Outi Pollari is a translator and music pedagogue from Kuhmo. She specialises in translating documents, yet she has translated some music-related belletristic works, too. She is used to be on stage as a singer, but slam poetry is very new to her. She’s excited to bring her poetry out of the desk drawers and jump into this new adventure.
English Translation:
Cultivation of Soul 0:01:00-03:29:00
I’m ploughing up deep furrows 00:04:29-00:07:18
forking over soil and dirt, digging out heavy chunks. 0:07:18-0:14:00
Still, the gaps between my thoughts remain there like hollow hunks… 00:14.00-00:18:00
I’ll create extensive text fields! 00:20:00-0:23:00
Could I plant anything in them? 00:23:05-0:27:00
Winter has come! 00:27:00-0:29:00
Just think of it, if the seeds of words germinated even under frost? 00:29:03-0:35:00
I took a risk by inviting you to follow the strips of my words, 00:39:00-0:45.02
dating back to days when the seeds that I carefully sowed on paper did sprout, 00:45:05-0:54:00
but eventually, the only yield of the crops on the bottom of my crib was chaff: 00:54:00-00:58:02
– all these hesitations, quests, and timid steps. 00:58:06-1:05.02
That’s how the life is – fiddly and intractable… 1:07:02-1:10:00
when my thoughts, assumptions, and expectations 1:10:02-1:15:00
skid astray to chafe the edging kerbs of my path, 1:15:00-1:22:00
causing friction
and making me forget that no collateral was ever granted, 1:22:00-1:29:00
to guarantee that I am SLOWLY heading to the direction that I am supposed to. 1:29:05-1:37:20
When I find it hard to make out the line between me and the ones around me, 1:39:00-1:45:00
it becomes crucial to start learning 1:45:05-1:50:10
to figure out my UNIQUE ways to catch and keep the ball of my own life rolling: 1:50:11-1:55:00
to truly grasp what is best right now. 1:55:03-1:59:00
If I fail, the soul starts to wail… 2:00:00-2:06:05
An aching soul is disconcertingly noisy, 2:09:02-2:12:00
it yells out its pain, keeps harping on, explaining, lamenting, 2:12:05-2:20:00
pouring out on paper its infectious secretions. 2:20:05-2:24:07
A serene soul enjoys well-balanced metabolism,
you don’t hear it rumbling and growling with hunger. 2:26:07-2:35:00
The breathing rolls in gentle heaves 2:35:00-2:38:05
as the well-being soul hums softly. 2:38:05-2:42:15
Where does the soul’s foul enemy keep guard? 2:43:15-2:47:15
The one that keeps tearing up and ruining our lives? 2:47:15-2:51:10
– It hides squatting in the centre of everybody’s heart, 2:53:00-2:57:05
and each one must tame it with one’s own hands! 2:58:00-3:05:00