Cold Moons

by Magnús Sigurðsson, Meg Matich (Translator)

Magnús Sigurdsson spare poems pay rare attention to the minute revelations of nature rather than allowing the crudeness of machinery to bulldoze our sentiments. Through intricate wordplay and a titanic understanding of his native Icelandic, rendered with perfect tone by award-winning translator Meg Matich, Sigurdsson creates tiny but arresting artifacts—fragments that scale an instant to an aeon, and a thousand millennia to a second. Whether describing the dwarf wasp's one-millimeter wingspan or the roots of a bonsai, he is a cosmologist of language, and Cold Moons is an intimate map of his distinctive universe.

Genres: Poetry

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Magnús Sigurðsson (b. 1984) is an Icelandic poet and translator. Sigurðsson’s first book of poems, Fiðrildi, mynta og spörfuglar Lesbíu (2008), received the Tómas Guðmundsson Poetry Prize. In 2013, Sigurðsson received the prestigious Jón úr Vör Poetry Prize. Sigurðsson’s translations include a collection of poems by the Norwegian Tor Ulven, Steingerð vængjapör (2012), Ezra Pound’s The Pisan Cantos (2007), and a Spanish translation from the Icelandic, together with Laía Argüelles Folch, of Ingibjörg Haraldsdóttir’s seminal book of poems, La cabeza de la mujer (2011). Sigurðsson’s third book of poems, Cold Moons, translated by Meg Matich, was published by Phoneme Media in 2017. Sigurðsson’s most recent collection of poems, Veröld hlý og góð, was nominated for the Maístjörnu Poetry Prize in 2017.

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Magnús Sigurðsson fæddist árið 1984 á Ísafirði. Hann vakti þegar athygli með sínu fyrsta verki, íslenskri þýðingu á stórvirki bandaríska ljóðskáldsins Ezra Pound, Söngvarnir frá Písa. Bókin kom út á vegum Bókmenntafræðistofnunar Háskóla Íslands.

Árið 2008 hlaut Magnús Bókmenntaverðlaun Tómasar Guðmundssonar, fyrir ljóðabók sína Fiðrildi, mynta og spörfuglar Lesbíu, þar sem þýðingar Magnúsar á ljóðum rómversku fornaldarskáldanna Katúllusar og Virgils kallast á við frumort ljóð. Sama ár kom út smásagnasafnið Hálmstráin, hvort tveggja hjá bókaforlaginu Uppheimum.

Í kjölfarið hafa fylgt ljóðabækur, þýðingar og greinasöfn um bókmenntir sem hafa áunnið Magnúsi sess í fremstu röð ljóðskálda sinnar kynslóðar.

Árið 2013 hlaut Magnús Ljóðstaf Jóns úr Vör, fyrir ljóð sitt „Tunglsljós“, sem birtist síðar í þriðju ljóðabók hans, Tími kaldra mána.

Reviews

[Shelby Goerlitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poems that are great are too few! but they're in there. Esp. In the Apricot Orchard and Dark Forest. They read like haiku or the terse usage instructions for farm implements.

[World Literature Today]

This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the May 2017 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...

[Elisabeth Jaquette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miraculous.

[Justine B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) I cannot describe the style of this poetry collection better than the editor « Magnús Sigurdsson spare poems pay rare attention to the minute revelations of nature rather than allowing the crudeness of machinery to bulldoze our sentiments. ». I’m most definitely in love with the intention behind the writing style, the emphasis on the essential through the parsimonious use of words. There were some masterful executions of this intention, especially Parent, Living Tree, Rain, In the Apricot Orchard, Blackbirds, Black Sea or Ice. However, I regret the uneven quality of the collection, because while I adored some of the poems, others felt rather flat.

[Dungus Crungus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sigurdsson has such a way of building rich sensory and emotional experiences from a few carefully selected words.
This collection was very atmospheric and really transported me to a different world and mindset.
My personal favorite was Ink. Beautiful imagery, evocative, and such an experiential read.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through the Dark Forest

I strew words

along my way
through the Dark Forest.

To navigate
back.

(page 95)

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely minimalist nature poems