Original text in Icelandic:
Þrjár skáldkonur
í hvítum brjóstahöldum
sitja í kringum lágt
hringborð.
Með bók við hönd.
Maður klæddur sjóræningjapeysu
kemur inn um dyrnar
úr snjóroki og sest
við borð kvennanna.
Klæðir sig úr peysunni.
Þegar hann snertir
eina þeirra
eru þær allar dánar.
Og lifna ekki við.
Þó þær bíði eftir kossum hans.
Þá stendur hann upp,
tekur hina snertu í fang sitt
og heldur á henni út.
Gegnumtrekkurinn
þegar dyrnar opnast og lokast
flettir síðum bókanna
þriggja.
English translation by Peter Constantine:
Three women poets
in white bras
sit at a small
round table.
Book in hand.
A man in a pirate sweater
comes in through the door
out of the snowstorm and sits down
at the women’s table.
He takes off his sweater.
He touches
one of them,
they are all dead.
And won’t come alive again.
Though they await his kisses.
Then he rises
scoops up in his arms the woman he had touched
and carries her out.
The draft
as the door flies open and falls shut
leafs through the pages of the three
books.
Source of the text – Kristin Omarsdottir, ""Þrjár skáldkonur." Words Without Borders (The Online Magazine for International Literature), October 2011. Web. Accessed October 17, 2011.
Bourguignomicon: Why a pirate sweater; do pirates wear sweaters? Six actions are declaratively presented as equals in this parable of poets awaiting readers.
Bourguignomicon: Why a pirate sweater; do pirates wear sweaters? Six actions are declaratively presented as equals in this parable of poets awaiting readers.
The Triple Goddess, the Three Fates, transmuted into three poets (?) encountered by a stealthy character wearing a "pirate sweater," who soon absconds with one he has touched. The three awaited his kisses, perhaps a sign of respect, or aesthetic initiation, though they won't revive from death. The imagery is powerful even if the narrative remains ambiguous.
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