Lastu

Niitythän oli aivan ihania,
että niissä kukki päiväkukat sen minä muistan
että kerran tuolla kun oli sellainen peltoaukema
mutta mikäs kasvi se sellainen oli
minkä ympärillä ne perhoset
mikäs kasvi se siellä oli ja
sitten sitä metsää hakattiin ja sitten sitä ei enää ollu
mutta kun mä en muista sen nimee
ehkä mä muistan sen sitten
siitä mentiin sillan yli
ja silta vei joen yli ja siinä oli tuomi ja
tuomi sitten kaartui sen joen yli ja sananjalkoja
ja haiseva kurjenpolvi ja laakea kivi polulla
ja mä olen monta kertaa nähnyt unta siitä polusta
toisessa oli hirveesti muurahaisia
toinen oli sellainen ilman muurahaisia
toisessa oli paljon neulasia ja käpyjä mutta se toinen,
se oli hyvin lempee, siinä kasvo päivänkakkaraniitty
siinä vieressä ja siellä erämaassa oli sellainen torppa
isä lähti aina sunnuntaiaamuisin lintuja ampumaan
ja kastematoja oli meillä kotona ja
niitähän kerättiin kun oli pitkä siima, se on
semmoinen siima jossa oli paljon koukkuja
ja kerran tällainen siima
oli meidän vintillä kun oli paljon koiranpentuja
ja yks näistä pennuista sai sen siiman huuleensa.

The Shaving

The meadows used to be really wonderful,
with all daisies there, that I remember,
and there was this sort of clearing at one time
but what was that plant
the one the butterflies went for
what plant was that and
then the forest was chopped down and it was gone
but I just can’t dredge up the name
I might have it
we walked over a bridge from it
and the bridge crossed a river to a bird cherry and
the bird cherry bent over the river and ferns
and smelly cranesbill and a flat stone on the path
and I’ve had so many dreams about that path,
one had loads of ants
another had no ants
the first had lots of pine needles and cones but the other,
it was gentle, like, it had a daisy meadow
next to it and there was this cabin in the wilderness
Dad went out every Sunday morning to shoot birds
and we had earthworms at home and
we were always collecting them ‘cause we had a long fishing line,
the sort with lots of hooks
and once we had a line like that
in the attic when we had lots of puppies
and one of the puppies got its lip caught in the line.by Henriikka Tavi

Translated by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah

Two announcements: The Poetry Centre is inviting all members of the local community to join us in celebration of National Poetry Day on Thursday 2 October 2014 by performing poetry in our Pop-up Poetry event. If you would like to participate, please send us an e-mail at brookespopuppoetry@gmail.com including your name and a sample of the poetry you would like to read, by Friday 5 September 2014.

Details of the inaugural Winchester Poetry Festival have been released! Taking place between 12-14 September 2014, the festival is three days in length, features thirty poets, and hosts twenty-six events, including internationally-acclaimed and award-winning writers such as Patience Agbabi [Creative Writing Fellow here at Brookes], Ros Barber, David Constantine, Christopher Reid, Michael Longley, and Kate Firth. For more details, visit the Festival’s website, its Facebook page, or follow it on Twitter.

‘Lastu’ / ‘The Shaving’ by Henriikka Tavi is copyright © Henriikka Tavi, 2013, and is reprinted by permission of Arc Publications from the book Six FinnishPoets (Arc Publications, 2013).

Notes from Arc Publications:

Hailing from Vehkalahti, now a part of Hamina, Henriikka Tavi’s (b.1978) first book, Esim. won the Helsingin Sanomat first book prize. She studied philosophy at the University of Helsinki and is a founding member of the co-op poetry publishing house Poesia. From 2006 until 2010 she also worked for the poetry magazine Tuli&Savu, serving as its chief editor from 2008 with Mikael Brygger.Published by Arc Publications in its New Voices from Europe and Beyond series, and edited by Teemu Manninen, Six Finnish Poets features the work of: Vesa Haapala, Janne Nummela, Matilda Södergran, Henriikka Tavi, Juhana Vähänen and Katariina Vuorinen. Their poems are translated by Lola Rogers, Emily and Fleur Jeremiah, and Helen R. Boultrum. These poets offer a refreshing mix of narrative, cinematic and experimental devices, ranging from science fiction to punk to whimsical subject matters. Several of the poets in this anthology collaborate with other artists and this engagement is evident as the poems speak to each other across the collection.

Since it was founded in 1969, Arc Publications has adhered to its fundamental principles – to introduce the best of new talent to a UK readership, including voices from overseas that would otherwise remain unheard in this country, and to remain at the cutting edge of contemporary poetry. Arc also has a music imprint, Arc Music, for the publication of books about music and musicians. As well as its page on Facebook, you can find Arc on Twitter. Visit Arc’s website to join the publisher’s mailing list, and to find full details of all publications and writers. Arc offers a 10% discount on all books purchased from the website (except Collectors’ Corner titles). Postage and packing is free within the UK.

Copyright information: please note that the copyrights of all the poems displayed on the website and sent out on the mailing list are held by the respective authors, translators or estates, and no work should be reproduced without first gaining permission from the individual publishers.