They have grabbed me     opened up

cut loose     reshaped my nature

spared a cypher from being extinguished

begun a protracted illness

The room tightened

brought my life sphere

one step closer to my body

underneath     was a blind area

As if I voluntarily donated

my silent tissue to these violent 

cells    entrusted me as a mother ship

host animal    for endgames and destruction

The I function     non-sovereign in this drama

why talk about function     as if I

with language     could control      these whispering

crystal spores     mythological stalactites

without intent     or anthropomorphic characteristics

Melancholic pursuit of pleasure

eats up the time

I should spellbind     dusk

which always starts over

If only     the magical organs

were here     capable of

placing me     in the orbit     that

refines all organic material

TRANSLATOR BIO:

Johannes Göransson is the author of nine books of poetry and criticism, most recently Summer (2022), and the translator of several books of poetry, including works by Aase Berg, Ann Jäderlund, Kim Yideum, and, most recently, Eva Kristina Olsson’s The Angelgreen Sacrament (Black Square Editions, 2021). His poems, translations and critical writings have appeared in a wide array of journals in the US and abroad, including Fence, Lana Turner, Spoon River Review, Modern Poetry in Translation (UK), Kritiker (Denmark) and Lyrikvännen (Sweden). He is a professor in the English Department at the University of Notre Dame and one of the editors of Action Books.