36. (empire / february 13 2015)

^{translated from the Norwegian by Gabriel Gudding}

honored assembly thanks      for letting us stay here
this beautiful country     this proud people 
brothers sisters friends     i have heard      you are empire
but you don’t look like empire
in the grime between gladiators      that’s empire
in the syntax      oh yeah      i can see it      empire      drained wetlands
hydroelectric rivers      broad sidewalks      railways yes
encyclopedias in gold leaf      pools of umber beer
streets of creamy gravies      piles of onceterrified meat       all this empire  
prairies burning      under rising blue plumes      cities cinched      like strands 
of teeth      around the necks of mountains      empire 
what we do to each other in hotels for money      empire
at night      over the telephone      by appointment      
the windows across the river      their lights blinking on off on 
the signals indicating the train is on its way      after all      
not all of us are dead      after all      we are happy to see you
though we don’t dare talk to you     after all

with paprika powder     i write the waste land     in the language of empire
with a sooty twig      i write the odyssey      with the alphabet of empire 
with blueberry juice i write my country anew      in the lexicon of empire 
my country becomes a ditch      a tallow candle      smears on your plate

when you hear that my country is disappearing      you don’t get terrified
when i have translated this      so you can understand that my country
is disappearing      you don’t get terrified       no
instead you grow furious      because i am terrified
now that’s empire