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      • Kazi Nazrul Islam by Dr. Shamenaz Shaikh >
        • Chapter 1(Nazrul Islam)
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      • Kabir's Poetry by Dr. Anshu Pandey >
        • Chapter 1(Kabir's Poetry)
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      • My mind's not right by Dr. Vicky Gilpin >
        • Chapter- 1 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
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        • Chapter-4 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
      • On Poetry & Poets by Abhay K.
      • Poetry of Kamla Das –A True Voice Of Bourgeoisie Women In India by Dr.Shikha Saxena
      • Identity Issues in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel by Dr.Arvind Nawale & Prashant Mothe*
      • Nissim Ezekiel’s Latter-Day Psalms: His Religious and Philosophical Speculations By Dr. Pallavi Srivastava
      • The Moping Owl : the Epitome of Melancholy by Zinia Mitra
      • Gary Soto’s Vision of Chicano Experiences: The Elements of San Joaquin and Human Nature by Paula Hayes
      • Sri Aurobindo: A Poet By Aju Mukhopadhyay
      • Wordsworthian Romanticism in the Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: Nature and the Reflective Capabilities of a Poetic Self by Paula Hayes
      • Reflective Journey of T.S. Eliot: From Philosophy to Poetry by Syed Ahmad Raza Abidi
      • North East Indian Poetry: ‘Peace’ in Violence by Ananya .S. Guha
    • 2014-2015 >
      • From The Hidden World of Poetry: Unravelling Celtic mythology in Contemporary Irish Poetry Adam Wyeth
      • Alchemy’s Drama: Conflict, Resolution and Poiesis in the Poetic Work of Art by Michelle Bitting
      • Amir Khushrau: The Musical Soul of India by Dr. Shamenaz
      • PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME: POETRY'S EROTIC ART by Elena Karina Byrne
      • Celtic and Urban Landscapes in Irish Poetry by Linda Ibbotson
      • Trickster at the African Crossroads and the Bridge to the Blues in America by Michelle Bitting
    • 2015-2016 >
      • Orogeny/Erogeny: The “nonsense” of language and the poetics of Ed Dorn T Thilleman
      • Erika Burkart: Fragments, Shards, and Visions by Marc Vincenz
      • English Women Poets and Indian politics
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      • Children’s Poetry in India- A Case Study of Adil Jussawalla and Ananya Guha by Shruti Sareen
      • Thirteen Thoughts on Poetry in the Digital Age by Mandy kAHN
    • 2017-2018 >
      • From Self-Portrait with Dogwood: A Route of Evanescence by Christopher Merrill
      • Impure Poetry by Tony Barnstone
      • On the Poets: Contributors in Context by Donald Gardner
      • Punching above its Weight: Dutch Poetry in English, a Selection, 2013-2017 by Jane Draycott
  • Print Editions

Poems by Tone Hødnebø ​

 
from UTILITY AND DEEDS DONE (2016)
NYTTE OG UTFØRTE GJERNINGER
 

1.
​
Betroelser får meg til å betro meg,
det dumme blir gjentatt
fordi det blir skrevet i bøker.
Det går ikke an å bytte et liv,
jeg er ikke Medea, og jeg er heller ikke
den ene ternen som ble spart.
Det er bedre å puste inn
andre menneskers pust.
 
 
 
When you confide I confide,
the foolishness repeats itself
as it is written in books.
It is not feasible to switch lives,
I am not Medea, nor am I
the only maiden spared.
It is preferable to breathe  
other peoples breath.
 
 
 
 
2.

Vinden øker,
fordampningen fra huden minsker,
alle kjærtegn blir slettet,
og det vi holder mest kjært.
 
Mens jeg gikk rundt meg selv
forsvant det jeg ville løse opp,
ikke ifølge en matematisk formel:
Men hvordan skal vi tilgi de som elsker oss.
 
 
 
The wind intensifies,
the evaporation from the skin lessens,
every touch is eliminated,
and that which is most dear to us.

While I was walking in circles
what I wanted to solve vanished,
not according to a mathematical equation:
But how do we forgive the ones that love us.
 
 
 
3.
 
Å kjenne et menneske hele livet
kan være en målestokk for verden,
og jeg vet ikke engang hva du drømmer.
Det besværlige må knytes opp
for å snu verden inn mot verden.
Jeg leter etter en setning
mens blomstene gror og visner igjen
i takt med årstidene
akkurat som et broderi.
Bladene folder seg ut, klorofyllet spres,
treet blir grønnere.
Biene surrer og surrer i hagen.
 
 
To know a person all your life
can be a method of measuring the world,
and I don’t even know what you are dreaming.
What´s complicated needs to be untangled
to turn the world towards the world.
I am searching for a sentence
while the flowers grow and wither
according to the seasons
just like an embroidery.
The leaves unfold, chlorophyll scattered,
the tree becomes greener.
The bees buzzing and buzzing in the garden.
 
