Love Life

Mr. Nice Guy

Words must flow:
the dam fell
victim to my vice -
my need to be
dangerously
nice.

violence keeps violence at bay
nuclear weapons scare nuclear weapons away

lions roar to lions' roar

flashing claws and teeth secure peace
from flashing claws and teeth

drop the weapons
-> drop dead

or?

kiss your way
through what's left of me
I'll take your lips
from there

love

can you crawl inside me

please

I'm hollow

heart

can you stifle me

gently

from behind

This is an experimental poem. I call it Autobiography of Expression because I attempt to look at the various languages I have learned in order to express myself - first Finnish, then Swedish, then Russian, finally English. The stanzas are not translations of the same but each a unique attempt to express how I feel about each language.

Sorry that most is lost on you, I was not sure I'd post this here but I thought - why not? It's an experimental piece. I don't know how many people there are in the world who can appreciate poetry in Finnish, Swedish, Russian and English simultanously, probably not too many. However for me, each language is a different gamut of expression, and they definitely serve different expressive purposes, each coming with its own colours and nuances.

I recorded myself reciting them, to at least let you hear the poem even if you only understand the last stanza. And yes, that's me with the mangoes

[Fnb_6CXebOo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnb_6CXebOo[/video]

Autobiography of expression

Kylmä. Mustaa palelee,
pimeys sairastaa;
tähtivyötä kiristää
huokaisee ja irvistää
Jumala. Sarastaa...

I ljumma julinatten
jag hör en ton i öst,
i dina varma vatten
jag sänker ner min röst;
högt uppe i det blåa
två liv jag ser, och ger
det mörka och det gråa
en välförtjänad fred.

Шел, не зная, чего искал,
я долго без тебя;
нашел твое живое слово
к нему приник, и снова
жизнь влюбилась в меня.

Of windows sang my soul, through which
he saw the rivers flow,
and plunged deep to find his rest
where silent fears glow.

I find it disgraceful that this amazing poem only has one like so I'm quoting it again to be shared again.

Pure love

Originally Posted by OrchestraInside

Love life I love you less than you, I think, have loved me, I like you less than you must find is due; forgive me, I have found your autumn-orchard of lesser beauty than I thought I would. The birds are leaving, and I long to join them, to join the bells and those whom they salute; but love you gave, and I would be a coward if I did not make love to you this once.

1. How old are you?
2. I like Swedish. I like it as a language, and I like that part of the poem
3. The english part sounds like a voice I used to hear on the radio reading out stories.
4. Could you give us poor uni-lingual people a literal translation of the other languages por favor?

1. 31
2. Me too.
3. Meh
4.

Finnish:

Cold. The blackness is freezing,
the darkness is sick;
tightens the belt of stars,
sighs and grimaces
God. Dawn...

(The order of the words is odd for English, not for Finnish - it is God who tightens the belt etc. And "freezing" is as in "I'm freezing", that particular form isn't easily expressed in English.)

Swedish:

A balmy night in July
I hear a tune in the East
in your warm waters
I sink my voice;
high above in the blue
I see two lives, and I give
the dark and the grey
(its) well-earned peace.

Russian:

I walked, not knowing what I sought,
for a long time without you;
I found your living word
pressed myself against it, and anew
life fell in love with me.

5. Is there a relationship between the coldness of Finnish counterpart, and the seemingly coldness you hold towards the Finnish language?

Oh you look older No offence. I was actually gonna say you kinda remind me of MoonRider but then after you telling me your age I figured you'd hate me for life. I'm sorry

Thank you for the translation! I like the russian and finnish part more now

Cold indeed. Both the words and when I speak it. It feels very cold to me. I speak Swedish with my children as it's so much easier to be warm and present in Swedish for me (and they were born in Sweden). Their mother (my ex-wife) is fluent in both Finnish and Swedish - she probably speaks mostly Finnish with them so they get both anyway.

I'm not particularly concerned with my looks. I'd love to be a bearded old man sitting in a rocking chair, except my beard won't grow I feel like 5,000 years old at least, so I'm cool.

Autobiography of Expression - Performance

This would have meant little to me as a whole without the beautiful performance. I am glad to see what you look like; makes you more "real." Please understand that my children are older than you; but you have a very sexy voice, especially in Finnish, also Swedish. Russian and English--not as much. That's not your fault. It was wonderful to hear four languages one after another; it made a beautiful poem. As with songs, I do not have to know the language to "feel" and appreciate it; I do not have to know what you're saying to love the way the poetry sounds. Yet, I am glad also to hear the translations.

Many people wonder what their language sounds like to others. Hearing this, I am embarrassed about English. It sounds so nasal. Yet, I hear Brits and others speaking English and it sounds better to me than American English.

About the poetry: Beautiful, as always.

