The Termination

The Termination

In Pakistan bombs fall, explode and artillery
shells whizz through the air, burning building
and dead children, all this happen when I sit
listening to a program about abortion.

It strikes me that those who are anti-abortion,
often are for capital penalty and do not dither
to dropp rockets on villages in the mountains of
Pakistan or Afghanistan.

poem by Oskar Hansen
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The God Of Fire

The God of fire
It took him twenty years
to write his novel.
Twenty refusals later
he gave the manuscript
to the fire which
greedily absorbed it.
A phone call from nowhere,
send us another novel.
It took twenty more years
to write a new book
and the god Agni
burnt his hands.
As a thank you.
Success at last he cried
to a man with a yellow helmet
carrying an axe.

poem by Oskar Hansen
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The Smile

At a cafe in Liverpool I sat eating bacon butty
washed down with milky tea, wife had left me
and I was feeling glum. A woman at a far table
looked at me and smiled. An overcast day, felt
as the sun had come out. I didn’t know what to
say or do so I looked out of the window rain.
Her boyfriend came, they left, but she sent me
another smiling glance
Knew I would be OK.

poem by Oskar Hansen
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Wisdom

Wisdom

What life has taught me
Importance is transitory
Sacrifice vacant
Israel is a postscript
Life is but a summer breeze

Life is meaningless
Happiness is to understand this
Not wait for heaven
False prophets and promises
Life is but a summer breeze

Nonexistence
Has no memory of pasts
Rapids do not sing
Stillness tells not of love
Life is but a summer breeze

poem by Oskar Hansen
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Gunplay

Gunplay

The confused inner city kid
had a gun.
Another boy didn’t show him respect,
so he shot him dead.
The gunboy fled into a park,
under a bush hid
shivering in the cold rain.
Now he was a hero in the eyes
of other kids
Sirens and voices, they have got him now.
One bullet left,
wished he was back home with his mum,
thought of his options…
a hero for all time?

poem by Oskar Hansen
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the French Language

MY STONE HORSES

Horses in the snow
I have brought them fodder
Tey neigh
Snow on their backs thaws
I am a purveyor of happiness?


MES CHEVAUX DE PIERRE

Chevaux dans la neige,
Je leur ai apporté du fourrage,
Ils hennissement,
La neige sur leurs dos fond,
Suis-je un pourvoyeur de bonheur?

Jan Oskar Hansen

Translated into French by Athanase Vantchev de Thracy

poem by Oskar Hansen
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The Problem With God

The God Problem

Religions’ root
Is mans guest to live forever
Not only of flesh
But superior to other life forms
Spiritual and advanced

He seeks a deity
In his own vain image
Insist he’s right
Ready to kill for his icon
And askew timelessness

Will not accept
He’s no more than a weed
Or a dandelion
Forever seeking assurance
That life offers more than death

poem by Oskar Hansen
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Oceanic Humour

Oceanic Humour?

Does a sardine play
Hide and seek with another fish
And laugh about it?

Does a lobster joust
With a big Alaska crab
Just for amusement?

Wit on the sea’s floor
Giggling eels on Dogger bank
Slippery gayety?

Can a tiger shark
Tell another shark a story
That has a fun bite?

Are ocean’s beings
As stern as the old Talibans

[...] Read more

poem by Oskar Hansen
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Rape, the swedish way

Rape, The Swedish Way.

Go to Sweden
Meet a woman who likes you
Be on your toes
She may regret it next day
Tell police she has been rushed
And that’s rape
According to Swedish law
So be careful now
Get a written permission
Before you have intercourse
It is an odd rule
Making fools out of women
Who cannot say No
Feeling they can’t resist
A man’s overpowering charm.

poem by Oskar Hansen
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The Sea

The Sea.

I was an orphan lost on the vast plateau
of land till I came to the coast and saw
the sea wench all beginnings sprang;

yet I swim close to shore where the sea
is clear and has no dark, mysterious spots,
she is a greedy mother her love is total;

she hates land that stole her off springs,
hammers shores and will not desist and
be at ease before all is gone.

poem by Oskar Hansen
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