8 thoughts on ““After Twelve P.M.” by Cemal Süreya”

  1. I’ve only just caught up with your Turkish poetry selections and hope you’ll post more! They are all excellent in translation but, like anyone with a degree in Linguistics, I have a soft spot in my heart for Turkish… (I have yet to study formally but I hope it’s as inevitable as someday seeing the Bosphorus in person.) I always enjoy the Turkish you insert into your own poems, so in short: if you ever feel like posting the original poem alongside the translation, I will not complain. 🙂

    Reply

    • Thanks, Sunshine, but my Turkish is still, even after over 5 years here, rudimentary. But I can recommend another blogger who is Turkish, translates poetry into English and when she does she posts both the Turkish and her English translation together. She also posts Turkish poems without an English translation as well as other writings in both Turkish and English. You might find her blog more to your liking in that regard. It’s ForgottenHopes or rukiaucar.wordpress.com. Check her out. Of course, you will always find poetry in translation here from many countries. I like looking at the world through other eyes but am limited by this old brain that still thinks in English.

      Reply

      • Thanks, that was an excellent suggestion! My brain has quirky limitations, so learning Turkish is probably a pipe dream — but I’m enjoying my life as a dilettante, learning just enough to widen that lens. I’m generally happy to find good translations that still take me somewhere I might not have traveled before.

      • I take it you liked her translations. I’m glad. It is always better to go beyond one’s world and see and experience others. And sometimes, though, it’s good to return even if what you return to isn’t always what you remember. But there’s something to gain/learn from that as well.

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