Should a book of poems be seen as a complete work, or can it be a collection of individual poems with a rather loose connection? Such questions can be asked when reading a poet’s seventh, eighth or ninth publication of poems. Steinar Opstad is coming this year with his tenth. “To be more” is based on the death of a father, but is just as much about the individual’s loneliness and outsiderness – a common thread through Opstad’s poetry. Here, Opstad writes in a familiar and familiar way: full of pathos, peasant nature and biblical concepts. It’s not bad, but on average I miss something new, sharp and concentrated. Steinar Opstad Born 1971 in Stokke in Vestfold, lives in Oslo. He has studied German, religious history and literature at the Universities of Oslo and Bergen. Attended the Skrivekunstakademiet in Hordaland in 1990/1991 and made his debut with the poetry collection “Tavler og bud” in 1996, for which he received Tarjei Vesaas’ debutant prize. In addition to his own writing, Opstad has also published poetry. In 2003, he was the editor of “Men sannheten kom som et dikt”, an anthology of Norwegian contemporary poetry. He has published a total of ten poetry collections and been translated into several languages. Source: Kolon forlag Vant landskap Already with the first line of the book, the reader is placed in Opstad’s well-kept literary landscape: “The sun shines low over the fields”. Hereafter there are cornfields and poetry-the break of the self with its origin, there is doubtful wonder about identity and there is longing, loneliness, salvation, grace and soul. This time too, Opstad does not step out of what in his writing has become an unshakable motif of “the girlish son” who breaks with his farming family by writing poetry and by being gay. The son stagnates the relationship in two ways: He rejects the manual labor (tradition), and does not have children (biology). That an author continues in the same track year after year is not necessarily wrong. Nevertheless, I will strike a powerful blow for the quality creativity. A certain degree of curiosity and imagination should be expected from a poet. I can’t find that in “To be more”. Suffers from volatility Curiosity, which is a prerequisite for creativity, becomes visible through thorough exploration of a content. Opstad won Tarjei Vesaas’ debutant award in 1996, and has since received literary awards almost continuously. The fact that Opstad continues in the same tone and landscape as before has more to do with a lack of inspiration than the fact that the meaning is inexhaustible. The poems often have an ephemerality that makes them feel empty, quite simply. No matter how many times I read them, nothing reveals itself. Example: Too shallow “The second death” is also the title of a novel by Kjersti Ericsson from earlier this year, which derives the term from Jewish tradition: “The first death comes when the heart stops beating, the second when the name of the dead is mentioned to last time”. It is obvious to interpret Opstad’s poems in that direction, especially because the connection between words, writing and existence has preoccupied him since his debut “Tablets and commandments” in 1996. But no, in his poems it is about heavenly bodies that are dogs and suicides, before the whole thing is rounded off with a bland naturalness. Inside there is a nod to the corona pandemic: “the distance we are required to keep”. If it’s the loneliness it’s about – total under corona, and a constant in Opstad’s poetry – it would be more correct to call it the first death, since it comes before death. In any case, the last two lines tell us that there can be no question of loneliness, since the deceased cannot know about “this second death”. Aha, so it is such a Jewish double death. The problem is that it will only be an airy reference. It does not take root. In other words: It is too shallow. Mixed bag Then we have this poem about George Floyd. It’s a nice poem, but it comes out of nowhere. One could call it a bit cheap, to write a poem about a shocking historical event with an obvious ability to touch, without exploring the subject further. The poetry is not genuinely engaged in society when nothing else in the collection is about violence and exploitation, but about an introverted and self-pitying individual who “longs for the eternity that is night”. Then it must be said that the book has some good poems as well. For example this: Here the imagery is more complex, it has a resonance. Grinding turns grain into flour, and grinding (of thoughts) keeps one awake at night. Mel is airy and shapeless, and little fills you with the feeling that everything is made of air like when a close person dies and disappears. Unexploited opportunities Let’s return to the question at the beginning. Yes, a collection of poems may well be a loose collection of poems placed between two binders, but then the poems themselves must be potent and dedicated enough to their content. If the poems are also fleeting and baseless, then one can begin to wonder what the point of the collection is. In “To be more” he does not make use of the poem’s possibilities. Rhythm, meaning shift and subtlety are virtually absent. It’s as if Opstad has been assigned a whole rainbow of crayons, but chooses to only draw with the dark blue one. Again and again, dark blue. news reviewer: Photo: Kolon forlag Title: “To be more” Author: Steinar Opstad Publisher: Kolon forlag Genre: Poetry Pages: 57 Year: 2022
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