Vilde BJERKE TORSET
TWO poems
(OBSERVATIONS)

OBSERVATIONS
& OTHER FRAGMENTS
what takes my eye on the honour roll:
a life of trauma, which should not be rendered in sentiment
something like clipping nails at a funeral
or a man drowned in his bed
are the overstated epicentre of the unknown
while the child screams, not because it is sad but because it has lungs
HOW TO SAY ANYTHING
the absurd pleasure
in insisting one thing is like another
that Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus
when it’s inevitably not
just like caviar isn’t bubble wrap
and sheep lack the gravitas of cattle
Vilde BJERKE TORSET is a Norwegian artist and poet based in london. Her recent publications include the poetry chapbook WHAT IT MEANS WHEN YOU DREAMS: A-to-Z (AFV Press, 2021) and the artist book PAREIODOLIA: DOTREMONT’s DAUGHTER (Timglaset, 2020).
See vildebjerketorset.com.
IMAGE—
Saul LEITER
Jean Pearson, circa 1948
© Saul Leiter Foundation; Howard Greenberg Gallery