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Jerking Out of Rotation: Four Icelandic Poets

June 2015

Originally featured in the June 2015 issue of Words Without Borders, this collection showcases a selection of Icelandic poetry, translated and introduced by 2015 PEN/Heim Translation Grant awardee Meg Matich.

Jerking Out of Rotation: Four Icelandic Poets
By Meg Matich
Given that its language is spoken by fewer than 350,000 people across the world, Iceland manages to publish an astonishing volume of poetry.
Fragments from the Guidebook of the Dead
By Gyrðir Elíasson
There will come a time when / the planet will have had enough
Translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich
Mountain Hike
By Gyrðir Elíasson
the blue planet swam in the half-twilight of evening
Translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich
Austurvöllur on the Day of the Wake
By Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir
Bums roll around broken-legged in the grass.
Translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich
Another Letter to Mister Brown
By Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir
You are the main man, Mister Brown / I am just a victim of circumstance
Translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich
Black Sea
By Magnús Sigurðsson
The dark kaiser’s ship, / deep-keeled, cuts the water
Translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich
Evolution
By Magnús Sigurðsson
Let me / help you / said the ape.
Translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich
Bus Sequence
By Arngunnur Árnadóttir
Each shared bus ride was like a ritual
Translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich