from Lívfrøðiliga samansetingin í einum dropa av sjógvi minnir um blóðið í mínum æðrum (Forlagið Verksmiðjan, 2023) [“The biological composition of a drop of seawater is reminiscent of the blood in my veins”]
Translated from the Faroese by Randi Ward
Aristotle says that there are three types of substance in the world:
- matter with potentiality
- that which has form
- that which is matter in and of itself and has form
I look through the pictures
in my mother’s many photo albums lining the shelf.
I find one snapshot where my father
has his arms wrapped around me.
We were substance, had form.
Aristotle says that nature is:
- the things that exist, like animals, plants, or non-living entities
- those extant things that are in motion, while others are at rest
As we make our way from the dark building
housing the maternity ward to the grass
in this churchyard,
we are layers being deposited
upon other layers.
Pápi and I had form,
now he’s the one no longer in motion.
Writing exercise:
Listen for what can’t be heard, and then write about it.
Listen to the most ancient of trees, give your regards to the ones that perished recently.
Listen for when the oceans were still young.
Speak with the winter night.
We are human
while the withered grass
quivers in the wind
and we simply delight
in being.
We are human,
we wake each morning
with senescent memories
and drink our coffee
with dreams from the past.
We are human,
even when the Neanderthal in us
catches a fly
and, for a split second,
considers eating it.
Rays of sunlight try to shine
down through the tree branches,
the forest floor is black.
The fungi
are having their way with the wounded
and dying trees,
laying waste.
Nordic Council Literature Prize nominee Kim Simonsen is a Faroese poet and researcher from the island of Eysturoy. He studied creative writing at Forlaget Gladiator’s Writing Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark and completed his PhD at the University of Roskilde. Simonsen has authored seven books, as well as numerous essays and academic articles. As the founder and managing editor of Forlagið Eksil, a Faroese press that has championed avant-garde artists and writers, he’s been instrumental in transforming the literary landscape of the Faroe Islands. In 2014, Simonsen won the national book award of the Faroe Islands, M.A. Jacobsen’s Virðisløn, for his poetry collection Hvat hjálpir einum menniskja at vakna ein morgun hesumegin hetta áratúsundið.
Randi Ward is a poet, translator, lyricist, and photographer from West Virginia. She earned her MA in Cultural Studies from the University of the Faroe Islands and has twice won the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Prize. Her translations of Faroese poetry have recently appeared in Best Literary Translations 2025, Notre Dame Review, Columbia Journal, and Plume. She is a recipient of Shepherd University’s Appalachian Photography Award, and Cornell University Library established the Randi Ward Collection in its Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in 2015. The government of the Faroe Islands honored Ward in 2024 with Heiðursgáva Landsins, a national award for distinguished service to Faroese culture. www.randiward.com
World Poetry Review 