Jan Oskar Hansen Poems

I have lived in this foreign country long, perhaps longer
then I should. Many seasons I have seen, my hair is grey
...

Twilight, soon it will be dark, sparrows are flying back, god knows
where they have been. A flock meet in my plum tree, there is livid
...

Just a Thought (drones and riots)

In Waziristan, a tiny Pakistani town, a drone hit its target.
The collateral damage... several children killed.
...

Autumnal Poem (Tanka)
(After a photo by Albert Russo)

This rock in the sea
...

Those steep, tiring hills going home, I had been in town
bought a new kitchen sink, the second one in forty years,
nothing lasts, that’s how traders make their ill gotten
gains.
...

The Adulterous Sea
I drove to the top of a mountain along lanes that began in the mist of time.
Looking north I could see the plateau of Alentejo, westward the Atlantic sea;
it was her, the trollop; I wanted to see from a safe distance. Glittering azure
...

Frost on the window, I scratch a face on ice,
that looks like Marilyn Monroe. And the sun
has no power but lit her face, a golden goddess
...

In our town there were many small shops, one selling
buttons the other socks; and a hardware store should
...

Tanka

NATO…is
A mean military machine
...

A sickly child lie
frail on the sofa in the living room.
A knock on the door,
His mother opened.
...