ONE

Cornered
at the café,
happily up-tight

Sunlight bursting
across the cobblestones,
the body flickering
within its bounds,
these words barely supporting
the present,
as the recent past topples


TWO


Many years ago
I purchased this double CD,
but not until this morning
have I let it play out in peace,
in its good time,
Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos,
Jeno Jandó at the piano

I work in my bedroom / studio,
while the Mikrokosmos tip toes
around the living room,
the door ajar in between

I need this childish absentmindedness
- another definition of fluent concentration-;
Bartók's musical equivalent
to the temperament of a child humming,
on his knees on the floor,
the noise of him searching his lego
for the right piece,
bearing witness to the human mind's focus
and concentration
in play and work


THREE


...men på natten
river angelägenheter i mig
i gåtfulla föreställningar,
absurdistiska kamikazeattacker
ur ett fördolt omedvetet,
i köttiga koder:

Gunnis, katten, överfallen
mitt på köksbordet
av ett odjur
som inte kan fixeras,
ur ögonvrån, hela tiden ur ögonvrån;
blod ur Gunnis ögon, ur hans nos

Jag rusar fram,
sliter isär de två;
den anfallande och den anfallne,
men ser då att båda två är Gunnis

[...but at night
concerns tear at me
through enigmatic expositions,
absurdist kamikaze attacks
out of a shrouded unconscious,
in meaty codes:

Gunnis, the cat, assaulted
in the middle of the kitchen table
by a beast
that can't be fixed,
appearing out of the corner of one's eye,
all the time out of the corner of the eye,
blood out of Gunnis' eyes, out of his nose,

I rush forth,
tear the two apart,
the assaulter and the assaulted,
but instantly realize that both are Gunnis]