Poem

Ann Jäderlund

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WHY ARE WE NOT IN PARADISE?

I am dying. Deep outside. Out of myself.
I was dying yesterday and since I was born.
I wasn’t born out of myself. I am destroyed.
My body disjoints all I own. I can
not be in there.

WAAROM ZIJN WE NIET IN HET PARADIJS?

Ik ga dood. Diep erbuiten. Buiten mezelf om.
Ik ging dood gisteren en sinds mijn geboorte.
Ik werd niet uit mezelf geboren. Ik word verknoeid.
Mijn lichaam ontbindt alles wat ik bezit. Ik kan
er niet in zijn.

VARFÖR ÄR VI INTE I PARADISET?

Jag är döende. Djupt utanför. Ute ur mig själv.
Jag var döende igår och sedan jag föddes.
Jag föddes inte ur mig själv. Jag förstörs.
Min kropp sönderdelar allt jag äger. Jag kan
inte vara därinne.

© 2009, Ann Jäderlund
From: Vad hjälper det en människa om hon häller rent vatten över sig i alla sina dagar
Publisher: Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm

Ann Jäderlund

(Sweden, 1955)

Ann Jäderlund connects her poetry to other texts and art forms to a large extent. She uses fragments from European literature, such as ‘you died today or was it yesterday’, an echo of the opening sentence from Albert Camus’s The Stranger. Her poetry leans on psychological and philosophical concepts (for example by Freud or Hume) and she attempts to capture the slow language of Iranian films in ...

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Poems of Ann Jäderlund

WHY ARE WE NOT IN PARADISE?

I am dying. Deep outside. Out of myself.
I was dying yesterday and since I was born.
I wasn’t born out of myself. I am destroyed.
My body disjoints all I own. I can
not be in there.

WHY ARE WE NOT IN PARADISE?

I am dying. Deep outside. Out of myself.
I was dying yesterday and since I was born.
I wasn’t born out of myself. I am destroyed.
My body disjoints all I own. I can
not be in there.