Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CCCXXXVIII), Thomas BOBERG (b. 1960), DENMARK: “Dictatorial Poem”, “Poem Dictatorial”

Thomas Boberg, n. 1960, Danemarca

DICTATORIAL POEM

All the people who can’t be on the promenade
All the people who have forgotten where they came from
All the people who dropped their keys
All the people who can’t join the club
All the people who can’t be at the tip of my pen
All the people who don’t know the scorpion’s tactics
All the people who pass each other by
All the people who are on time but don’t make it there
All the people who don’t want to experience tomorrow
All the people who stay even though the train is waiting
All the people who can’t be where they are

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POEM DICTATORIAL
(Thomas Boberg, n. 1960, Danemarca)

Toţi oamenii care nu se pot plimba pe Corso,
Toţi oamenii care au uitat de unde vin
Toţi oamenii care şi-au pierdut cheile
Toţi oamenii care nu pot fi membrii clubului
Toţi oamenii care nu pot fi pe buzele mele
Toţi oamenii care nu înţeleg tactica scorpionului
Toţi oamenii care trec unii pe lângă alţii
Toţi oamenii care sosesc la timp dar care nu reuşesc
Toţi oamenii care refuză să trăiasca experienţa viitorului
Toţi oamenii care rămân deşi trenul aşteaptă
Toţi oamenii care nu pot fi unde sunt.

Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London
© 2015 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

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SHORT BIO: Thomas Boberg (b. 1960) is a Danish poet and travel writer, who was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize, in 1999 for Americas, an account of his travels in North and South America, and in 2006 respectively for Livsstil, a volume of poems.
He lived for many years in Peru, where a collection of his poems appeared in print at Lustra Editoriales Publishers. His more recent volume Hesteæderne (The Horse Eaters) is a collection of poems chronicling life in a surreal dystopia.