Poems by Hanna Riisager
Translated from the Swedish by Kristina Andersson Bicher
Fuchsia
Next time——–you ask like a
spank what is shame
redness’s index handprint
The animal with two backs that slinks between
semioticians’ fingers in a game of caresses
for all to see
Marmalade sandwich——–what is that
a bite of bread to wake for
the margarine the orangine sugared snack for
morphine-sleep—you sure as hell will
—————————-Hanging from the ceiling a sleek graphite
—————————-forest of lobed lilac-blooming
—————————-bushes that smell artificial and
—————————-drool with ready-to-pop and tender
—————————-buds swelling abscesses
—————————-willowherb pod of blood and pus
—————————-semioticians in green facemasks
—————————-loom among the stalks
—————————-walk the halls and gather wide armfuls
—————————-move with pipettes the thick sap
—————————-from one gaudy chalice
—————————-to the other
Your little profusion of a body will die in the sleep
scraped out of life
and you will wake in the lifting between the table
and the sheet——–so light
so spelled out
not shamed for your grief
Not shamed for the weight that comes
out of you
out in the graphite forests’ depth and
luster
There hecatombs of iridescent fetuses
already glimmer in the moss like
pomegranate seeds
in circle formation——–a ros-
ary
in the semiotician’s wide-open hand
burst out;——–a chronic eczema
icon of the drip
Fuchsia
Nästa gång——–frågar du som en
dask vad är skam
rodnadens index handavtrycket
Djuret med två ryggar som slinker mellan
semiotikerns fingrar i en smeksam lek
alla kan se
Marmeladsmörgås——–vad är det
en bit bröd att vakna för
margarinet apelsinet sockrad macka mot
morfinsömn——–lik förbannat ska du det
—————————-Från taket hänger en blyertsblank
—————————-skog av flikiga lilablommande
—————————-buskar som doftar artificiellt och
—————————-dräller av sprickfärdiga och ömma
—————————-knoppar svullnader abscesser
—————————-dunörtsbär av blod och var
—————————-Semiotiker i gröna munskydd
—————————-skymtar bland stjälkarna
—————————-går i salarna och samlar vida fång
—————————-flyttar med pipett tjocka savar
—————————-från den ena prunkande kalken
—————————-till den andra
Ditt lilla överflöd av kropp ska dö i sömnen
Ur liv skrapas
och du ska vakna i lyftet mellan bordet
och lakanet——–så lätt
så utskriven
skäms inte för din sorg
Skäms inte för den tyngd som kommer
ut av dig
ut i blyertsskogens djup och
glans
Där hekatomber av blåskimrande foster
redan glimmar i mossan som
granatäpplekärnor
i cirkelformation——–rosen-
krans
i semiotikerns vidöppna hand
utslagen;——–ett kroniskt eksem
droppens ikon
Qualia say,
with a simultaneous press on each other’s
collarbones
that the hand means
what the bone experiences,
that the bone carved what the hand
reads
Pleasure bone –
Inside and out
a pressure bandage with sticky lips
heavy with everything you want to say
Say it
Say it all –
Say that the flesh means
Kvalia säg,
med ett samtidigt tryck på varandras
nyckelben
att handen menar
vad benet erfar,
att benet ristat vad handen
läser
Pleasure bone –
I och utanför
ett tryckförband med klibbiga läppar
tungt av allt du vill säga
Säg det,
säg allt –
Säg att köttet menar
Hanna Riisager is a Swedish poet and critic living in Stockholm. She has an MA in literary studies from Stockholm University. She is one of the founders of the feminist publishing house Dockhaveri förlag, which published her first full-length poetry collection, För Kvalia (2015). För Kvalia was short-listed for the Swedish Authors’ Association debutante prize (Katapult prize) in 2016. Excerpts from För Kvalia have previously been translated into Romanian (Poesis International), French (La Traductiére) and Greek (Vaxikon). Work translated into English have appeared in Asymptote, ANMLY, and Four Way Review and is forthcoming in Plume.
Kristina Andersson Bicher is the author of She-Giant in the Land of Here-We-Go-Again (MadHat Press 2020) and Heat, Sob, Lily (MadHat Press 2025), as well as the translator of Swedish poet Marie Lundquist’s full-length collection I walk around gathering up my garden for the night (Bitter Oleander Press 2020). Her poetry appears in such literary journals as AGNI, Ploughshares, Hayden’s Ferry, Plume, Denver Quarterly, Colorado Review, and Narrative. Her translations and nonfiction have appeared in The Atlantic, Brooklyn Rail, Harvard Review, Asymptote, and Writer’s Chronicle, among others. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.
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