Language: Faroese
Poet: Beinir Bergsson
Translator: Marita Thomsen
Region: Faroe Islands
SHARE:
my beard softens into woolly tufts
Five poems from Sólgarðurin by Beinir Bergsson, translated from Faroese by Marita Thomsen
Beinir Bergsson (b. 1997) is a trailblazer. His second poetry collection Sólgarðurin, [The Sun Trap] (forthcoming in a bilingual Faroese-English edition), reads as a sensual celebration of unabashed desire between men juxtaposed with lyrical reminiscence and longing. It is the first explicit collection of queer poetry written in the Faroe Islands.
Marita Thomsen was born in the Faroes where the wind roars, and lives in Keele
where it whispers. Her love of languages and stories has crystallised into translations from Faroese including a bilingual poetry collection
Darkening/Myrking by Sissal Kampmann and a novel On the Other Side is March by Sólrún Michelsen, both published by Francis Boutle Publishers.
*
Omma plagdi at stinga
hondina inn í runnagirðingina
toygdi seg eftir berum
til okkum
hon skurslaði hondina
av greinum
hon segði
urtagarðurin trívist
tá hann fær eitt sindur av blóði
*
Omma would always plunge
her hand into the hedge
reaching for berries
to gift us
she grazed her hand
on the branches
she said
the garden thrives
on blood and bone
*
Eg fann ein leyk
í tíni mold í morgun
klipti
blómurnar
í mínum hári
plantaði tær
við tína grøv
vóni
at nýggju røturnar
festa búgv
at vit kunnu skapa
eitt nýtt samband
*
I found a bulb
in your soil this morning
cut
the flowers
in my hair
planted them
by your grave
hoping
that fresh roots
will make it their home
that we can grow
a new connection
*
Tú kínir mær
upp eftir lørunum
eg andi inn
lógvarnir
danda á búkinum á mær
meðan tú mussar meg
á bróstrumið
kitlar meg
við tínum skeggi
borar fingrarnar í ístrið
um miðjuna
eins og blámaðkur
ið eingi eygu hevur
men kennir munin á ljósi og myrri
andar gjøgnum sína og nú mína húð
tú velitr á búkinum
vísir mær
epli
gularøtur
ið eru sprottin úr mær
*
Your caress
glides up my thighs
I breathe deep
your palms
seesaw on my belly
as you kiss me
on the chest
tickle me
with your beard
bore your fingers in the suet
girding my waist
like a blue-grey worm
sensing without sight
the contrast between light and dark
breathing through its and now my skin
you plough my paunch
and show me
carrots
potatoes
all sprouted from me
*
Tú heldur um mínar hendur
leggur tunguna móti oyra
mín reyv slær røtur í seingini
meðan búkurin
lyftir seg upp frá
til hann kennir
títt búkgras
eg missi andan
mítt skegg mýkist
til ullhár
eins og mýrufípa
ið veksur á vátlendi
*
You pin my hands
curl your tongue around my ear
my arse grows roots in the bed
as my back
arches
until I feel
your belly grass
I lose my breath
my beard softens
into woolly tufts
like cottongrass
wafting in the wetlands
*
Eg taki ein barabrustelk úr sólgarðinum
sum vit settu niður saman
dyppi hann í sukur
kenni teg á míni tungu
*
I pull a rhubarb stalk from the suntrap
together we planted its bare root
I dip it in sugar
feel you on my tongue
These poems are from the collection Sólgarðurin, published by Forlagið Eksil (2021), which was nominated for the 2022 Nordic Council Literature Prize.
