Poem of the Week, week 5: Tone Hødnebø

WHEN YOU COME HOME When you come home you dream you are walking home, it's snowing, and you dream it's snowing, the wood is murky, and you want to run back to where the light sifts out through the high windows onto the snow. Under the door a note with a message: you shall find the others in another dream. A door swings open, and your father enters to tell you you are grown up, you almost nod, for you sleep sweetly, for you can no longer distinguish the dream from your own breathing. Translated by Anthony Barnett

NÅR DU KOMMER HJEM Når du kommer hjem drømmer du at du går hjem, og du drømmer at det snør, skogen er dunkel, og du vil løpe tilbake igjen til lyset siver ut gjennom de høye vinduene og ut på snøen. Under glipen i døren en beskjed på et papir: du skal finne de andre i en annen drøm. En dør går opp, og faren din kommer inn og sier du er voksen, du nikker nesten, for du sover med et godt hjerte, for du kan ikke lenger skjelne drømmen fra ditt eget åndedrett.

From Tone Hødnebø (born 1962), Stormstigen, Kolon Forlag, Oslo 2002. In English translation originally published in The Other Side of Landscape. An Anthology of Contemporary Nordic Poetry, edited by Anni Summari and Nicolaj Stockholm, Slope Editions, New York 2006. This is a revised version by Anthony Barnett, 2019.

Poem of the Week. 52 poems through the year

From the time when the earliest texts were recorded in runic inscriptions, poetry has had a strong position in Norway. By introducing a new poem each week throughout 2019, we aim to highlight the quality and breadth of Norwegian poetry. «Poem of the Week» presents 52 poems, inspired by the changing seasons and the passing of the year. The selection has been made by Annette Vonberg and Tone Carlsen, and consists of poems from the earliest handwritten manuscripts up until today, with a special emphasis on contemporary poetry.

Poem of the Week, week 5: Tone Hødnebø "When You Come Home"

Take part in a weekly journey through 52 poems by authors from Norway throughout 2019 – Norway’s year as Guest of Honour.

Poem of the Week. 52 poems through the year