Hi Mike,
I liked this, but as Gary has said I did struggle a bit with the tenses.
Making it clear that the poem involves a switch of points of view is always
difficult and sadly I've got no good ideas as to how best to do so.
I liked the stanza
"Boulders stand beside ditches
with the clarity of sunlight
catching birch leaves and the weight
of words cut into stone"
Regards,
Matt
 

-----Original Message-----
From: The Pennine Poetry Works [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Mike Horwood
Sent: 16 November 2004 17:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: new sub: On reading Väinö Linna


The Finnish novelist, Väinö Linna (1920-1992), wrote historical novels in
the realist tradition. His best-known works are the trilogy, Under The North
Star, which describes events in Finland from the 1880s to 1950s and how
these affect the lives of a group of characters in a village in the south of
the country, and The Unknown Soldier, which describes the experiences of a
machine gun company during the Continuation War of 1944 against Russia. 


On Reading Väinö Linna

Dusty roads disappear between trees.
Fields yellow under the sun
where the scythe´s blade once swung
from Nordic dawn till sundown.

The illumination of each tree, the mower´s
unsteady foot on the threshold,
light cast on each door jamb, range
and outhouse, the retreat of snow

across the courtyard in spring;
yes, we have stumbled among
these very things, clumsy
as a horse that hauls logs through bog.

Boulders stand beside ditches
with the clarity of sunlight
catching birch leaves and the weight
of words cut into stone.

There are days when wind crashes
through branches and the lake
is the colour of lead when we take
water for washing, but the land is at peace.

The wooden walls of the crofter´s cottage
have greyed with age. These beams
have settled and seem permanent now.





Mike
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