by Dorina Brândusa Landén
Inside a deformed belly
of a day-to-day existence
my heart sours like dough.
I spend a good deal of time
amongst humans
who suffer more than me
surprisingly lenient
or haunted
by a well-disguised fear.
With what has remained of their bodies
I build the awaiting of death
as an art - a cold fog dripping
over the desire of a lifetime
through the arteries of suffering.
Wherever they go
they will carry with them the imperfection
and a faint smell
of barbiturates and wax
murkiness of unsure steps.
Dispirited
though so alive I am
and in a certain way
I know how not go around the bend.
How much selfhood
in one heart!
I begin by not lying
trying to give a serene appearance
of death that will come without greatness
that comes almost like a mistress
a discreet lover
hidden in a breeze
you can hardly feel
a strangled breath
of a light of an entity near nonentity.
But I still breathe
I earn my daily bread
sharing with piety
huge amounts of empathy
and if I do not sleep at nights
it’s because in my sleep I gather
the dead more than the living.
If my words disturb you
ladies and gentlemen
you can always say:
this is literature!
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ABOUT THE POET ~
Dorina Brândusa Landén was born in the Transylvanian city of Deva, Romania in 1958. Presently she is resident in Sweden. She has received the following awards: Romulus Guga’s Prose Competition, second prize, 1983, Lucian Blaga’s The National Poetry Festival Award, 1984, Ion D. Sîrbu Foundations Prize for Poetry in 2012 for the book Judecata apei (The Judgement of Water), poetry book in Romanian, DaniMar Publishing House, Romania. Poetry, prose and translations of Swedish poetry into Romanian have been published in a wide array of the Romanian literary magazines including: Romania literara (Romania literary), Luceafarul (The Star), Cronica (The Chronicle), Vatra (The Hearth), Orizont (Horizon), Tribuna (Tribune), Transilvania (Transylvania), SLAST, Vatra Veche (The Old Hearth) Euphorion, Ardealul literar (Transylvania literary) and Pro saeculum. In 1986 she had a reportage featured in in the collective volume: Journey from the springs (Calatorie spre izvoare), Eminescu Publishing House, Romania. Books: Vanzatorul de imagini (The Image Vendor), poetry book in Romanian, Calauza v.b. Publishing House, Romania (2010). Followed by La nord de sufletele voastre (North of your Souls), a poetry book in Romanian, Calauza v.b. Publishing House, Romania. (2011). Judecata apei (The Judgement of Water), poetry book in Romanian, DaniMar Publishing House, Romania. (2012). North of your Souls e-book, Ardiganbooks, UK (2012).
Last updated May 25, 2014