Sticker by DanmarksplassI was walking home from work when I found this sticker. A poem? A fragment of a sticker novel? It says:

Jeg liker alvoret ditt. Jeg lukker ¯ynene og tenker p sommeren. Du lukter godt. Hjertet veier ca. 300 gram. Jeg pr¯ver  holde det utenfor.

which might translate as:

I like your sincerity. I close my eyes and think of summer. You smell good. A heart weighs about 300 grams. I try not to think of that.

or perhaps

I like your seriousness. I close my eyes and think of summer. You smell good. Your heart weighs about 300 grams. I try to keep it distant.

or maybe

I like your determination. I close my eyes and think of summer. You smell good. A heart weighs about 300 grams. I try to keep that separate from this.

[New try, on Thursday, after Tor Arne argued that the poem’s final line is about keeping love (the heart) outside of this encounter.

I like your sincerity. I close my eyes and think of summer. You smell good. My heart weighs about 300 grams. I try to keep it outside of this.

]

Translation is hard. Seeing stories, bits of stories, unexpected, is wonderful. I’ve seen many of the DU VEIT IKKJE KOR VAKKER DU ER stickers around Bergen in the last weeks. I’ve stuck some Implementation stickers myself. Matt was thinking of doing Brit Stick Lit, but I don’t know whether he ever did.

Do you know of more sticker literature? Do you know more about these Bergen stickers? Have you seen others?

6 thoughts on “more norwegian sticker literature!

  1. Anonymous

    Maybe take it personal. I think Dagens NÊringslivs illustration (your portrait) made a lot to the interest to blogging….

  2. Matt

    I think the ambition of my original concept was not matched by my dedication. Nor, I dare say, the elegance of prior art. No unstared project can be regarded as truly dead though.

  3. Jill

    I think Brit Stick Lit definitely deserves a go, Matt 🙂

  4. Kristin

    I’ve seen this “Du ane ikkje kor vakker du e”(“you don’t know how beautiful you are”)sticker.. At least I think so. It was handwritten though, so I didn’t think it was a serial thing. Anyway. What was quite funny was the PLACE I found it.

    In the bathroom of the nice little cafÈ, CafÈ Chaos in Fosswinckelsgate, you wouldn’t think you’d find these kind of toilet writings. At first, when you enter the room, you won’t see the sticker either. But when you sit down on the toilet seat with your pants wrapped around your ancles, ready to have a private moment, you can’t miss the sticker right there in front of you, placed on the sink – just in the perfect height.

    I don’t know about you, but when I enter the bathroom and let my pants drop to the floor, it’s certainly not when I feel at my most beautiful… But maybe it’s when you are all alone, and totally let your guard down, you ARE at your most beautiful?

  5. Drakulita

    I most like the thought in the last translation. 😉

    I want more of these lstick lit too!

  6. Tina

    Hehe. Den som har klistra opp “Du veit ikkje kor vakker du er”, har i hvert fall oppnÂdd mye bloggoppmerksomhet… SÂnn tolka jeg det:

    En person har gÂtt alene rundt i byen, jeg tror det er en mann.
    Rundt hj¯rnene, midt p dagen, inn p toalettene, jeg tror han har hatt en dame i hodet, kanskje har det f¯ltes som at hjernen skulle eksplodere, hun tar s stor plass, hun er s mye.

    Altfor mye, tenker han kanskje nÂr han lÂser seg ut og inn av bÂsene, og lurer p hvorfor hun ikke kan sl seg til ro i seg selv, folde inn frustrasjonene, sitte stille. Se ham inn i ¯ynene s han ogs kan f et minutt med hvile.

    Han vet ikke hvor hun er, det betyr ikke noe, han m fortelle uten at hun skj¯nner, uten  tr¯ste. Han har tenkt p det lenge, om det vil gÂ, n har han ti klistremerker med det samme budskapet i lomma. Han er snart ferdig, sniker seg inn bak kvinnesymbolene p alle barene hun liker. P speilet, p d¯ren, i taket, der det f¯les riktig klistrer han beskjeden til henne, lurer p om hun vil forstÂ:

    “Du veit ikkje kor vakker du er”

    … Eller kanskje det skjedde p en helt annen mÂte?

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