From ‘I CIVIL’

By Jacob Silkstone

 

[one_half]You’re so quiet

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 Garrett [/one_half]
Du er så stille

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. 

About the translator: 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
blue mermaid, by Fanitsa Petrou
Next Read
Literature.Dec 1, 2013

From ‘I CIVIL’

“When we lie in bed long enough,/ the boundaries of our bodies dissolve.” Weekend poem, by Amalie Smith. Translated from Danish by Paul Russell Garrett.

By Jacob Silkstone