of the 48 months,
we’ve known each other
Now it’s light out, before I wake
I experience it as overexposed
overheated dreams
April er den smukkeste
af de 48 måneder,
vi har kendt hinanden
Nu er det lyst, før jeg vågner
Jeg mærker det som overbelyste,
ophedede drømme
from behind the house
as if it had slept in a box
You say, you were lying awake most of the night
You were thinking about
what we could do together
Tell me everything
bag huset,
som sov den i en æske
Du siger, du lå vågen det meste af natten
Du lå og tænkte på,
hvad vi kunne gøre sammen
Fortæl mig det hele
landing in the eaves on the house across the street,
and another one follows,
spreading out its tail feathers
You spread our legs in a fan
across the sheets
lande i tagrenden på huset overfor,
og en anden følger efter,
spreder halefjerene ud
Du spreder vores ben i en vifte
ud over lagnet
the boundaries of our bodies dissolve
I say: newborn babies
have cause to cry,
when their clothes are taken off,
if it’s true that they think,
that part of themselves,
disappears with the clothes
opløses kroppenes grænser
Jeg siger: Nyfødte børn
har grund til at græde,
når man klæder dem af,
hvis det er sandt, at de tror,
det er en del af dem selv,
der forsvinder med tøjet
and warm
Square metres of skin
flaked and chapped by heat
Then we go down for bread,
white yeast bread,
which you sink your teeth into
while I sink my teeth into you
an amorphous structure
I slip under the duvet
and address you
from within
~ Paul Russell GarrettÂ
og varm
Kvadratmeter af hud,
der skaller og sprækker af varme
Så går vi ned efter brød,
hvidt gærbrød,
som du sætter tænderne i,
mens jeg sætter tænderne i dig,
en amorf struktur
Jeg glider ind under dynen
og henvender mig til dig
indefra
~ Amalie Smith
Amalie Smith graduated from the Danish Academy of Creative Writing in 2009 and has published five books. Her latest collection, the critically-acclaimed ‘I CIVIL’ (literally, ‘in plain clothes’) (Dansk Gyldendal, 2012), is currently being translated into English and Swedish. Smith works in an interdisciplinary field between text and photography, video and installation and is currently an MFA student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.Â
About the translator:Â Paul Russell Garrett is a freelance translator based in London. His previous translation work includes an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ (Et dukkehjem).
blue mermaid, by Fanitsa Petrou
