I bend, cringe. I am less than a normal
person. I am a child. Less than a child. I am
an ape. I am a dog. Less than a dog. A cat.
A rabbit. I am a turtle. A frog. No, less than a frog. A grasshopper. A
…………….beetle. I am a
wood louse that hides beneath a bench. From there I cry: please. I cry
…………….please as
loud as I can.
•
It’s a little dusty in the room. And light flickers on
the wall from a passing car. Imagine if I could strip
off my body. Just strip off my body. Hang
it in the closet with the winter coats. I am so
tired. I am so tired. And the tabletop is a pond with
leaves on it. Deep at the bottom, I see a fish swimming.
The shadow of a movement just softer than thought.
Read more in Little Star Weekly
Gro Dahle’s Hundred Thousand Hours caused a sensation in Norway upon its publication in 1996 for its intimacy and its candor about the dark emotions of domestic life—sound familiar? Those Norwegians! Now it is available in English translation from Ugly Duckling Presse and we offer a little tour of its dark secrets this week in Little Star Weekly.
Translated by Rebecca Wadlinger
Gro Dahle is the author of twelve books of poems in her native Norwegian. Rebecca Wadlinger is a poet and translator from the Norwegian.
