Dorthe Nors - So Much for That Winter

Karin’s hurt.

Karin repeats the gist from last time.

Karin just spices up the gist a bit:

Jutlandic women can fuck!!!

Music should be popular!!!

Music shouldn’t be deep!!!

KARIN LOVES BRYAN ADAMS!!!

Minna swallows her cracker.

Karin keeps going: I feel bad for you!!!

Karin can say more: You’ll come to regret it!!!

Minna’s counted Karin’s exclamation points.

The email contains fifty-six exclamation points.

That’s plenty, but

Minna doesn’t even feel like crying.

Minna’s anesthetized to blows.

Minna looks out the window.

Minna looks down upon the transport tsunami.

The network people whiz away.

The network people have business cards.

A chink suffices.

The darkness yields willingly, but

Network hearts don’t have the time.

Minna considers her hands.

Minna thinks her hands resemble thimbles.

Minna’s hands are thimbles.

Thimbles can’t grab.

The world around is laid with tile.

Network people are highly polished.

Minna shakes herself.

Minna tests her grasping power on her hair.

Her fingers can still grab herself hard.

Better than nothing, thinks Minna, and sits down.

Paper sonatas don’t write themselves.

Minna bikes to the Royal Library.

The city’s blazing hot from the sun.

The cell’s blazing hot from messages.

Elisabeth’s after her.

Elisabeth’s ten years older than Minna.

Elisabeth’s married to a successful optician.

Elisabeth lives in Potato Row.

The optician’s skinny and dry.

Minna understands him.

The optician’s a guest in his own home.

Guests have it rough at Elisabeth’s.

Shoes have to be taken off in the hall.

Shoes must never cross the threshold.

The guest has to pee.

The guest really has to pee.

The john lies on the far side of the utility room.

The shoes have to be removed anyway.

The shoes have to be put on and taken off without leaning on the walls.

The walls in the hallway must not get any grimy spots.

The bench in the hallway must not have any bottoms upon it.

The bench is not to sit on.

The bench is there to create harmony in the hallway.

The guest is barefoot and entering a house full of rules.

Elisabeth makes the rules.

No one else has permission to make rules in the house.

Cutlery must not clink against the service.

The table must not be wiped with a wet rag.

Books must be bound in dust jackets.

Fingers must not touch the pictures.

The coffee mugs must not stand without coasters underneath.

The coffee mugs must not contain coffee.

Coffee is forbidden at Elisabeth’s.

Everyone must drink tea.

The optician gets the trots from tea, but

The optician must remove his shoes before he runs out to the john.

The optician struggles with his suede shoes in the hallway.

The optician is afraid to place his fingers anywhere.

The optician just reaches the toilet in his stocking feet.

The shit runs out of him like green tea.

Elisabeth shouts, Is that you, honey?

The shit runs and runs.

The optician considers whether he dares to shit any more.

Elisabeth shouts, Is that you who came home, honey?

The optician reaches for the toilet paper.

The optician remembers to tear it off in a straight line.

The optician is lonesome, completely without allies.

Elisabeth and the optician have neither dog nor kids.

It’s sad, but

One thing is certain:

Kids set their bottoms everywhere.

Elisabeth is turning fifty besides.

Elisabeth is still pretty.

Elisabeth’s hair is light like Minna’s, but

Elisabeth’s hair doesn’t dare curl.

Elisabeth is illuminated.

Elisabeth is an act of will.

Elisabeth’s sent Minna a stream of messages.

Minna sits on her bike and reads them.

Minna approaches Knippel Bridge.

Minna has one hand on the handlebars.

Minna has one eye on the display.

Elisabeth wants her to phone.

Elisabeth wants her to drop by.

Minna passes the Stock Exchange.

Minna holds for a bus.

Minna MUST ring between two and four.

Minna MUST NOT ring at any other time.

Elisabeth practices yoga and meditates.

The day is scheduled.

Elisabeth says it’s about respecting others’ needs.

Minna understands:

Lars has a need to screw a celebrity.

Jette has a need to share her sex life.

Karin has a need to take up space in the countryside.

Linda Lund has a need for an audience.

Minna has to get up to stand on the pedals.

Minna is honked at.

Minna bikes out into the intersection by the Stock Exchange.

Elisabeth pursues her.

Elisabeth was an only child for ten years.

Elisabeth’s still an only child.

Elisabeth is no healthier than Karin.

Karin requires a host animal.

Elisabeth requires weak creatures.

Weak creatures can defer their needs.

Elisabeth has to be done with hers first.

Elisabeth will never be done with hers.

Elisabeth was never at Ballehage Beach either.

The sand was untidy, but

Dad and Minna could dive.

Minna’s not weak.

Minna won’t!

The traffic roars around Minna.

The traffic’s unsafe.

Minna turns past Det Røde Palæ.

Minna bikes and taps.

Minna taps, I’m just on my bike.

Elisabeth orders her to call anyway.

Minna turns off her cell.

Minna drops the cell into her bag.

The bag trembles in the bike basket.

Minna trembles on the bike, but

Paper sonatas don’t write themselves.

The quay oozes female students.

The police officers are back in Karen Blixen.

The officers stand smoking on the quay.

The officers keep an eagle eye on the students.

The students don’t see the officers.

The students cast their hair about.

Their hair flips from side to side.

The students get to their feet.

The officers get to their feet.

The students’ legs grow long.

The officers’ pants have pockets.

The officers tug at their pockets.

The officers camouflage their sperm-filled bits.

Minna and Jette sit sans camouflage in the midst of it all.

Jette’s eyes are insistent.

Minna has a hard time relaxing.

The legs biking.

The arms warding off blows.

The body full of vim.

The soul supposed to sit still.

It ain’t easy.

Jette notices that sort of thing.

Jette says, You seem stressed out.

Minna replies, I’ve got a little too much going on.

Jette says, Tell, tell!

Minna says, Oh, you know …

Jette says, You shouldn’t walk around keeping everything bottled up.

Minna says, The paper sonata’s bumping along.

Minna says that she’ll buy a keyboard.

Jette thinks she could just use her Mac.

Macs have a program for composers.

Macs are easy to figure out.

Minna doesn’t want to say that she can’t figure them out.

Minna doesn’t want to satisfy Jette’s need to know better.

Minna says, It’s my sister, that’s all.

Minna points at the mermaid on the quay.

The mermaid by the Royal Library is more appealing than Langelinie’s.

The mermaid by the Royal Library is anything but charming.