Keld Vorup Sørensen: 'Den nye istid'

The below translation is from a debut collection of poetry by the Danish writer Keld Vorup Sørensen. The collection, Glemslens Territorier, appeared in 2020, published by mellemgaard.


THE NEW ICE AGE

I want to, they say

You must, they say

You shall, they say

Stop mincing words! they say.

But I put words in my mouth

and mince them.

Note the weight

of the words

as they slowly dissolve

on my tongue

and disappear

into a new ice age

where everything’s blue

the sea, the sky, the light

the wordlessness –

voices stiffen in the cold –

birds disappear into themselves ­

in the world of the deaf silence is king

Butterflies of bluish glass

dance new alphabets

on mirror-shiny surfaces

Hollow-eyed sun and insects

with supersonic gangly legs

invade the biggest island of memory

oblivion

All at once

you take the mince

from my mouth

and I notice in passing

the blue afterglow of your gaze