AshehougAgency

Oh Paradise

A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS

This is the street I lived in, this is the way home, this is a lonely and bewildered beetle, this is my mother when she has reflected upon it, this is a chilly night, these are waves, this is my handwriting, this is research, this is a threat, this rain is still untouched by repetition, this is a man photographing a crane, this is nature localised as the natural focus point, this is the blouse I unbutton, this is the girl I am going to marry, these words build the world, this is the faith I cling to, this is the child I’m carrying, this is Paradise, this is the first thing I say when I invite somebody to make love.

Mona Høvring’s writing is lively and precise, merciless and tender. This year’s collection of poetry has Høvring’s unmistakable, characteristic claw, but is also her most intricate collection, both in style and thematic.

Praise for Oh Paradise:

”Surreal, slightly crazy poems with Jesus, Merlau-Ponty and photographs … open, abstract and light, like floating, but with power and gravity at the same time … I like Mona Høvring’s voice. She writes informally and unpretentiously, uses […] a precise and clear language. The poems speak out loud and make no excuses for themselves, but they also have that tenderness that makes them tingle a little … They are challenging when they say something essential about female experience, sexuality and physicality. Besides they are often quite simply beautiful.”
(Klassekampen)

”In the course of ten years, Mona Høvring has managed to establish herself as one of our most interesting lyric poets. She has her own voice and sensuality, she approaches the material in an untraditional manner … Linguistically, Høvring is as usual a fountainhead of whims and surprises … Oh Paradise has been given a beautiful book-dress and design. The book resembles a protocol with a hard cover, but the words flow softly and imaginatively across the pages.”
(Haugesund Avis)

”Høvring’s poetry is absolutely recognisable, in a direct, unbashful linguistic expression which I like a lot … an unexplainably wise and captivating piece of poetry.”
(NRK P2)

"... versatile, beautiful and convincing ... There is no doubt - these poems will be read."
(Morgenbladet)

First published: 2008, Forlaget Oktober
Mona Høvring: Biography and bibliography