Thanks, Frankie. I first wrote it, then I thought it would make a lot more sense if you could listen to it. You can hear the tone, hear how I feel even if you don't understand. While Russian is my favourite language, I find much beauty in English as well. Of a different kind. I like the vowel qualities of many British dialects, they are wonderfully complex and beautifully "twisted" (very far from open vowels such as in Finnish or classical Latin). I also like some American vowel qualities, mostly Southern. English consonants are not similarly seductive to me, they are a tad on the hard side for "my palate" (esp. AmE) - I definitely prefer Russian, and Swedish. (Italian, too!)

It often happens that I come across a beautiful voice, mostly Russian but a few English as well, and I enjoy simply listening to the voice, no matter what is said (well, obscenities might distract ). This is a decent example of what I like... Simply wonderful to listen to. (She's reciting a poem by Anna Akhmatova.) I generally dislike strong consonants, unless they are soft (like most Russian consonants) and I certainly dislike guttural sounds. I've come across a few British voices I like, can't say any American, though I like some Southern accents. Listening to languages is like music to me... I like some "genres" but not others. I generally have a preference for soft, melodic sounds which abound in Russian, Italian and Swedish for example, and are more common in BrE than AmE. Lots of airy vowels and a musical melody

Incidentally, for me personally, English requires more work to get it right than the others, and I do have a slight accent when I speak it, unless in only short sentences. I'd need more practice. The vowel qualities are so special, very different from most languages (much less so in AmE), and I have a disadvantage because I didn't grow up speaking any implosive consonants (Finnish has none), which generally require a lot of delicate muscle work, and English has lots (soft g's, treasure/pleasure etc.). People with a native language which has similarly strong (or stronger) but less delicate consonants such as Germans tend to overdo English implosive consonants, making it sound 'harsh', whereas Finns for instance tend to hardly use any implosive consonants at all, which makes their English sound 'flat' (like this).

Verrrrr-ry interrrr-esting! The Finnish "r" sounds like a cat purring. (That's a compliment.) But it doesn't roll like a Spanish "r" and is not like the shorter-somewhat gutteral (if that is a good description) but pleasant sound of a German "r." There are some varieties of American-speak I cannot stand; others I love; still others make me smile in a good way. You are right--Southern (southeastern) accents are sometimes softer than others, sometimes slower and more "open,"--there are so many different ones, though! Texas and Kentucky accents are closer in sound than one might think, given their distance from each other. Still in the strongest of TX and KY accents, there is no doubt where they're from!

My favorite lanugage for song is a male Turkish baritone (a few tenors). Some Turkish women on TV speak with a very sweet, light, breathy kind of Turkish which is very sweet.

Thank you for sharing your performance poem. I like your voice very much. I rather prefer your Finnish #1, then Swedish. I am glad some English accents (whether British or American South ones) appeal to you. Your poem idea was innovative. Congrats!
_ _ _ _ _

P.S. You look at least as young as 31 to me; all a matter of perspective!

Originally Posted by Frankie Jasmine

P.S. You look at least as young as 31 to me; all a matter of perspective!

lol sorry I am not known for my tact. I meant to say you look very erm distinguished and errr you know. That.

Thanks, Frankie. Turkish can be verry nice indeed! I also like Thai, and some Mandarin and Japanese accents. Definitely prefer Mandarin over Cantonese. I sometimes play a game with my kids where we sing a song about travelling the world and then we meet somebody from country X and say something in their language. I don't speak any Chinese but I'm decent at imitating the sound, so I sometimes "meet" someone from China and my children love it

Lol, no need to be tactful about my looks, Noor My crappy ol' body is good enough for me and that's good enough for the rest of the world as well as far as I'm concerned Got to keep your soul in something, right? Otherwise you'll just drift out into space

What's all this about your looks,lol? Your pic in profile doesn't look much like you

I like especially the Russian part , beautiful! Swedish? No, too lamenting for me Finnish resembles a machine gun when spoken,lol Due to the intonation....

@Frankie: Finnish "r" indeed is different from the Spanish. It's really kind of heavy, but unlike the "r" in my mothertongue, which is guttural the ugly way.

What's all this about your looks,lol? Your pic in profile doesn't look much like you

Wish I knew Yours probably also doesn't

Russian is my favourite. Such a beautiful language - one of the few things/people I have instantly fallen in love with.

Originally Posted by OrchestraInside

Wish I knew Yours probably also doesn't

Russian is my favourite. Such a beautiful language - one of the few things/people I have instantly fallen in love with.

No, indeed, I'm an instrument,lol and yes, Russian IS so very attractive to me too. But after five years of studies I have to say: I'd have to move there to put knowledge into practice

Go! I moved after two years of Russian in secondary school, and loved it Whatever would anyone live in Finland for anyway