Outside the Calendar

Poetry. Translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton. Robin Fulton generously delivers precise translations of the renowned Swedish poet Kjell Espmark. Espmark may speak eloquently of a man without voice, withoutthe sufficient language to act, as he writes in his poem "Silence":

It's getting dark. The spruce trees blacken
like the pages of my calendar. But turn the pages
and let the blackness light your way.
Yes, I usually speak in a borrowed voice,
the voice of the woman who reads in me
translating my Swedish into Swedish.
Like pressing oneself through a keyhole
and almost getting shoulders and hips through it.

But this poet's words ring in our ears in a language beyond words, beyond continents or social strata; his voice is that of a man who has something to say that we all must hear.