#80er generationen

[i12bent]

Kim Skotte is a Danish critic and poet who turns 63 today. He was part of the 80s generation of young poets, although the acknowledged leader of the group, Michael Strunge, gave Skotte’s first collection a scathing review. I always enjoyed it, not least its elegant title - Den urimelige hastighed med hvilken tog skiller elskende/The unreasonable speed with which trains separate lovers...

Here is my translation of one of the poems from that 1982 collection, which describes love calcifying into a mundane relationship.

[i12bent]

Danish poet and artist, Henrik S. Holck is 59 today. He had his debut in 1978, aged 16, with the wonderful collection Vi må være som alt (We Must Be like Everything). He has not published very prolifically since - just a short story collection, two more volumes of poetry and most recently a Hans Christian Andersen-themed novel.

Partly, this is due to his other artistic work, as a sculptor and a painter. He trained at the Danish Royal Academy of Art and has been active as an artist. Furthermore he is also a practicing musician.

Holck, along with Michael Strunge and F.P. Jac (both departed), was the initiatory force that launched the Danish 80s Generation of poets. Here is an early poem by him from the recent retrospective collection, Ungdom Digte 1976-82, translated by me.

[i12bent]

Danish poet and novelist Juliane Preisler turns 60 today. Her debut was in Hvedekorn, as so many other 80s poets in Denmark, and since then she has published about 30 books, mostly with Gyldendal.

I translated three thin poems from the collection Lyrik 83. There is a playful, but somewhat neurotic tone to these skeletal pieces. I am reminded of Emily Dickinson in a strange way.

[i12bent]

Yesterday I picked Frank Jæger over Michael Strunge, who was also born June 19 (1958-1986), but here is a Strunge poem for today. It’s the first text in his collection from 1981, We Unfurl the Flags of Our Dreams...