(the original interpretation from the Swedish, plus progressively scaled down versions)
I
Origin
Dawn falters,
anxious, resigned, antiquated;
existence thin, with long intervals,
deep cavities,
ruptured situations, flaking memory-fragments,
hoarse voices in the amnesic choir;
the Dreamship moment prolonged
well into the forenoon, gaunt & bony,
skin yellow & taut,
sunlight sharp & chilly out in autumn’s age,
garish & damp;
cold feet, confusing messages,
the light starved of future & peace negotiations,
bent 'round heavy celestial bodies,
the body-constitution ready-for-shutdown
in a grainy identity full of air
& piles of stumbling letters,
traced after John Cage’s Empty Words;
a life on a spindle-back chair at a minimal table
with a glass of water, a desk lamp
& a manuscript
on finality’s darkened stage,
the auditorium impatiently motionless
at the verge of the smallest movement;
the palliative offered to the disobediently declared dead
and to the culture-dim, cremation-needy
in linoleum- & flock-flower-worlds;
the surly Tuesday dragging its tiradic freight of thoughts
over facial itches
in small perceptions of body
in gray-yellow towns with mainline-names
past express-train windows’ einstein-illustrations
of relativity,
faces suddenly smack-in-slaughter’s bloody feast,
while lowlife survivorship staggers by
on old-man-bicycle tires
over provincial dirt road potholes
through introverted coniferous forests,
& a dried-up housefly contemplatively buzzes
in a mitigated memory
among the remains in a graying autumn-house
on a hill of till in the history of humankind.
II
Mythic
Dawn falters,
thin as a breath between worlds,
cavities opening where memory flakes away,
the choir of the amnesic still murmuring.
The Dreamship drifts past morning,
skin taut, bones bare,
light sharp as a blade in autumn’s last season,
garish with damp and sorrow.
The body leans toward shutdown,
letters stumble,
shadows trace Cage’s Empty Words.
On finality’s stage a single chair,
a lamp, a manuscript,
water waiting in a glass.
The audience holds its breath,
motionless at the edge of movement.
Palliative offerings
to the culture-dim,
to the fire-needing dead.
Time drags its gray Tuesday
through towns of yellow dust,
faces smeared with relativity,
a feast of sudden slaughter.
Still, the remnant staggers onward
on old-man wheels,
through inward forests,
while a dried fly hums
in the house of autumn,
perched on the hill of humankind.
III
Fragments
Dawn falters –
thin breath,
cavities,
the amnesic choir.
Dreamship drifting,
skin taut, bones bare,
autumn light –
sharp, garish, damp.
Shutdown body,
letters stumbling,
Empty Words.
Chair. Lamp. Manuscript.
Final stage.
Audience – motionless.
Palliatives for the culture-dim.
Tuesday drags thought-freight
through yellow towns.
Faces smeared with relativity,
slaughter sudden.
Lowlife survivorship,
old-man wheels,
inward forests.
A dried fly hums –
among remains,
the autumn house,
hill of humankind.
IV
Epigraphic
Dawn falters.
Bones remember.
Light bends.
The Dreamship drifts
through autumn’s last house.
A fly hums
on the hill of humankind.
V
Runic Inscription
Dawn falters
Bones remember
Light bends
Dreamship drifts
Autumn house
Fly hums
Hill of man
Poetry by Ingvar Loco Nordin
Read 198 times
Written on 2025-10-01 at 10:23
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Write a comment (requires login)
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Print text
Among the Remains
I
Origin
Dawn falters,
anxious, resigned, antiquated;
existence thin, with long intervals,
deep cavities,
ruptured situations, flaking memory-fragments,
hoarse voices in the amnesic choir;
the Dreamship moment prolonged
well into the forenoon, gaunt & bony,
skin yellow & taut,
sunlight sharp & chilly out in autumn’s age,
garish & damp;
cold feet, confusing messages,
the light starved of future & peace negotiations,
bent 'round heavy celestial bodies,
the body-constitution ready-for-shutdown
in a grainy identity full of air
& piles of stumbling letters,
traced after John Cage’s Empty Words;
a life on a spindle-back chair at a minimal table
with a glass of water, a desk lamp
& a manuscript
on finality’s darkened stage,
the auditorium impatiently motionless
at the verge of the smallest movement;
the palliative offered to the disobediently declared dead
and to the culture-dim, cremation-needy
in linoleum- & flock-flower-worlds;
the surly Tuesday dragging its tiradic freight of thoughts
over facial itches
in small perceptions of body
in gray-yellow towns with mainline-names
past express-train windows’ einstein-illustrations
of relativity,
faces suddenly smack-in-slaughter’s bloody feast,
while lowlife survivorship staggers by
on old-man-bicycle tires
over provincial dirt road potholes
through introverted coniferous forests,
& a dried-up housefly contemplatively buzzes
in a mitigated memory
among the remains in a graying autumn-house
on a hill of till in the history of humankind.
II
Mythic
Dawn falters,
thin as a breath between worlds,
cavities opening where memory flakes away,
the choir of the amnesic still murmuring.
The Dreamship drifts past morning,
skin taut, bones bare,
light sharp as a blade in autumn’s last season,
garish with damp and sorrow.
The body leans toward shutdown,
letters stumble,
shadows trace Cage’s Empty Words.
On finality’s stage a single chair,
a lamp, a manuscript,
water waiting in a glass.
The audience holds its breath,
motionless at the edge of movement.
Palliative offerings
to the culture-dim,
to the fire-needing dead.
Time drags its gray Tuesday
through towns of yellow dust,
faces smeared with relativity,
a feast of sudden slaughter.
Still, the remnant staggers onward
on old-man wheels,
through inward forests,
while a dried fly hums
in the house of autumn,
perched on the hill of humankind.
III
Fragments
Dawn falters –
thin breath,
cavities,
the amnesic choir.
Dreamship drifting,
skin taut, bones bare,
autumn light –
sharp, garish, damp.
Shutdown body,
letters stumbling,
Empty Words.
Chair. Lamp. Manuscript.
Final stage.
Audience – motionless.
Palliatives for the culture-dim.
Tuesday drags thought-freight
through yellow towns.
Faces smeared with relativity,
slaughter sudden.
Lowlife survivorship,
old-man wheels,
inward forests.
A dried fly hums –
among remains,
the autumn house,
hill of humankind.
IV
Epigraphic
Dawn falters.
Bones remember.
Light bends.
The Dreamship drifts
through autumn’s last house.
A fly hums
on the hill of humankind.
V
Runic Inscription
Dawn falters
Bones remember
Light bends
Dreamship drifts
Autumn house
Fly hums
Hill of man
Poetry by Ingvar Loco Nordin
Read 198 times
Written on 2025-10-01 at 10:23
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email (requires login) Print text
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Lawrence Beck |
