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mandag den 2. august 2021

Poetry Monday :: Cats - Halfdan Rasmussen

Ups jeg har taget fejl, Tak til Messymimi for at gøre mig opmærksom på det. Dagens tema er faktisk isbåde eller is-sadwiches. Jeg laver altså ikke om på dette her; ikke mindst fordi jeg aldrig har brudt mig om kikse-ting, hverken som slik eller i is.
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Oops. Today's theme was not cats, but Icecream sandwiches. Thanks to MessyMimi for telling me.
I am not going to make a new post for several reasons. The last, but not least of these being my intense dislike for everything biscuity in my candy or icecream.

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I torsdags fyldte Halfdan Rasmussen 106½ år. Er det nu noget at fejre? Måske ikke, man mandagens stikord er Cats - Katte, og de absolut eneste poetiske katte, der falder mig ind, er Halfdans
Katte med kutter fra Halfdans børnerim, 1967.

Sikke et hus!
Mus i mit krus!
Rotter i potter
og katte med kutter
og fem hottentotter
der sidder og prutter!

  Det er et af de censurerede digte, som jeg har lovet mig selv at udgive ét af hvert år på hans  fødselsdag, 29. januar. Men i dag er jeg forkølet, sur og gnaven, og det regner, så og jeg trænger til lidt ordekvilibrisme til at fornøje og varme mig på.
  Han er i min optik en af de bedste, modigste og velskrivende digtere det danske sprog nogensinde har haft. Hvis du har lyst til at se mine gamle indlæg om ham og hans digte, er her et link: Halfdan Rasmussen  Og så skriver jeg nok så kategorisk, at jeg ikke vil oversætte hans digte til engelsk, men jeg har altså gjort det alligevel og vil fortsætte med at gøre det, dels fordi Google oversæt laver et makværk ud af hans ord, og dels fordi jeg skammede mig over at censurere mig selv, for som jeg skrev:
Denne censur gør mig ondt, dels fordi de ord, han brugte, dengang var neutrale ord for folk og folkeslag og det derfor burde være muligt at bringe dem - eventuelt med fodnoter eller et forklarende forord. Dels fordi slags amerikanske tilstande med fornærmelses-parathed og følsomheds-censur på andres vegne ikke burde forekomme - og da slet ikke ramme Halfdan Rasmussen, der faktisk var en stor og modig forkæmper for folk, frihed og menneskerettigheder og imod censur. Hans vers om Bødlen for eksempel burde være tvungen læsning for alle mennesker i hele verden.
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Last Thursday marked the 106½ anniversary of the birth of Halfdan Rasmussen, my idol wherever poetry, word-smithing and so on is concerned. He was the greatest Dane ever! Maybe a past half years birthday is not a reason to celebrate, But this Monday's topic is Cats, and the absolutely only poetic cats entering my brain are some of his dressed in cowls (remade to hats for reason of rhyme) in the following poem.

Halfdan Rasmussen, børnerim (Rhymes for Children 1967)

Oh what a house!
In my mug there's a mouse!
Rats in pots
And cats in Hats.
And five Hottentots
who are farting a lot!

  This is actually one of his censored poems, I have promised to bring one of  on every birthday of his until I run out of poems. But today I'm having a cold, I'm feeling old and grumpy and it's raining. I need one of his equilibristic, light-hearted, yet serious verses to keep up my spirits.
  If you want to read my old post on this genius, please go here: Halfdan Rasmussen  In these posts, I declare never to translate any of the censored poems: I did so anyway, because I felt ashamed of being afraid!
  I'll cite myself from a birthday post:
  This censorship grieves me as Halfdan Rasmussen is truly a great fighter for freedom and equality, his pen wrote the Danish verse that was turned into Each Small Candle.
  The words he used, were the at that time neutral demonyms, and the verses should be included, maybe with a footnote or a preamble.
Actually I made a second version of this poem. Is it better or worse?

Oh what a house!
In my mug there's a mouse!
Rats in pots
And cats in cowls.
And five Hottentots
who sit and scowl!

Now shoot ◎←←↙

9 kommentarer:

  1. Excellent post, and i love that you are standing up for his work since such censorship does seem over-the-top as the words were not meant in any way to cause harm, they were common then.

    That said, isn't this week's topic ice cream sandwich day, and cats is August 9, or did i miss something?

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Thank you for understanding. And yes, oops. It is Ice cream Sandwiches today. I misread.

      Slet
  2. I like both versions of the poem.

    SvarSlet
  3. Yes, keep this just as it is, it's excellent. You can do cats again next week from another perspective, if you want.

    SvarSlet
  4. Cats have far less calories than ice cream sandwiches! Especially farting cats in hats! ;)

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Yes I am not goint to eat those farting cats ;) Now ice creams ... yummy.

      Slet
  5. Thank you. Let's see what happens next Monday.
    Thank you for commenting.

    SvarSlet

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I am grateful for all comments, and try to reply meaningfully to all of them.