Swedish Poetry 1
LARS MIKAEL RAATTAMAA Kommunismen (Communism, 201
4) “Sprawl” is a term derived from architecture, and Lars Mikael Raattamaa, who trained as an architect, uses it to explain his poetry. His wide-ranging and voluminous collection Kommunismen really does convey a sense of sprawling. These are poems that take up space, that demand it. The attention of the reader is further focused by the use of various fonts and diverse styles, from conceptual L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry to traditional rhyming sonnets. The titles refer to named or lesser known artists in several fields including the visual arts and political thinkers, while a weighty list of references contains political theory for the most part. The poems accommodate a critical approach to the contemporary world but one without the idyllic retrospective gaze of nostalgia. Selected Collections of Poetry: Ur krakars gäld (1989) Ingenting annat (materia) (1996) Politiskt våld (2003) Svensk dikt (2006) Kommunismen (2014) Dashiell Hammett Can we test the October night once upon a time it was called likeness another time it was a dream the night is a soft embrace when you may fall the candles in the window opposite building a normal embrace they could have tested us there was booze and there were tea but everything that still has meaning your fingers can we continue now or have we lost for the last time years of paper days of stamps can’t we test who promised that we would never again try who said we would never meet speak of cities and roads and houses and vegetables and I would so like to sit at a table and work or glue bits of wood onto models of a warehouse once upon a time there was a rope more than enough there were sleds that stood still and sleds in motion can I write about them who else would remember I would so like to glue bits of paper into a memory or else I fall claim creep profit can, not it was nights in a basement on the island Lars Mikael Raattamaa, from Kommunismen (Communism), 2014 Translated by Johannes Göransson 59 SWEDISH POETRY