AshehougAgency

If You See Me, Send My Love

Geir Halnes makes his debut with a collection of poetry where signs and connections revile themselves in the span between the room inside and the room outside, between a you that leave marks and a lyrical I, between our things and things in nature.

Praise for If You See Me, Send My Love:

”Promising debutant poems that combine the actual with the imaginable … the ability to present shrewd formulations that incite and twist the knowledge, makes Halnes’ debut collection very promising”
(Bergens Tidende)

”Like an expert illusionist, Halnes conjures up situations and moods that immediately are revitalised, transformed and written into an open, unpredictable and ambiguous linguistic reality … poems that are playful, vulnerable, melodic and rich in associations … The tone of language is light and immediate, the images open and available. But in the continuation of the poems, there is sincerity, and a hidden despair that leaves an impression and evokes reflection.”
(VG)

”This is Geir Halnes’ debut, and it is very convincing. Both linguistic and notion-wise, If You See Me, Send my Love exceeds most poetry that has been published this year, which is actually quite a lot … it is rare to get the pleasure of reading such a sterling debut collection … They can be read again and again, and new layers reveal themselves to the reader”
(Adresseavisen)

”Geir Halnes is a reserved poet without big words or sensational images, yet he can take your breath away with linguistic slaps … It is a simple, commonly beautiful book with grey separating sheets, grey letters, and poems that conjure a poetically reflected universe from the everyday grey … this debutant impresses with his insistence and his clear focus”
(Dagbladet)

”Halnes … writes well and convincingly about loneliness, lack and yearnings”
(Aftenposten)

”Halnes is a sharp observer, and it is especially good when he measures the distances between the far and the very near … a book it is possible to enter into dialogue with”
(Nordlys)

”A duality rummages in Geir Halnes’ first poetry-collection, and that makes the language challenging … linguistically experimental and intimately expanding poetry … at times an audaciously and profoundly formulated book”
(Hamar Arbeiderblad)

”The book is rich in striking formulations … Halnes already masters the art of that one, unexpected, perceptible detail that raises the entire text … I hope we will hear more from him in the time to come”
(Stavanger Aftenblad)

First published: 2007, Forlaget Oktober
Geir Halnes: Biography and bibliography