God's Lamb
to be god's lamb
cut off your head
toss it in the pot
let thoughts boil up
put them on the table
and dig in
To Eat the Angels
when you get old
you don't much care for bird
she says apologetically
pushing the plate
of chicken towards me
lately i've heard
the flapping of invisible wings
it can't be right
to eat the angels
she says so convincingly
that i too lose my appetite
Faces
i don't reek of fish
i've only just eaten fish
but i've also dreamt
i was a fish
and i've even read
an interview where paul mccartney's daughter
said she and her dad don't eat meat or fish
because it's wrong
to eat anything that has a face
and since then i've always thought of fish
whenever i hear yesterday
and whenever i see a face
that looks like mccartney's
it makes me want to eat fish
so bad
my piano reeks
and plays yesterday all by itself
from Super 8
Tóroddur Poulsen
translated from the Faroese by Randi Ward
Listen to "Faces" read in the original Faroese by Randi Ward:
Tóroddur Poulsen (1957) is a pioneering poet, graphic artist, and musician. He grew up in Tórshavn, the capital city of the Faroe Islands, during a period of intense socioeconomic and cultural transition. Since his literary debut in Varðin, Poulsen has published nearly forty books and become an inimitable force in Nordic literature. His colorful reading style and rebellious alter ego, The Garage God, have earned him a reputation as the "Punk Poet" of the Faroe Islands. He has twice received the M.A. Jacobsen Literature Award and recently won the Faroe Islands' most prestigious cultural prize, Mentanarvirðisløn Landsins. Katrin Ottarsdóttir's film, A Line A Day Must Be Enough (2008), documents the day-to-day life of Tóroddur Poulsen as well as his complicated relationship with his native archipelago.
Randi Ward (b. 1982) is a poet, translator, lyricist, and photographer from West Virginia. She earned her MA in cultural studies from the University of the Faroe Islands and has twice won the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Prize. Her work has appeared in Asymptote, Beloit Poetry Journal, Words Without Borders, and World Literature Today; her work has also been featured on Folk Radio UK, NPR, and PBS Newshour. She is a recipient of Shepherd University’s Appalachian Photography Award, and Cornell University Library established the Randi Ward Collection in its Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in 2015. For more information, visit randiward.com.
