Katrin Ottarsdóttir
trans. by Matthew Landrum and Sámal Soll
The Suicide
the suicide plays hopscotch with the child
plays hide and seek
plays war
calls out
red rover red rover
that is why it is so sneaky to play with
the suicide
the child never knows if you can count on it
if this will be the day
the night
where the word will be true to its word
only she who owns the word knows
she who also is a mother
nor does he who also is a father
know
but sometimes he knows how to drive the suicide
into dark corners where no one can see it
so that there’s peace for a while
sounds still come creeping along the floor
will not be put off
want to touch the child
with a cautious touch
so the child won’t be frightened
because then everything would be worse
much worse
so much worse
there is a danger that she might try
to become the judge over life and death
all this the child knows
the child knows too much
always
all the time
he does not know as much
wants to
tries
but fears the child
the suicide once again sneaks out of its narrow corners
goes howling through the house
full of joy
invites everyone to dance
a crazy dance in nights of burning bridges
the child knows nothing about this
accepts being swung in the g-force between him
and her
tonight once again everyone will dance as fast as fuck
tomorrow the suicide will play babysitter
home with the child
because he and she
need the fresh air
the suicide takes a stranglehold on the child
asks to join in
in everything the child experiences
forward
backward
forever
Katrin Ottarsdóttir, a pioneer in Faroese filmmaking, has made feature films, documentaries, and shorts, including the award-winning Atlantic Rhapsody (1989), Bye Bye Blue Bird (1999), and LUDO (2014). Born in 1957 in Tórshavn, she studied directing at the National Danish Film School. She debuted as a writer in 2012 with the poetry collection Are Copper Pipes in Heaven (awarded the Faroese Literature Award). In 2015 she published the poetry collection Mass for a Film, and in 2016 a book of stories, After Before.
Matthew Landrum holds an MFA from Bennington College. His translations from Faroese have recently appeared in Asymptote, Michigan Quarterly Review, Image Journal, and Modern Poetry in Translation. He lives in Detroit.
Sámal Soll is a Faroese writer and translator. His first short story collection, Glasbúrið, was published in 2015. He has an MA degree in English from Aalborg University in Denmark and a degree in Faroese language at the Faroese University in the Faroe Islands. He is working on a translation of Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time. His website is samalsoll.wordpress.com.