DAG T. STRAUMSVÅG

 

V1n1
Winter 02

 
 

Skitne Kaffikoppar

 

POETRY

 
 

Dei likar best einslege menn i tjueåra som bur på små hyblar i sentrum, evige studentar i humanistiske fag, melankolske typar som pratar musikk og damer heile natta. Dei likar rommet klissete og mørkt, elskar uvaska sengeklede og gode kameratar, kokekaffi. Men dei likar ikkje kjærestar. I vekene før eksamen har koppane store framgangar og lever det gode liv på dei mest utenkjelege plassane 12 m2 kan oppdrive. Dei har berre ein naturleg fiende, men ho er dødeleg: Mora. Oftast byrjar det med iet brev eller ein telefon, men studenten vrid seg unna, pratar om hovudoppgåva og studietur til DanmarkS og i nokre veker ser taktikken ut til å ha lukkast. Men koppen veit betre. Ein fin vårdag vil Mora storme inn med vaskegreiene sine, opne vindauge, kaste søppel, vaske golv. Så går ho rett etter strupen din. Motstand er nyttelaust, men du prøver dig likevel i ei fåfengd von om ein rask og ærefull død I søppelbytta.

 

Dirty Coffee Cups

They like single men in their twenties who live in one-room apartments downtown; eternal students of the arts, melancholy types that talk about music and women all night. They like the room sticky and dark, love dirty bedclothes and good friends, black coffee. The cups prosper in the weeks before final exams. They live the good life in the most unthinkable spots twelve square meters can provide. They don't like girlfriends but they have one deadly enemy: the Mother. Usually it begins with a phone call. The student tries to wiggle his way out of it, speaks of his thesis, a study trip to Denmark . . . and for a few weeks it seems like his tactics have succeeded. The cup knows better. One fine spring day the Mother will storm in with her washing gear, open the windows, throw out the garbage, mop the floors. Then she'll go straight for your throat. Resistance is useless. Still, you hold your ground in the hope of a quick and honorable death in the trashcan.


Translated from the Norwegian by Dag T. Straumsvåg and Louis Jenkins

   
 
 

Dag T. Straumsvåg was born in Kristiansund, Norway in 1964, grew up in Tingvoll on the Norwegian west coast and has lived in Trondheim since 1984. He has worked as a farmhand, sawmill worker, librarian, sound engineer for several rock bands, and worked at a local radio station. His first book of poems, Eg er Simen Gut, was published in 1999 by Aschehoug. His poems were included in the anthology Kafédikt (Det Norske Samlaget, 2000) He is currently working on his second book, which will be published in 2003.