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.