Forevernoon

by Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir and translated by Vala Thorodds

Forevernoon<\/i> is the debut poetry collection by Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir, a leading figure in a new generation of Icelandic poets. Translated into English by Vala Thorodds, the poems in Forevernoon<\/i> play with language in a distinctively Icelandic way, full of surprising compounds luckdagger, moonsnake, smokegold which reflect the freer syntax of their original tongue. Forevernoon<\/i>is a poetry collection that could only come from the far north, from the bright, bare language and culture that gave us the Sagas. The language is parred back almost to its nouns and verbs, but what results is a certain warmth and clarity, as Ástas poems address the vulnerability of the body in its spiritual entanglement with the outside world. So too could these poems only come from an artist whose practice integrates poetry with performance, visual art, and there is a lightness and freedom in these poems, whose lines leap around the page in search of connections, reminding us of things wed forgotten to remember that the mind is a net in the ocean, that moonlight is milk for nightcats.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

Published August 22, 2021

Reviews

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of surreal poems that refuse to be tied down with themes or by reality.

from Hither: "and the spirit becomes a wasteland where nothing grows / a guest unwelcome in its own skin / unless a tongue is forgotten / unless words find their way there / unless the words go to seed / and sprout"

from In the Foyer: "a diamond, a dream / an argument, a reflection / love, love / a body, a temple / a temple, a house of spirits"

from Ótta or Nón: "I chart a course to forevernoon // and the right pocket is full of forgiveness / and the left pocket is full of shame // I lay it all out / go all in / put it all on the table // but I don't know this game / don't know the rules"