New Swedish Books, Autumn 2018 1
23 Autumn 2018 In the valley, they bloom In his e
arlier poetry collections, Jonas Gren has written about climate change and environmental pollution, but In the Valley, They Bloom is closer to traditional lyrical odes to nature. This book leads us through the seasonal changes in a small valley. The weather shifts and birds fly through the air. Flowers bud, bloom, wither and decay. The poetic narrator walks through the landscape observing these changes. Some days he harbours a wistful hope for a coming world where the flowers have reclaimed the cities. Rather than establish an antagonistic contradiction between humanity and nature, Jonas Gren seeks to emphasise that humanity is a part of nature. Or, as he words it in one of his poems: “I inhabit the world / like the fire does the wood”. JONAS GREN DÄLDEN DÄR DE BLOMMAR Lyrik Jonas Gren (b. 1981) In the valley, they bloom Publisher 10tal Bok www.10tal.se Rights 10tal Bok Madeleine Grive info@10tal.se Works Lantmäteriet, poems, 2014 Överallt ska jag vara i centrum, poems, 2015 Antropocen, poems, 2016 Photo: Linda Gren