Sebastian Nathan

- Denmark -

we're a group of people under a large linden tree

this rain is a mark of the summer

violent and sudden

 

beautiful as fuck especially when it comes at night

impossible to see through

but it passes

             

- from Honey Moon                

 

                                                                        

Sebastian Nathan (b. 1996) is an alumni of Forfatterskolen (Writer's Academy, Copenhagen), and lives in Copenhagen.

Nathan's debut poetry collection Honey Moon (Amulet) exploded onto the Danish literary scene in 2021, immediately establishing Nathan as a generational talent, a literary shooting star, winning the much coveted end acclaimed award Bodil and Jørgen Munch-Christensens debutant award, as well as being nominated for Poesiens Hus & Politikens Boghals Poesiens Pris award.

Honey Moon portrays a break-up, a slow recognition of what was, was perhaps something else all along, through slow days and endless nights under shifting Copenhagen summer skies.

Love runs like a horse
goes to bed late and gets up early

far away you can hear the sea
saying that everything goes on

the evening arrives
turning the sky rosy pink

there are lights on in some of the windows
we humans emerge

me drawing a heart
on top of your heart
with a marker

(- from Honey Moon)



Immensely personal, intimate, yet universal, Nathan's is already a clear poetic voice, wanting to build bridges between Nathan's own inner life and the reade'  shared experiences: Using poetry and quotes from song lyrics to show the loss of someone else, but also, the loss of what was to be - leaving a sense of existential duplicity and mirroring, trying to fathom what happened then, while facing what is to come.


I was so nervous

look, the sun has set before four o'clock

look at the sun, it's all gone
 

this is how we met:
drank beer

you found me in a haystack, a snowdrift

a pile of leaves during autumn break

(- from Honey Moon)


 

In 2024, Nathan's second poetry collection Engle (Angels) received the same rapturous welcome from both readers and reviewers, establishing Nathan as not only a shooting star, but a lyrical supernova:

"Gentle, soft angel-poems light up and floats in the winter darkness in a most memorable poetry collection. The world slowly trickles through the I, and comes out on the other side as crystal clear poetry (...)
 

The reason these poems are so unforgettable is that they, through a seemingly everyday language, portrays the the riches of true  understanding, with an emotional depth irrestible to the reader. These are poems that truly makes you feel. Sadness, longing and winter's melancholy, yes, but also a powerful sympathy, deep connect and personal joy. (...) even if several poems are set in an  eternal winter and a spring that seems too far away, they shine gently and brightly, as you hold them in your hands. In other poems, you have to just surrender to the rush of happiness of the poem, jump on the pillion of Nathan's bike and let the I steer you both*”:



the world is endless and vast
it spreads in front of our eyes

even in the darkness you can see
angels and aliesn

I'd like to be allowed to be here
the eyes follow me

there's a hand of sorts
pushing me when I bike

I'm transported through the city
proud as a pope

on parade
there is heavenly song

(- from Engle (Angels))

*Quotes from Asger Beier Berndsens review at Litteratursiden, 24.01.2024


 

In Honey Moon, Nathan's portrayal of the aftermath of a break-up held a softspoken urgency, in Engle (Angels) Nathan - with equal measures of vulnerability and strength - writes about receiving a psychiatric diagnosis. Nathan has suffered from anxiety and depression, and has a Schizotypal personality disorder - a condition that might cause near-psychotic experiences. 

For Nathan, it's important to carve out a place in the world for the inner symptoms through his poetry, even if others can't see them:

"It's so easy to discard this as just symptoms somehow. But I feel that's not taking it seriously....if it seems real to me, then it is real to me" (Kristeligt Dagblad, 27/01/24)

"I believe, it's bigger than psychiatric experiences. I believe, it's also talking to your friends, a partner, family. It is just so incredibly hard to express one's inner life. And I believe that art is one of the very few places, where we get to express those feelings". (Go'morgen Danmark, TV2, Danish TV).


More about the poet

Poetry

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