The Mountains of Kong

"The Mountains of Kong comes as such relief in a world fractured by notifications and terror wielding headlines. And it is kind that these pieces are so short when all of us have forgotten to pay attention to anything. Straumsvåg pays acute attention and distills a moment masterfully. Readers will feel enriched within only a few lines."—The Seaboard Review

"An amusingly maladjusted collection of prose poems by the underrated Dag T. Straumsvåg... with Robert Hedin’s unobtrusive and finely crafted translations placed alongside the Nynorsk. Spanning two decades of consistent work by the Norwegian poet, the poems present a wide range of subjects in various states of dislocation and disillusionments that rely on defamiliarization to highlight the absurdity of life... the poems are funny even in their bleakest moments, deriving their liveliness from the daily bread of the imagination."—Asymptote

"There’s a directness to Straumsvåg’s lyrics, working narratives that pull in and out of deliberate focus, unexpectedly turning left or right or even across, never ending up in a place one might expect. His poems begin with a solid narrative foundation, heading in one direction and then swerving elsewhere, either gradually or suddenly or accumulatively, managing to exceed all expectations, with one step and then another towards truly odd corners and surfaces. Honestly, this is a delightful collection; is that something reviewers even say anymore? This is a delightful book, and I hope there are more of them."—rob mclennan

“Dag T. Straumsvåg is one of those rare poets who trusts that everything has its own mystery, and he shares those mysteries with us in a way that is graceful, humble and profound. His work will open your eyes, deepen your thoughts, and expand your spirit. Whether navigating through a landscape of traditional sleepwalkers, or pointing out UFOs in the Norwegian countryside, his prose poems guide the reader ‘down the road between two places that no longer exist,’ and keep us wonderful company every step of the way.”—Jason Heroux, author of Like A Trophy from the Sun