Translated from the Icelandic by聽Meg Matich.聽
This is part of our special feature, New Nordic Voices.
Time is time is time is
time vanished
into a tree.
One day, a branch reached
down from the sky.
Ripples in the bath. You sit
naked on the tub鈥檚 ledge, feet touch bottom,
blood drips from your nose, aquiline.
It figures a wave
over your lips, chin, neck, cuts a path
to your sternum.
A single red thread, unguided,
traces a path. Traces,
of what?
Watch the sky
crash into the sea
marvel
at the infinite falling
black stones
the world, floating.
Soff铆a Bjarnad贸ttir is an聽Icelandic novelist and poet born in Reykjav铆k 1975. Her first novel, Segulskekkja (Magnetic Declination) was published 2014 and translated into French, J 虂ai toujours ton coeur avec moi, in 2016. Soff铆a holds Cand. mag. in Comparative Literature and Creative Writing and has also studied Theatre Studies. Her first poetry collection, Beinhv铆t skurn (Bone White Shell) was published in 2015. Her newest poetry collection, 脡g er h茅r (I Am Here) is from 2017. In I Am Here she writes about the beauty and cruelty of love as a catalyst for transformation, – about time, death and rebirth.
is a Reykjavik-based translator-poet. She鈥檚 received numerous awards for her work as a translator from organizations like the聽Icelandic聽Literature Centre,聽PEN America, and the聽Fulbright聽Commission, and has translated poetry for聽UNESCO.聽Cold Moons聽(2017 Phoneme Media) is her first full-length translation of聽T铆mi kaldra m谩na聽by Magn煤s Sigur冒sson. The work (EN/IS) has been 鈥榯ranslated鈥 into聽聽by composer David R. Scott.聽Her translations have appeared or are forthcoming in places like The Boston Review, Gulf Coast, Asymptote, and Words Without Borders. She is currently editing and translating an anthology of 32 Icelandic poets for The Caf茅 Review鈥檚 Summer 2018 issue.
Published on April 17, 2018.
