Palle Sigsgaard (1976) follows in the footsteps of Danish poet Inger Christensen as well as New Yorker poets such as Frank O’Hara and John Ashbery – and with humorous artfulness he continues the search for the poetry’s flickering in the middle of the tight systematism. With his stylistically consistent debut collection Glitrende støv danser (glittering dust dances) from 2007, Palle Sigsgaard has won a central spot in Danish poetry. (Source)
Slovenia 2011 – The Slovene Writer’s Association and Pranger Poetry Festival
• Ljubljana, June 30th, Slovene Writer’s Association, Gajo Jazz Garden, Danish evening reading
• Rogaška Slatina, Ana’s Gallery, July 1st, The Pranger Poetry Festival, panel discussion on translating poetry Slovene-Dansk
• Rogatec Strmol Mansion, July 1st, The Pranger Poetry Festival, evening reading
• Rogaška Slatna, The European Plateau, July 2nd, The Pranger Poetry Festival, evening reading
In current Danish poetry we can see an inclination to ignore high modernism’s conceptual experiments for the sake of experimentation. Instead there is an acknowledgment of an increasing need to enter into a concrete dialogue with the reader, without any direct talk of occasional poetry mind you. The soundings discussed here, in the poetic landscape of 2007, show that poets are making reference to other forms of art and culture, thereby shifting the one-way traffic of the monologue to a search for poetic conversational space. The last poet in this overview may be the exception that confirms the rule: the newcomer PALLE SIGSGAARD (born 1976), whose little collection of poems Glitrende støv danser (‘Glittering Dust Dances’) seems quite traditional at first glance, but that would be a flagrant error of judgment. Even the collection’s motto, derived from the New York School poet Kenneth Koch (1912-2002), indicates that Sigsgaard is a philosophical-absurdist linguistic juggler.
‘Glittering Dust Dances’ consists of two parts – of which especially the first’s funny, sonorous rhymes make fascinating reading. Sigsgaard’s poetry takes its clear premise in what in the 1970s was called “systematic poetry,” but he is able to add a rare musical suppleness and rhythmic elegance to his texts’ systematic character. Sigsgaard investigates various syntactical and logical structures and forms, and even though he circles around the uncertainty and irresolution of language, it is above all linguistic reality he relates to, and not all that which lies outside it. In the first part of ‘Glittering Dust Dances’, the “doubt” suite contains some very eye-catching and successful poems; in the second part, the poems are about something that has “disappeared”. And with this part comes the end of our overview, which is also a tribute to all poets who have made 2007 a distinctive lyrical year.
Henk van der Liet
