By Niels Hav
“There are no words for it,” the final line states in the poem, “If You’re Lucky.” There are no words for it, for the silence. Yet, it speaks. There are no words for the depth of experience, yet many words are used to suggest what it might be, what moments of happiness, sadness, loss and love — the important things — feel like in lives destined for demise. Whether in longer poems or the briefest, Hav invites a reader to consider along with him the feeling of existence, its inevitable joy, sorrow, noise, silence, not in binary terms but as mixtures. We took up his invitation as translators and now invite you to join us and him to enter the space he has created to ponder the important things.
Praise for MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS and Niels Hav:
“…Niels Hav at his best (…), where seriousness and humour converge…”
— Erik Skyum-Nielsen in Information
“Moments of Happiness is a warm and rich book, written by a poet who never poses.”
— Claus Grymer, Kristeligt Dagblad
“He is undoubtedly the most ‘sustainable,’ humorous, down-to-earth-and-asphalt poet… In addition, he is the most translated and well-known Danish poet in the rest of the world.”
— Thorvald Berthelsen in pov.international
“Here speaks a man with life experience. And his poems are like the pig in Norse mythology. You can consume them, but they remain intact. Fortunately.”
— Ole Møller in Dagbladenes Bureau
Niels Hav is a Danish poet, his books have been translated into Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Dutch, and Farsi. He has travelled widely in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. About his previous book, Frank Hugus said in The Literary Review “… Niels Hav’s We Are Here brings to us a selection from the works of one of Denmark’s most talented living poets and is all the more welcome for that reason….” Moments of Happiness is Niels Hav’s third book published in Canada.
