norsk hagearbeid
akkurat som med aldrende roser,
en gang i blant trenger
dem som slenger med leppa
en ørliten tungebeskjæring.
Author’s note for non-Norwegians:
A loose translation:
Norwegian garden work.
just as with aging roses,
once in a while
those with loose tongues
need a small tongue pruning.
Here is a brief comment about those who express woe over reaching retirement age (therefore aging roses), and tongue pruning is a direct reference to the musical L’il Abner (a popular US high school musical in the early ‘70s). In Norway people who are annoying talkative arseholes are referred to as throwing their lips around everywhere (being loose-tongued). And «Norwegian gardening» is here a way to express that social control keeps the social garden manageable.
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