Electric Verses

Etusivu : Welcome to Electric Verses! : Jyrki Kiiskinen

Jyrki Kiiskinen

Jyrki Kiiskinen

Jyrki Kiiskinen (b. 1963) worked as editor in chief in the Nuori Voima literary magazine in 1991-1994 and Books from Finland in 1995-2000. He is one of the most important literary figures of his generation. He has published four collections of poems, two novels and one children’s book. He was awarded the Eino Leino Prize in 1992, Kalevi Jäntti Prize in 1994 and Yleisradio’s (the equivalent of the BBC) Tanssiva Karhu (Dancing Bear) Prize in 2000.


WHAT LIES BEHIND THE FAMILIAR WINDSCREEN

X (in the series Maisema särkyneen tuulilasin takana)

This is the well
that hid the skull
that gave birth to
the image of god

that created the impala
that ran at a speed
that inspired envy
that gives us strength

that generates a deed
that gives birth to freedom
that constructs
man’s own image

that tunes an engine
that speeds up a car
that gives birth to a god
that crushes a skull

that is flung to a well
that fills up with water
that conceals a current
that dispels the spirit

that dreams a forest
that hides a well
that pierces
a man’s soul

that sprouts a tree
that carries a chirping bird
that wakes up a mother
that doesn’t fly away.

From Kun Elän (When I live), 1999. In the series ”Maisema särkyneen tuulilasin takana”.

  • X (in the series Maisema särkyne…
  • XI
  • XII
  • Brother
  • Four a.m.
  • Song
  • Radio
  • Method
  • Estrangement
  • A wish
  • Someone else
  • The hours of night
  • On the freedom of undressing
  • No one
  • I fall upwards