från Kometkarta

Lina Hagelbäck

Stugan vi hyr med anor från 1800-talet
är ensligt belägen invid en blek sjö.
Det finns en brygga, en tjärad roddbåt
extra glödlampor, ett solblekt parasoll
råttfällor, en äventyrskartong.
Vi har lassat in mat och vin i köket
tablettkartor, japanska viltknivar.
Det finns en elektrisk braskamin, en vedspis
sjövatten i kranarna. På en hylla i
skafferiet ligger tepåsar som heter Kvällsro
arrangerade i solfjäderformation på ett pappersfat.
De gjorde mig förstämd den första dagen.



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I sovrummet växer lackvioler.
De har svarta kronblad
är måttligt giftiga, hyser getingar.
Stjälkarna blir upp till två meter höga.
Vi pysslar om dem, ger dem näring
och smeknamn. En favorit kallas
Fångst och fördärv. En annan heter
Giancomettis ateljé. Den stjärnomslutna
violen är så självklar att resten
av blommorna tiger.



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I dag är det min födelsedag
vi plockar jordgubbar, vispar grädde.
Jag är rädd för överraskningar
så som rökig maltwhisky. Du ger mig
en antik kartbok över kärlekslivet i rymden.
Det är precis vad jag önskar mig.
Natten är lång gåtfull astronomi, supernovor.
Planetfamiljers exhibitionism, marmorgalaxer
polyamorösa vintergator, kometjakter.
Skilsmässor i universum, expanderande
sammetsnebulosor, de breda stoftmolnens
attraktionskraft ur käkens vinkel.



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Var vänlig att plantera om mig.
Jag är vilse bland tabletter
i drivor. Sömnlösheten är mättad
med demoner. Ge mig kartboken
den ska ta mig härifrån.
Vi har tappat bort oss
i en barockhermetisk mardröm.
Du säger Uttryck mig du som kan.
Dova förenklingar, vi skakar av kyla
längs med stugans värmeelement
som inte fungerar, ser ett pärlband av kometer
på himlen. Pärlorna skulle ju vara sällsynta.

Read the English translation

Listen to the original read by the poet:

Map of Comets (Kometkarta, Lejd, 2021) is a collection of poems in three suites that form a narrative, a departure from Lina Hagelbäck's first three books—Violencia (Brombergs, 2013), Violencia och hennes far (Violencia and her Father, Brombergs, 2015) and Ambivalencia (Lejd, 2018)—which featured unbridled and dense prose poetry. Although Kometkarta is her most restrained collection of poems, it was heralded as “a sort of poetical survival manual” by critic Björn Kohlström and has been universally praised.

Lina Hagelbäck has a degree in Spanish and literature, and prefers to read Latin American literature—the influence of which is clearly visible in her poetry as a sort of a colloquial enchantment. Hers is a bombastic poetry whose form and style question the very idea of austere, barren and quiet Swedish poetry; it also makes the world alive—with all its magic and meaning and duality—through the concentrated gaze of a poet.

Central images in Lina Hagelbäck’s poetry include the shy viola flower—which is from the Latin root for “violence”, according to the poet and critic Magnus William-Olsson; recurring themes include the relationships between women, child and parent, as well as sanity and insanity. In her writing, words are things more than names, and her astonishing recombination of words into new ones makes for a surprising slippage of meanings—giving rise to new metaphors as they venture into new linguistic territory. One example from this set of poems is her coinage of “sammetsnebulosor,” which I’ve translated as “velvet nebulas”—a nebula consisting of velvet. As if we could touch and wear the fabric of stardust clouds!

Lina Hagelbäck (b. 1971) is an award-winning Swedish poet, critic and journalist; she is the daughter of poet Jösta Hagelbäck and painter Christina Isinger Carlgren. Since her debut in 2013, she has published five other books, one as a collaboration with Finnish-Swedish Ulrika Nielsen. She studied literature at the Universidad de Granada and currently lives in Stockholm with her husband (a musician and historian) and their cats.

Freke Räihä (b. 1978 in Stockholm, with roots in Finland, Karelia and West Bothnia) lives in the small town of Degeberga in the largely rural south-east of Sweden. Räihä receives a paycheck from Österlens folkhögskola, a radical community college where he teaches creative writing, and spends his free time walking by the sea, writing poetry and translating. For years, Räihä has written literary criticism but now focuses on teaching in order to remain hopeful. Räihä has an M.F.A. in creative writing from Lund University and a B.A. in publishing studies (hence the need to find hope). Since 2001, Räihä’s poetry has appeared in journals both prestigious and obscure, and has been translated and anthologized numerous times. His twenty or so full-length books of poetry have been called “beautiful”, “maturing”, “confusing” and “angry” by critics; they continue to be in dialogue with other art and writing. Räihä is currently the holder of a five-year writing grant from the Swedish Author’s Fund.