 
4.

Betroelser får meg til å betro meg,
det dumme blir gjentatt
fordi det blir skrevet i bøker.
Det går ikke an å bytte et liv,
jeg er ikke Medea, og jeg er heller ikke
den ene ternen som ble spart.
Det er bedre å puste inn
andre menneskers pust.
 
 
When you confide I confide,
the foolishness repeats itself
as it is written in books.
It is not feasible to switch lives,
I am not Medea, nor am I
the only maiden spared.
It is preferable to breathe  
other peoples breath.
 
 
 
5.

Du står stille som en soldat
til noen begynner å spa opp jord
og du må bevege føttene,
danse som en bokser.
 
Jeg teller til tre, fire, fem, til hundre.
Man trenger bare tre ting:
hånd, øyne, hjerte
for å lure seg selv til alle døgnets tider.
 
 
You stand motionless like a soldier
until someone begins digging
compelled to move your feet,
you dance like a boxer.
 
I am counting to three, four, five, to a hundred.
One needs no more than three things:
hand, eyes, heart
to fool oneself at all hours.
 
 
 
6.

TRÅD
Penelope vevde et fint tøy,
for hver tråd hun spant
telte hun timer og dager
og for hver dag en ny dåd.
Krigen kunne ikke vente,
men hun ventet på at krigen skulle ende,
og tvinnet garnet til hendene ble blodige.
Jeg ville bli glad hvis du kunne
besøke meg i drømmene, skrev hun,
og løste opp om natten det hun vevde om dagen
/for å holde frierne unna/
samtidig ble tolv terner hengt.
Dagen ble kortere, og natten lengre,
før hun ble vekket av Evrykleia.
 
 
 
THREAD
Penelope wove a fine cloth,
for every thread she spun
she counted hours and days
and for each day a new deed.
The war couldn’t wait,
however she waited for the war to end,
and spun the yarn until her hands became bloody.
I would be glad if you could
visit me in my dreams, she wrote
and took apart at night what she had woven during the day
/to keep the suiters at bay/
at the same time twelve maidens hanged.
The days became shorter and the nights longer,
before Evrycleia woke her up.
 
 

 
7.
 
MATTEUS 7: 3-5
Jeg satt høyt oppe i et tre
mens hjertet hamret og hamret
registrerte jeg at kroppen var speilvendt,
og bjelken i mitt øye
var som splinten i ditt.
 
I boken står det at øynene er sjelens speil
og at det fins en felles verden for oss,
men jeg skjulte en verden for deg,
min verden vel og merke,
din verden har jeg ikke sett snurten av
bare så vidt du vet det.
 
 
 
MATTHEW 7: 3–5
I sat in a tree
my heart was pounding and pounding
I became aware that my body was mirrored
and the beam in my eyes
was like the splinter in yours.
 
The book says the eyes are mirrors of the soul
and that there is a world to share,
but I conceiled a world from you,
my world to be clear,
your world remains unrevealed
just as long as you know.
 
 
 
All poems translated into english by Cecilie Dahl
Picture
Tone Hødnebø was born in Oslo in 1962, and spent her childhood in Tønsberg. She later studied at the University in Oslo, and in Trondheim. In the 90ties she was a co-editor of the literary magazine Vagant. She is now living in Oslo. Hødnebø´s volumes of poetry include Larm (Noise, 1989), Mørkt kvadrat (Dark Square, 1994), Pendel (Pendulum, 1997), Stormstigen (Stormladder, 2002), og Nedtegnelser (Jottings, 2008). She has also published a small work on poetics, Skamfulle Pompeii (Bashful Pompeii, 2004, H Press), as well as a translation of Emily Dickinson´s poetry Skitne lille hjerte (This Dirty Little Heart, 1995). A selection of poetry, Et lykkelig øyeblikk (A Happy Moment) was published in 2005, and complete poems Å snu verden in mot verden (To turn the world into the  world) in 2019. She has translated Anne Carson´s Glass, Irony and God, and Autobiography of red into Norwegian. Her latest book of poetry Utility and deeds done came out in 2016. The slow pace with which she publishes her books – it has never been less than three years between them, and usually five – testifies to the deep consideration in her work progress. The will to blend the rationality of engineering, the tectonics of architecture, and the emotionality of the poet is insistent. This paradoxical relation between the immeasurable complexity of thought and the measurability of the world governs Hødnebø´s poetry and pulls it in many directions.



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​VerseVille (formerly The Enchanting Verses Literary Review) © 2008-2025    ISSN 0974-3057 Published from India. 

