This is the third of the trilogy which already comprises the highly-acclaimed Bloodhoof and Drápa. In all three poetic sequences, the poet employs the archaic form of the saga to conjure up razor-sharp dark and bewildering images of the fates of women in a world where the boundaries between life and death and what lies beyond are unclear. In this particular sequence, Gerdur Kristny gives a voice to a woman whose story was one that society was not ready to hear at the time, a woman who was abused as a child but who committed suicide before her own account of what had taken place was published. At its heart is the very notion of articulation, of how our language and culture determine what stories we can tell and what words we can use.
- Nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize 2018
- The Icelandic Booksellers’ Prize for poetry 2018
- Nominated for the Maistjarnan Poetry Award 2019
“I’ve just attended Gerdur Kristny’s Requiem for a woman who might not have died around the age of thirty if we as a society had just come a bit further.
If a culture of silence didn’t still prevail.
I am exhausted.
Can’t remember a more powerful reading experience in years.
We lack the words to describe a poet like Gerdur, who combines the power of nature with the force of raw emotion.
We lack so many words.”
KATRIN ODDSDOTTIR
“In her new book of poetry, Gerdur Kristny offers a powerful requiem, forged into verse, that guides us through the realm of those who have suffered, and still suffer, at the hands of people who insist on oppressing others. The pain of those who suffer must never be forgotten.”
JORUNN SIGURDARDOTTIR, ORD UM BAEKUR, NATIONAL BROADCASTING SERVICE
“It’s impossible to do justice to Gerdur Kristny’s powerful poetry – there are simply no words. You must read the book. All thinking people – women and especially us men – need to read this book, Gerdur Kristny’s Requiem, not just once but over and over again.”
TRYGGVI GISLASON
“Requiem is the most powerful book of poetry that has made its way to my heart.”
VIGDIS GRIMSDOTTIR
SIX STARS OUT OF SIX POSSIBLE
CHRISTIAN STOKBRO KARLSEN, NORDJYSKE, DENMARK
“‘Reykjavik Requiem’ is a trenchant, long, narrative poem which is divided into five sections. Each section is written in sparse form using short stanzas. Brevity completely complements the theme of this work, which is exquisitely incisive and succinct, pared and honed with razor-sharp imagery. White space on each page allowed my mind to wander about each turn of events at the turning of each page, acutely aware that the speaker of this poem did not have the luxury of a voice. Her fate is revealed necessarily quickly in the text, like catching breath in the cold. It is Christmas:
Iron-wrought
stars
lit up the streets
Skis
slashed slopes…
You looked out through
the war-toothed jaw
of the winter…
You wrote
your story
with ink-moistened pine-needles
This compelling book is spellbinding, and I read all of it in one evening initially, completely immersed in its essential content. On subsequent slower readings we discover more of what the poet says about language and its limitations. For instance the second section’s prelude tells the reader that, in Persian,
There’s no word for the terror which trickles like melting
snow down your back
This poem continues hauntingly, softly stirring and awaking the dead in a shocking and arresting way; one verse explains that ‘Ása has a leather strap’ (where Ása is presumed to be the name of an abuser):
On the mound a golden plover
calls a ghost from the grave…
I gouge out
an eye of mine
with the hook
play with it
in the palm of my hand
The speaker, gently keening, describes the burial-cairn and then the bitterest of tastes. Kristny’s imagery never fails to cut deeply:
They didn’t want the story
to get around
It moved swiftly
beneath their eyelids
tore them off
like petals from a flower
No-one
found rest
… Reykjavik Requiem is a determined and vigorous book. Gerdur Kristny unfurls tragedy with reverent energy and a quest for justice.”
JULIE HOGG, LONDON GRIP POETRY REVIEW
