Wednesday 16 May 2018
Bibliotekshaven, Copenhagen
7pm
History is a loop. It’s a circular motion with delays, it is cause, action. History opens its doors, and out floods the poem. I am standing in Bibliotekshaven and reading from The Arab Apocalypse. It was supposed to be about the sun, but the war came and finished writing the poems, says Etel Adnan. It tells me about the consequences of violence. I am standing here because nature witnesses all. The fragmentary poem and its dates. Besættelsen and the unifying construction of steel, boundaries that are demolished, to be rebuilt once again, that is the loop. The body is most visible in the interval, it shines and erupts in fear’s light. I move forward with my own words. The words remember cities emerging, destroyed, and built again. How the traces are covered and how humanity forgets after a couple of years. That the collective memory is short despite efforts to remember. To stand near water gives a sense of vertigo. Drones stain the ocean. Holy ocean and the sun.
Iman Mohammed is a poet based in Malmö.
The reading starts at 7pm in Bibliotekshaven, by the Søren Kierkegaard statue
We offer a number of return tickets Malmö-Copenhagen on a first come, first served basis. Contact us on location for reimbursement.
