Lars Erik Einar Gustavsson Poems

One day life stands
gently smiling like a girl
suddenly on the far side of the stream
and asks
...

All these strange
small objects
that come to us in the course of our lives
each one from its own location
...

Old coins and bills
Including a One dollar 1810
issued by Mechanical Bank in Saint Louis
An amusing beer mug with a red nose
...

Actually it was only four short winters.
With Thomas Mann and Hesse
and Greek grammar.
And the Skandia movie theatre.
...

When the soft darkness of August
suddenly closed in
it was as if the lake down there
quickened its pulse, breathed otherwise
...

The room itself smelled of chalk
and heavy, dried wood.
Generations had carved in the tables
so that the systems of letters
...

It was a parking lot.
A completely ordinary parking lot.

But below the powerful lamps
...

Major gods, a Baal, an El,
defeat the Powers of Chaos in a heroic battle

(they think)
and then carefully erect their fortress
...

And so this long summer draws to a close.
The days grow shorter
the words a little slower for each year.
I did not choose this profession.
...

I don't know if I like cats
Dogs are more my sort of animal
Dogs don't lie as often
But it's nice sleeping with cats
...