Monday 31 October 2011

A section on the concept of 'necessity' from the collection 'In Nomine' by the Danish poet Klaus Høeck


like the snowstorm from
the north east like a thighbone
like osidian

such is necessi
ty i here pay homage to
i of all people

who wrote such great po
ems in praise of freedom for
tified with rubies

like ‘das wohltemper
ierte klavier’ such
is necessity


prelude and fugue one
more time and yet again mar
vellous E major

like a samurai
sword the keenest of the all
keys connected with mer

cy in both physi
cal and metaphysical
sense connected with

infallibili
ty and swans that shed their plum
age in fairytales


necessity is
what i want to write about
there’s no more time for

any digressions
of lapis lazuli my
days are fading a

way like smoke my joints
are on fire i must get in
to what is essen

tial i must get in
to G major’s inexor
able sun topaz


necessity is
not the same as the ruby
glass of causali

ty but what the dif
ference consists of i have
no idea whatso

ever it is not
a modus ponens either
or a japanese

stone lamp outside in
the snowshowers – you are my ne
cessity my love


necessity is
as death is completely just
no one escapes – no

one – were you to change
into a bird were you to
offer your belo

ved in exchange no
no cameraderie here
no preferential

treatment here necess
ity is as incorrup
tible as borax


there is nothing small
about necessity or
dehydrated i

do not believe eith
er it has been embellished
with mother of pearl

or rectified in
polish vodka like poe
try it reminds one

more of a slaughter
house than of a petit four
confectioner’s shop


i think that necess
ity must taste of rust and
of wood sorrel but

i know that it is
larger than saturn and vi
olet that it still

exists even though
you shut your eyes and pretend
that it is not so

necessity is
pure and consecrated to
death like youth itself


like C major like
the syllables in a hai
ku like my own name

such is necessi
ty – don’t try to talk to me
about the little

spasm that is called free
dom the little phobia
of self-glorifi

cation that is called
freedom like death itself such
is necessity

For the whole book, available electronically from the Royal Library in Copenhagen, go to here

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