropping a bone just a knee into the plow’s furrow
*
La deg ikke lure dette er ikke et folkeeventyr Dette er vi beveger oss stadig inn
mot mørket under de ville erteblomstene som springer opp i enga En solsikke
har forvillet seg ved hjelp av en fugl Og kløver vi trenger nitrogenet
sier vi Slipper en knokkel bare et kne ned i plogfuren
*
I do not name earth
I do not name god
I do not name I
I do not name oil
or ointment
or the dirty ocean
Laying the brow against the cobblestone
opening the palms to the air
filling the lungs with dust and fluid
expecting one more heat
that rages through the body
The child I name
flame and ash
*
Jeg navngir ikke jord
jeg navngir ikke gud
jeg navngir ikke jeg
jeg navngir ikke oljen
eller salven
eller det skitne havet
Legger pannen mot brosteinen
vender håndflatene opp mot luften
fyller lungene med støv og væske
forventer enda en varme
som raser gjennom kroppen
Barnet gir jeg navn
ild og aske
