Sunday 23 October 2011

Poem from the collection 'Oh, Paradise' by the Norwegian writer Mona Høvring


THE GIRL FROM THE MUSSEL RESTAURANT

We are attractively wretched, you and I,
as thirteen-year-old girls when we wake up.

Late in the day we sound out the bare rocks,
slip on the kelp, sit on the salt-white surface,
and cling onto what could be called our house.

If we were stinging jellyfish we would
possibly have a greater understanding of water.

And we think of the same thing, you and I,
in cheerful disgust, in sucking shame −
seductive and aromatic,
leaning against a pinball machine.

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