from Eilífðarnón
the days converge on the hill / the dream merges with the days / I merge with the images
við öndum öll hægt
í takt
við öndum öll hægt
í takt
við takkana
andinn andar
líkaminn fylgir
heilinn er net í sjónum
hnit á miðum
hugsanir
heilinn er lestarstöð
brautarpallar
hugsanir
þessi fer með þig þangað
þessi fer með þig þangað
þessi fer með þig þangað
þessi fer með þig þangað
***
ekkert er eins og það virðist vera
allt
er
alls konar
kaffibolli er draumur
þornað hrísgrjón draumur
hringtorg draumur
farsími draumur
draumur draumur
svaðilför draumur
uglasatákvisti draumur
útvarpið draumur
demantur draumur
rifrildi speglun
ást ást
líkami hof
hof hús fyrir anda
***
[VAGN C]
gluggatjöldin dregin frá
ekkert
augun opnast
ekkert
tjörn myndast í hnakkanum
garðurinn í kring friðsæll draumur
við sjáum heiminn endurspeglast í tjörninni
skakkt afmyndað
í svefni er ger fugla
og alrauð kráka færir mér véfréttir á öxl úr væng eru myndir
í augunum
dagarnir renna saman í brekkunni
draumurinn rennur saman við dagana
ég renn saman við myndirnar
við horfum aftur
við horfum út
we all breathe slowly
to the rhythm
of the keys
the spirit suspires
the body follows
the mind is a net in the ocean
thoughts
the coordinates
the mind is a train station
thoughts
the platforms
this one takes you that way
this one takes you that way
this one takes you that way
this one takes you that way
***
nothing is as it seems
everything
is
all sorts
a cup of coffee is a dream
a dried grain of rice, a dream
a roundabout, a dream
a cell phone, a dream
a dream, a dream
an escapade, a dream
sixlittleducks, a dream
the radio, a dream
a diamond, a dream
an argument, a reflection
love, love
a body, a temple
a temple, a house for spirits
***
[CARRIAGE C]
the curtains open
nothing
the eyes open
nothing
a pond forms in the nape of the neck
the surrounding garden, a peaceful dream
we see the world reflected in the pond
crooked misshapen
in sleep there is a flock of birds
and a red-red crow on my shoulder relays soothsayings from its wing it brings images
to the eyes
the days converge on the hill
the dream merges with the days
I merge with the images
we look back
we look out
“við öndum öll hægt,” “ekkert er eins og það virðist vera,” and “[VAGN C]” from Eilífðarnón. Reykjavík: Partus forlag, 2019.
Image by Thomas Colligan.
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir is widely regarded as one of Iceland’s most innovative contemporary poets and performers. In 2021 she was nominated for the Bernard Heidsieck Literary Prize by the Centre Pompidou for her multidisciplinary poetry practice, which spans text, music, performance, visual art, and film. Ásta has received the prestigious Ljóðstafur Jóns úr Vör poetry prize (2017) and her debut collection, Eilífðarnón (2019), has been translated into Swedish and German.
Vala Thorodds is a poet, publisher, and editor, as well as a translator from Icelandic to English. Her work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, Granta, and The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem, and she recently received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant for her translation of the novel Swanfolk by Kristín Ómarsdóttir, published in 2022. She is an Iowa Arts Graduate Fellow in Literary Translation at the University of Iowa.
