Some Danish writers - more than English and American, I believe - are interested, not so much in change, nor in preserving the status quo, but simply everyday life. I've been reading Suzanne Brøgger, and while she certainly is travelled and, I suspect, considered an ambassador of so-called alternative life-style, she also has respect for and curiosity about people who never travel, the conservative (in a non-party political sense) small-town 'folks' who milk their cows and bake their bread and are happy with their station in life.

I find this interesting. The older I get, the greater lust I get, for growing my own vegetables and raising kids.

Søren Ulrik Thomsen, a Danish poet, writes beautifully about going to the supermarket, with the kids, at the end of the day, when the days are short and chilly. The mundane gains value.
See also Dan Turell's poems - expressing feelings and situations so close to the bone, that it hurts.

In that sense I think that the Irish and the Danish have more in common, with roots in the bogs and potatoes and, again, the home made bread. I think about Seamus Heaney.

I want a herb garden. And carrots and potatoes and peas to pull out of the earth and give back to the earth. Is it because I live in a busy major city that I feel this need to connect and feel part of the chains of events that make the world go 'round?
posted by charlotte at 19:05 - comment