Some poets are more like artists than others. These are real creative, innovative and a little crazy. I think Terje Dragseth is such a person. However, his latest collection of poems “Rainbow trout and boiled rice” is something a little different: It is an afternoon in April. It is “she” and “he” who say things to each other – who pour milk into the other’s teacup, who fold their hands, stretch their necks, stand facing away, blush and look lovingly at each other. While the conversation flows through the cosmos, existence, crises and heavens in the poetry, they prepare a meal and are in the kitchen. Brushes crumbs, puts dishes into shelves. It is this incredible simultaneity of completely ordinary tasks and the great poetic sweeps, or the heavens, that makes “Rainbow trout and boiled rice” a good place to be. Terje Dragseth’s way of synthesizing these dimensions – for there are countless examples of pitting the small against the large in poetry and literature – is both fascinating and pleasing. Pleasant because the book reminds us of something true. It reminds us that wonder and questions are not a contradiction to living, but naturally fit into the day because to be curious is to want to get close to something: life, and one’s beloved. Breathtaking poetry Dragseth has written several books that are quite different from his new one, at least in terms of temperament. Last year’s “Voodoo science – the hunt for the intermental particle” was thick as an encyclopedia and rich as a trip. His poetry has been called rousing, ecstatic and a chore to read. He has won several awards for it. In addition, Dragseth is in the prog rock band “I Sing My Body Electric” (Walt Whitman reference), where the sound image suggests with its drums, synths and prayer-like cries. It’s more artistic than danceable. Much of his poetry has the same suggestion, thanks to repetition, which builds up an intensity and makes the text almost confront you. It is exhorting, it is unbridled and occasionally violent. With this in mind, his new book is a bit of a surprise. Terje Dragseth’s authorship: Photo: Tom Sandberg “Offerfesten” (1980) “I think, like a girl who takes off her dress” (1982) ” Hymns and hypnoses” (1985) “Even already” (1987) “Now is all places” (1989) “Love is like death always alive” (1990) “The Sleeping One” (1994) “You – Poem in selection” (1995) “Foundation for creation of chaos” (2000) “Log” (2002) “Kvitekråka’s song” » (2005) «The tyranny of metaphors» (2005) «TDZ Collection, unpublished and published texts and poems 1979-2006» (2006) «Ten titles. Poems 1980 – 2005″ (2008) “The ramifications of criticism” (2008) “Bella Blu. Handbook for space” (2012) “The sun sucks in my shoes” (2014) “I write the language” (2015) “Epiphanies” (2017) “Songs to those who believe. Fair for us all” (2018) “The dream book. An Occult Diary” (2018) “Everything I’m Afraid of” (2020) “Epiphanies II” (2021) “Voodoo Science. The hunt for the intermental particle” (2022) “Rainbow trout and boiled rice” (2023) Source: Wikipedia Quieter now These poems are not as confrontational and perhaps demanding as they used to be with Dragseth. The reader is rather a fly on the kitchen wall of this couple who will be cooking rice. It should be said that “she” and “he” are not unambiguous quantities throughout the book of poems – Dragseth is less bound than that – so that in some places this exchange between them functions as a structure in the poem, more than it should represent an actual conversation. It is expanding. So one can ask: Has something been lost in the mitigation? Well, I won’t say that. Dragseth shows that he is a poet with range, and that he can achieve this too. The atmosphere is subdued, but saturated. It’s really elegantly done. She opens the fridge and says, paint stains on trousers, coffee grounds in the sink, there are so many tongues, endings, abbreviations and different spellings and program files and 24-hour randomness, and she closes the fridge hard, flipping through a travel magazine for eco safaris and river cruises, thank God there is a multitude of hissing ear fig burnt fingerless hair and finds a small pot at the bottom kitchen cabinet Taken from “Boiled rice and rainbow trout” by Terje Dragseth Is this love? But I have one objection, and that is that the book dwells too long on the reflection on “half and half”, which is a shabby image of twoness. Not all of Dragseth’s contributions to this archetype are innovative. At the same time, it is precisely the duality that is new at Dragseth. Things are said to someone in this book of poems – or they are said out in a common room. In the past it has been known that Dragseth has called out into the universe as a shrill call. Everything is closer now. “Rainbow trout and boiled rice” is a love book in the broadest sense. The book is effortlessly animated by the interplay between everyday gestures and the great wonder. And to wonder, to be curious, is to lean towards life; it’s enjoying life, it’s like saying: I want to get closer. Curiosity is love, and Dragseth has it. news reviews Photo: Cappelen Damm Title: “Rainbow trout and boiled rice” Author: Terje Dragseth Genre: Poem Publisher: Cappelen Damm Number of pages: 73 Date: 15 August 2023
ttn-69
“Rainbow trout and boiled rice” by Terje Dragseth – Reviews and recommendations
