badgerbag

I think you should just make this list a poem.

I love this list. Love.

Ok, I ran my favorite poem ("Violet Dusks" by Edith Södergran) through the symbolic equivalency updater and this is what I got. The original poem is actually from 1916 instead of 1906, so the results may be a little off.

Black Midnights

Black midnights I bear within me from my misspent youth,
babydykes backstage with Ani DiFranco...
I am cyborg, transhuman, I radiate power,
stainless steel pierces my tender tongue,
cold fusion that penetrates me as no man ever could...
A man is a mere electrolytic cell,
A man is pseudo-science without peer review,
A man is a failed experiment that wisdom rejects.

Beautiful sisters, come with me, higher than crystal meth,
together we are the Indigo Girls, Willow, Xena,
pupils dilated, cheeks flushed, blood crashing like
heavy breakers on shattering skulls.
At night we are vampires, we are a deeper red than blood,
we are the skittering of rats, the strings of guitars, the streetlights' eternal hum.

That's lovely! Oh, please type the original up too, I can't find a copy!

Ha, thanks! :) Here's the original:

Violet dusks...

Violet dusks I bear within me from my ancient past,
naked maidens at play with galloping centaurs...
Yellow sunlit days with brilliant gazes,
only sunbeams do true homage to a tender woman's body...
No man has yet come, has ever been, will ever be...
A man is a false mirror that the sun's daughter hurls against the cliffs in rage,
A man is a lie that pure children do not understand,
A man is a rotten fruit that proud lips disdain.

Beautiful sisters, come high up onto the strongest rocks,
we are all amazons, heroines, horsewomen,
eyes of innocence, brows of heaven, buds of roses,
heavy breakers and soaring birds,
we are the least expected and the deepest red,
stripes of tigers, taut strings, stars without vertigo.

-- Edith Södergran (1916)

what a great translation!

Yay! Wow - I should show you the stuff I've been translating. It's just that kind of thing. But possibly not as cool. I wish I could read the original original. the last 2 lines, wow!

Yes, I'd love to see anything like that! And, yes, the last two lines blow me away. I mean, the whole second verse (the last six lines) is brilliant, but those last two send shivers down my spine.

BTW, you can find the original-original here:

http://runeberg.org/sodrgran/01_11.html

Oh, and from the small-world department:

1. I only learned about Edith Södergran when she was quoted in Show Me Love, the best movie ever.

2. Two of the most most famous Finnish lesbian icons are both writers who write/wrote in Swedish: Edith Södergran, and Tove Jansson, who provided Moomin's nom de blog.

And... Edith's picture... and another poem, translated.

Can we pick from both lists? Is there an option for "all of the above"? (Sadly, I do prose, not poetry.)

Just for you... only this once... If you are very, very, good and think only pure thoughts... Yes, you can use both lists.

heh.