what can you do, the evening falls over your shoulders
with a secret sound, like a moth-eaten rug, you know
exactly what I mean, you blue sparrow you red robin, you
old raven, to be precise, that the skies are flat and spread
out on every side, a dark-gray morning stares at the whole,
thinking heavily to itself: are you still here a little?
(night and day)
what can you do, the evening falls over your shoulders
with a secret sound, like a moth-eaten rug, you know
exactly what I mean, you blue sparrow you red robin, you
old raven, to be precise, that the skies are flat and spread
out on every side, a dark-gray morning stares at the whole,
thinking heavily to itself: are you still here a little?
(night and day)
a blue bird stares at me like an expert
at a dubious painting, not convinced
of either authenticity or goodness, but
elegantly and discreetly tolerant, the way
certain birds can be; a tall, heavy thing,
slow and slow-witted, it thinks: but maybe
we have to be here together for a time, so
one must pretend as though this fool
is good enough and just as authentic as
that worm despite its patent lack of stature
(this and that, romance)
what can you do, the evening falls over your shoulders
with a secret sound, like a moth-eaten rug, you know
exactly what I mean, you blue sparrow you red robin, you
old raven, to be precise, that the skies are flat and spread
out on every side, a dark-gray morning stares at the whole,
thinking heavily to itself: are you still here a little?
(night and day)
postcard from the country way
out in the country, where birds
circle and the woods are fading,
while churchbells toll and the corn
moans and groans like a person
who’s either joyful or desperate,
but in the middle of a field there’s
a billboard that reads, hell exists,
and another, thou shalt not fornicate;
just what I was thinking of doing
(cincinnati: hell is real)
By Per Aage Brandt
Translated by Thom Satterlee
IF I WERE A SUICIDE BOMBER
Written by Per Aage Brandt
Translated by Thom Satterlee
Published by Open Letter, 2017
In addition to his poetry, Per Aage Brandt has published a large number of books on the subjects of semiotics, linguistics, culture, and music. He has also translated Molière and the Marquis de Sade, among others, and has had some of his translations set to music in Frederik Magle’s Cantabile.
Thom Satterlee received his MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Arkansas, and has published two previous collections of Danish poetry in translation. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and PEN America, and won the Translation Prize from the American-Scandinavian Foundation.