Translation: José Luis Rico
Pieniä kovia nuppuja (“Small Strong Buds”)
ed. Poesia (2014)
an encyclopedia illustration, the entry human
a human recognizable as human, with no individualizing
distinguishing traits
it gathers stones, picks mushrooms, and builds fences
it’s unable to think four-dimensionally
but can edit an encyclopedia entry on humans
for humans who are interested in knowing about humans
in learning that they can’t think four-dimensionally
but that they can indeed pick mushrooms
build hedges, stone fences and electrified fences,
even measure a drowsy reptile’s electroencephalogram
they have local-produce Saturdays and know the cuckoo’s cuckooing habits
these humans
the thundercloud races far over the sea
darkening sails on its way, I still
won’t return. A certain selflessness in this:
there is enough water to carry all the boats,
and for those who fly between the continents
there is an island.
And if the seagulls’ cry is what they mean to say?
wind blew the ants off the ground
Shadows form in the same spot by the bridge,
underwater spotlights as I walk home
Now that we must in any case imagine
a future
as lights burn through the night in any case
I’m fairly certain that I’m feeling something
and walk home. A thrush sings,
a small generation at large in the wind
an apocalypse in the group of all apocalypses.
A lone traveler in the lonely traveler’s rush hour
the generic roadside landscape: in a ditch
dense bushes birches brushwood bushes
Since you should give your all on the last evening
every evening: since we decided to walk to the finishing line,
let’s walk to the finishing line
Stagnant explosions await us
airplane fragments frozen in the tailspin
small gardens that begin to grow on them
how we attach to such things: just an apocalypse
this one, my own, greenish yellow
dense bushes birches brushwood bushes
Reetta Pekkanen (b. 1985 in Outokumpu) is the author of the poetry volumes Pieniä kovia nuppuja (2014, Poesia), Kärhi (2019, Poetry), Salakuljetuksia (2021, Poesiavihkot) and Katkaistut tulppaanit (2023, Poesia). Among other subjects, her poetry addresses abandonment, interspecies connections, and the formation of meaning. Pekkanen’s works have been awarded the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, the Silja Hiidenheimo Memorial Grant, the Katri Vala Prize, the Tiiliskivi Prize and the City of Tampere Literature Prize.
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