Translated from the Swedish by Olivia Olsen.
….
we lay down and listen to the ground and don’t hear the
world breathe
we hear empires march and not empires
long dead and rotting, an army
on foot and the sound of steps,
an army on horses most beautiful are
their calls, of bodies
their dry and cracking memory
their voices that creep
in the forests
in the mists
in wellsprings at night
and they want inside you and you listen,
their screeching wings when they glide only a few
feet above the plowed and steaming earth and
you don’t hear their tongues dry in the room
their tongues in the slime in the pondwater
tight fists in small pockets,
dry burgerbuns in small hands
their songs, their cackling,
I lay down on the ground
listen to
open beaks
open wounds
their terror in the nets
in the steel wire snares
their voices when they stretch,
the voices of the white
the forgotten, untranslated
we are them
not their bodies
not their hunger
we are the broken leaves that rot on the water
we are the broken words in our own stomachs
we are what we hear or think we hear
and for that reason you keep reading, because you know
and we’re the ones who know
you and I
and I’m coming now
don’t be afraid
it’s not the end
it’s not the beginning
it’s the white beats
under rainheavy skies
that drift back
and forth in the valleys
between the overhanging mountains and
the cold nutrient-poor lakes and
the fatty fish that wander between these seasons
and returning ice between these ages, their
steps and journeys and the return, the
return itself on crooked wings
with poles of peeled young pine
with skis of birch with secret
messages like tattooed bodies
buried in ancient libraries
raised by echoes,
swans in the swamp
with wings like sharp
tools, and their songs
build a tone to call us
….
Mats Söderlund was awarded the Swedish Writers’ Union’s prestigious Catapult Award for best literary debut in 1992, and has since received numerous literary awards and scholarships. He describes himself as “a forester from the north” with roots deeply entrenched in Nordic folklore and the Northern narrative tradition. He has released seven collections of poetry, as well as works of fiction and nonfiction. Söderlund holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Work and served as Chairman of the Swedish Writers’ Union between 2005 and 2012.
Olivia Olsen is a writer, translator, and teacher based in Sweden. She holds a BA in literary translation and an MFA in literary arts from Brown University, where she taught fiction to undergraduates. Her translation from the Swedish of poetry collection Homullus Absconditus by Magnus William-Olsson was published by O’Clock Press in 2015, and her latest writing can be found in Black Warrior Review.
This excerpt from the forthcoming poetry collection ESKATOS & THE STRETCHED NECKS OF STILLNESS is published by permission of Restless Books (Feb. 24, 2026). Copyright © 2026 Mats Söderlund. Translation copyright © Olivia Olsen.
