2023-07-03
Poem of the Week, week 27: Anne Bøe "Yet Ferns Spread Their Spores"
Enjoy a weekly poem by authors from Norway, throughout the year.
YET FERNS SPREAD THEIR SPORES
yet ferns spread their spores
on the sparsest ground, a rainbow, a
rainforest paradise promised the doves fly
to and fro without finding
food or shelter, where is the pencil cedar tree
the usambara violet, we danced we climbed we flew
through the trees, glowing with joy and tumbling
about, we cooled down in
the eucalyptus forest, so soothing had these
mountains ever appeared to noah he would have
gone ashore and rejoiced, now they lie void
plucked bare of their soil, a prehistoric
land of plenty, all eroded where is there a dove
a leaf to turn, a home wind
Translated by Annabelle Despard
See the poem in Norwegian
Poem of the Week
Learn more about the series and see all poems here