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  • Home
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    • Contact
    • Media Coverages
    • Copyright Notice
    • VerseVille Blog
  • Submissions
    • Poetry and Essays Guidelines
    • Book Review Guidelines
    • Research Series Guidelines
  • Masthead
  • Editions
    • 2011 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XIV November 2011
    • 2012 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XV March 2012
      • ISSUE-XVI July 2012
      • ISSUE-XVII November 2012
    • 2013 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XVIII April 2013
      • ISSUE XIX November 2013
    • 2014 Issues >
      • ISSUE XX May 2014
    • 2015 Issues >
      • ISSUE XXI February 2015
      • Contemporary Indian English Poetry ISSUE XXII November 2015
    • 2016 Issues >
      • ISSUE XXIII August 2016
      • Poetry From Ireland ISSUE XXIV December 2016
    • 2017 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXV August 2017
      • ISSUE XXVI December 2017
    • 2018 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXVII July 2018
      • ISSUE XXVIII November 2018
    • 2019 Issues >
      • ISSUE XXIX July 2019
    • 2020 ISSUES >
      • Issue XXX February 2020
      • ISSUE XXXI December 2020
    • 2021 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXII August 2021
    • 2022 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXIII June 2022
      • ISSUE XXXIV December 2022
    • 2023 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXV August 2023
      • ISSUE XXXVI December 2023 Indian Poetry
    • 2024 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXVII October 2024 Bengali Poetry
    • 2025 ISSUES >
      • ISSUE XXXVIII January 2025 Balkan Poetry
  • Collaborations
    • Macedonian Collaboration
    • Collaboration with Dutch Foundation for Literature
  • Interviews
  • Prose on Poetry and Poets
    • 2010-2013 >
      • Sylvia Plath by Dr. Nidhi Mehta >
        • Chapter-1(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-2(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-3(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-4(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-5(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-6(Sylvia Plath)
      • Prose Poems of Tagore by Dr. Bina Biswas >
        • Chapter-1(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-2(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-3(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-4(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-5(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-6(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-7(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-8(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-9(Rabindranath Tagore)
      • Kazi Nazrul Islam by Dr. Shamenaz Shaikh >
        • Chapter 1(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 2(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 3(Nazrul Islam)
      • Kabir's Poetry by Dr. Anshu Pandey >
        • Chapter 1(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 2(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 3(Kabir's Poetry)
      • My mind's not right by Dr. Vicky Gilpin >
        • Chapter- 1 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-2 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-3 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-4 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
      • On Poetry & Poets by Abhay K.
      • Poetry of Kamla Das –A True Voice Of Bourgeoisie Women In India by Dr.Shikha Saxena
      • Identity Issues in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel by Dr.Arvind Nawale & Prashant Mothe*
      • Nissim Ezekiel’s Latter-Day Psalms: His Religious and Philosophical Speculations By Dr. Pallavi Srivastava
      • The Moping Owl : the Epitome of Melancholy by Zinia Mitra
      • Gary Soto’s Vision of Chicano Experiences: The Elements of San Joaquin and Human Nature by Paula Hayes
      • Sri Aurobindo: A Poet By Aju Mukhopadhyay
      • Wordsworthian Romanticism in the Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: Nature and the Reflective Capabilities of a Poetic Self by Paula Hayes
      • Reflective Journey of T.S. Eliot: From Philosophy to Poetry by Syed Ahmad Raza Abidi
      • North East Indian Poetry: ‘Peace’ in Violence by Ananya .S. Guha
    • 2014-2015 >
      • From The Hidden World of Poetry: Unravelling Celtic mythology in Contemporary Irish Poetry Adam Wyeth
      • Alchemy’s Drama: Conflict, Resolution and Poiesis in the Poetic Work of Art by Michelle Bitting
      • Amir Khushrau: The Musical Soul of India by Dr. Shamenaz
      • PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME: POETRY'S EROTIC ART by Elena Karina Byrne
      • Celtic and Urban Landscapes in Irish Poetry by Linda Ibbotson
      • Trickster at the African Crossroads and the Bridge to the Blues in America by Michelle Bitting
    • 2015-2016 >
      • Orogeny/Erogeny: The “nonsense” of language and the poetics of Ed Dorn T Thilleman
      • Erika Burkart: Fragments, Shards, and Visions by Marc Vincenz
      • English Women Poets and Indian politics
    • 2016-2017 >
      • Children’s Poetry in India- A Case Study of Adil Jussawalla and Ananya Guha by Shruti Sareen
      • Thirteen Thoughts on Poetry in the Digital Age by Mandy kAHN
    • 2017-2018 >
      • From Self-Portrait with Dogwood: A Route of Evanescence by Christopher Merrill
      • Impure Poetry by Tony Barnstone
      • On the Poets: Contributors in Context by Donald Gardner
      • Punching above its Weight: Dutch Poetry in English, a Selection, 2013-2017 by Jane Draycott
  • Print Editions