VIOLET OR cardinal red
the colour of my heart
A flame burns there
I cannot quench
Now when I will soon forget words
I see myself
young and bent over
in a landscape I cannot recognize


With The Red Place, Lars Amund Vaage has written a rich and complex poem that radiates great tenderness for the different dimensions of life. The poet takes us on a journey inwards and backwards in time. He is visited by the dead, by his mother and by his father. Music plays an important role in the poet's life, and we see him at the piano as a child, a young man and as a grown man. Dictation is related to music that is different and may be more lasting than words. The music also becomes a picture of the wonder and composition of life, the beautiful we see in the shadow of death.

Translated by: Anna Reckin, Hanne Bramness