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The only daily poetry series publishing new work by today’s poets.

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Older Elektra

translated from the Swedish by Johannes Göransson

The great tit chirps in the january darkness
Or sparrows Girls I don’t know Just sounds
They suggest hope
Do the dead forget to die in the dark
All kinds of people take deep breaths
They shouldn’t chirp
Birds make patterns of sound
Inside and outside my head
My brain is dragged like stones
Dragged by ox children up a mountain
Stones buried in cliffs of snow
I have waited in the scant night
I can wait without light or children
We always cry too late, it is said,
and always sing too soon

 


 

Äldre Elektra

 

Talgoxen kvittrar i januarimörkret
Eller sparvarna Flickorna Jag vet inte Ljud bara
Glömmer de döda att dö i mörkret
Alla möjliga människor andas tungt
De måste inte kvittra
Mönstret av fåglar låter
Inuti och utanför huvudet
Hjärnan släpas som stenar
Dragna av oxbarn uppför ett berg
Stenar begravda i klippor i snö
Jag har väntat i den glesa natten
Jag kan vänta utan ljus och barn
Man gråter alltid försent, sägs det
och sjunger alltid för tidigt

Copyright © 2026 by Jenny Tunedal, translated by Johannes Göransson. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 15, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Jenny Tunedal

Jenny Tunedal
Courtesy of Jenny Tunedal
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Maya C. Popa is the Guest Editor for September. Read or listen to a Q&A with Maya about her curatorial process, and learn more about the 2026 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
Epistemology Catherine Barnett 11/16/2017
American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin [But there never was a black male hysteria] Terrance Hayes 11/15/2017
We Named You Mercy Amanda Johnston 11/14/2017
Headwind Amber Flora Thomas 11/13/2017
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea (Sonnet 65) William Shakespeare 11/12/2017
At the Last Witter Bynner 11/11/2017
Gray Eraser Joan Naviyuk Kane 11/10/2017
According to the Gospel of Yes Dana Levin 11/09/2017
The Driest Place on Earth Shanna Compton 11/08/2017
from “Back on Earth” Brent Cunningham 11/07/2017

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