msp. 20
i saw my brother sitting close to me across from
his throat and part of his shoulder. seriously
now, gray sky back then: dont know
oh yeah it was stormy, i had running shoes on
the sky: dont know
behind my little brother sat the man in the green sweater who didnt know i idolized him
thought about sitting in his bed
from there seeing him in his kitchen his back to me
cutting a tomato in two
or a bigger fruit or a cucumber
i: sitting in his bed on the edge of the bed
outside the apartment a person goes by, mute in the storm
silently silently over the skin
he divides the fruit in two
before the meal in a valley between hills this town
its not his breath im hearing
from the kitchen the ultimate sigh, the skin triumphs
outside the apartment a person goes by, ignorant of the scene
the inviolability of this tomato, whether or not its whole: without meaning and silent
on the cutting board still for thought
before we then will want to sit on the edge of the bed blue legs or his closer to yellow
By Asta Olivia Nordenhof
Translated by Susanna Nied
THE EASINESS AND THE LONELINESS
Written by Asta Olivia Nordenhof
Translated by Susanna Nied
Published by Open Letter, 2018
Asta Olivia Nordenhof (b. 1988) debuted in 2011 with her novel Et ansigt til Emily. She is a graduate of the School of Authors in Copenhagen, and was awarded the 2013 Montanas Literature Prize for her poetry collection Det nemme og det ensomme (“The Easiness and the Loneliness”).
Susanna Nied is an American writer and translator. She has been honored with the Landon Translation Award of the Academy of American Poets (2007) and has twice been named a finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation (2005, 2012). Her translations of Danish poet Inger Christensen are published by New Directions.
