Þögnin

by Bragi Ólafsson

Loks þá – en ekki

fyrr en þá – í lok sumars,

þegar gröfurnar, sagirnar, borarnir og há-

þrýstidælurnar voru þagnaðar,

var hægt að fara út í garð

og setjast niður, eins og

upphaflega hafði staðið til

þegar við keyptum húsið. En þá var þegar

tekið að glitta í haustið,

sólin ekki eins hátt á lofti

og í byrjun júní,

þegar borarnir fóru af stað, þegar gröfunum

var ekið inn í garðana í nágrenninu,

sagirnar ræstar og háþrýsti

dælurnar stilltar

á hæstu stillingu.

The Silence

by Bragi Ólafsson

Finally then—but not

until then—at the end of summer,

when the excavators, saws, drills and high-pressure

pumps were silenced,

were we able to go out in the yard

and sit down, as we had

originally planned

when we bought the house. But then already

fall was beginning to settle in,

the sun not as high in the air

as in early June,

when the drills were switched on, and excavators

driven into the neighboring yards,

saws started up and high-pressure

pumps set

on the highest setting.

translated from Icelandic by K. T. Billey

Bragi Ólafsson has published books of poetry, novels, short stories, and plays for the stage and radio. He worked as a musician for years, best known internationally as the bassist for The Sugarcubes. Ólafsson’s poetry and plays have been translated into various languages, and two of his novels, The Pets/Gaeludyrin (2008) and The Ambassador/Sendiherrann (2010) are available in English, German, and Danish. The Pets has also been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic. His plays for the National Theatre and Reykjavík City Theatre have enjoyed great popularity as well as controversy. Four of his novels have been nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize, two received the Booksellers Prize, and Party Games/Samkvaemisleikir (Bjartur, 2004) won the DV Cultural Prize. The Ambassador was shortlisted for the Nordic Literature Prize, and the play The Chickens/Hænuungarnir (2010) was nominated for the Nordic Drama Prize. Among Ólafsson’s own translations are works by Harold Pinter, Paul Auster, and Max Jacob.

K.T. Billey’s poetry collection VULGAR MECHANICS (seeking publication) was a finalist for the 2015 Pamet River Prize from YESYES books. It is being rendered into Spanish by poet Soledad Marambio, who published an acclaimed translation of Anne Carson’s “The Glass Essay” in 2015 (Cuadro de Tiza Ediciones). Originally from rural Alberta, Canada, Billey won Vallum’s 2015 Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in journals such as CutBank, The New Orleans Review, Prelude, Phantom, and others. An Assistant Editor for Asymptote, she translates from Icelandic and Spanish.