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Niels Hav’s collection
Grundstof, from which most of the poems in We Are Here
hail, was welcomed in one of Denmark’s most widely read newspapers
Ekstra Bladet with these words: ‘Niels Hav is an economical
writer. He only inconveniences the public when he has something
important on his mind. Hav’s aim is to give weight to every
word and to cut to the bone... Grundstof’s words
are saturated with experience and wisdom.
The English
translations of his poems in We Are Here are no different.
For more than fifteen years the Canadians Patrick Friesen and
P.K. Brask have been following Niels Hav’s work con
amore. His voice is direct and humorous, intelligent, lyrical
and philosophical, a voice that takes into account the difficulties
of staying close to the elemental. Hav is devoid of sly obfuscation;
he is a poet unafraid of being clear. What could be more direct
or elemental than the fact: We Are Here?
Niels Hav
is a poet and short story writer living in Copenhagen.
Epigram
You can spend an entire life
in the company of words
not ever finding
the right one.
Just like a wretched fish
wrapped in Hungarian
newspapers.
For one thing it is dead,
for another it doesn’t understand
Hungarian
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