Whenever I am in Denmark, I browse the used book stores for reading material to entertain me in between my visits to this Scandinavian country. On my visit in the spring of 2013, I bought a dozen books, among them a poetry anthology from 1979. It contained up to several poems by 75 different Danish authors, including Benny Andersen, with whom I had been meeting during my spring visit, to discuss my recent translations of his poetry. I read methodically through the anthology during the following fall and winter, noting some of my favorite authors in this collection from 35 years past. There was Knud Sørensen, Thorkild Bjørnvig, and Benny Andersen of course, among others. Near the end of the volume I encountered three poems by Marianne Koluda Hansen that stole my heart. Her voice from the page had a meatiness, a palpability, as if she were present with me in my house, speaking the lines. The poems also held a sustained irony, and a depth of psychological understanding and compassion for the dilemmas of modern life, that persisted with me after the book was closed. I had never before heard of this poet. But after ruminating over the three poems for a week, I decided to attempt to contact her. I found an address on the internet for a Dane with her name, but I found little information otherwise. I sent to that address my translations of her three poems along with a request for permission to translate and publish her work. A couple of weeks had gone by when I received an email from Søren Andersen, Marianne Koluda Hansen’s husband of 35 years. He wrote that Marianne was very ill in the hospital and that he had received my letter and translations and brought them to the hospital to read to her. He explained that she was very happy to hear my translations. Marianne had been a professor of English and Danish for decades. She felt that my translations captured the mood, humor and pathos of the originals, and she would be very pleased to have me translate her work. He asked if I needed him to send me copies of her books. Of course, I was very happy to hear that my work had received such a positive response. I had no idea how many books Marianne had written. I simply responded yes, to please send me her poetry books along with a written letter of permission to translate and publish. A couple more weeks went by before I received another email from Søren. He apologized for the delay, but Marianne had died shortly after he had received my second email. In fact, her assent to send me written authorization was the last conversation they had. Within a couple more weeks I received three books of poetry and the authorization. Two of these three poetry books are included in this collection: Reality and Other Poems. During the translation process, it often felt as if the spirit of Marianne Koluda Hansen was standing at my shoulder overlooking my work, even assisting me in some way as I sought to recreate the meaning of her lines in a new language. I experienced a grittiness and earthiness in her poetic voice that seemed to bring her personality to life as I worked with her poems. I hope that you will also feel this closeness to her as you read my translations. Florence April 2014