Constellation of Nails
The best way to read Transtromer's poetry is with Max von Sydow's voice in your head, or maybe Werner Herzog. Any given line sounds like something the Knight would have said to Death during their chess game in the movie the Seventh Seal.
Here are my two favorite lines from the collection.
From "A Winter Night":
The house feels its own constellation of nails
holding the walls together.
"Constellation of nails" is an image that is going to stick with me.
From "Out In the Open"
I have seen the cross that hangs from cool church arches.
Sometimes it seems like a snapshot
of frenzy.
Describing a crucifix as "a snapshot of frenzy" is practically worth a Nobel by itself.
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