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The Mountains of Kong

By (author): Dag T. Straumsvåg

Introduction by: Stuart Ross

Translated by: Robert Hedin

Splendid and surprising prose poems from one of Norway’s most imaginative poets

The sixty-one prose poems collected in The Mountains of Kong find magic in the little absurdities of everyday life and are populated by an unpredictable cast that includes kings and codfish and elephants, a couple looking for a surrogate for their tears, and a lemming on the run.

Presented here in both English translations and their original Nynorsk, and with an introduction by acclaimed poet Stuart Ross, Straumsvåg’s poems are a new kind of map that will deliver you to places you’ve never imagined.

AUTHOR

Stuart Ross

Stuart Ross is a writer, editor, and writing teacher living in Cobourg, Ontario. He is the acclaimed author of 20 books of poetry, fiction, and essays. His recent books include Our Days in Vaudeville (Mansfield Press, 2014), A Hamburger in a Gallery (DC Books, 2015), Further Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer (Anvil Press, 2015), and A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent (Wolsak and Wynn, 2016). He was shortlisted for the 2000 Trillium Book Award, won the 2010 ReLit Prize for Short Fiction for Buying Cigarettes for the Dog (Freehand Books, 2009), and his novel Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew (ECW Press, 2011) was co-winner of the 2012 Mona Elaine Adilman Award.

Reviews

The Mountains of Kong comes as such relief in a world fractured by notifications and terror wielding headlines And it is kind that these pieces are so short when all of us have forgotten to pay attention to anything Straumsvg pays acute attention and distills a moment masterfully Readers will feel enriched within only a few linesThe Seaboard Review

An amusingly maladjusted collection of prose poems by the underrated Dag T Straumsvg with Robert Hedins unobtrusive and finely crafted translations placed alongside the Nynorsk Spanning two decades of consistent work by the Norwegian poet the poems present a wide range of subjects in various states of dislocation and disillusionments that rely on defamiliarization to highlight the absurdity of life the poems are funny even in their bleakest moments deriving their liveliness from the daily bread of the imaginationAsymptote

Theres a directness to Straumsvgs lyrics working narratives that pull in and out of deliberate focus unexpectedly turning left or right or even across never ending up in a place one might expect His poems begin with a solid narrative foundation heading in one direction and then swerving elsewhere either gradually or suddenly or accumulatively managing to exceed all expectations with one step and then another towards truly odd corners and surfaces Honestly this is a delightful collection is that something reviewers even say anymore This is a delightful book and I hope there are more of themrob mclennan

Dag T Straumsvg is one of those rare poets who trusts that everything has its own mystery and he shares those mysteries with us in a way that is graceful humble and profound His work will open your eyes deepen your thoughts and expand your spirit Whether navigating through a landscape of traditional sleepwalkers or pointing out UFOs in the Norwegian countryside his prose poems guide the reader down the road between two places that no longer exist and keep us wonderful company every step of the wayJason Heroux author of Like A Trophy from the Sun



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Details

Dimensions:

150 Pages
8.5in * 5.5in * .37in
190gr

Published:

April 01, 2025

Publisher:

Assembly Press

ISBN:

9781998336074

Book Subjects:

POETRY / European / General

Language:

eng

Other Titles by Dag T. Straumsvåg

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