When I came to you
I meant to unfurl my wings
Over the lifeless city
Built of black stone,
To perch on the branch of a tree I found
And call out in pain.
Every woman knows her own tree.
That night I flew.
I passed the city where darkness was afraid to go.
When shadowless, the soul was alone. I howled.
translated by George Messo
Month: August 2021
Fig by Birhan Keskin
You made me laugh, Summer, you’re my dream
I slept with you, with you I wake.
My insides are soooo big, the world
fits in, next to you.
O my spikeless, cornerless, lingering love
my self as withered as a summer leaf.
translated by George Messo
Ring of Bone by Lew Welch
I saw myself
a ring of bone
in the clear stream
of all of it
and vowed
always to be open to it
that all of it
might flow through
and then heard
“ring of bone” where
ring is what a
bell does
from Chicago Poem by Lew Welch
You can’t fit it. You can’t make it go away.
I don’t know what you’re going to do about it.
But I know what I’m going to do about it. I’m just
going to walk away from it. Maybe
A small part of it will die if I’m not around
feeding it anymore
Dear Joanne by Lew Welch
Dear Joanne,
Last night Magda dreamed that she,
you, Jack, and I were driving around
Italy.
We parked in Florence and left
our dog to guard the car.
She was worried because he
doesn’t understand Italian.
Pale Blue by Aslı Durak
Hold my hand
Not to carry me far away . . . no
My roots and branches
Will strain for distant clouds
Maybe my eyes
Are in that same pavilion of loneliness now
Let my face again be the statue of sadness
When you beautify me
Maybe
I’m a pale blue woman now
translated by George Messo
A Windless Poppy by Aslı Durak
Touched-leaves still on the floor
It danced with wind
Swayed in her bloody shawl
Wind cut dead
And the dance half done
In coarse, dark rasping pain
The poppy sheds its leaves
translated by George Messo
Wind by Ayten Mutlu
woman smaller than a grain of sand
the sea smaller stili than a woman’s pain
it came and went that ancient wind
ignoring the sea and the Milky Way
and the woman walked with her naked memories
never stepping on the sand or the stars
translated by George Messo
Two Hearts by Cemal Süreya
The shortest path between two hearts:
Two arms
That reach out and every so often
Can only touch with fingertips.
I run to where the stairs are,
Waiting is time’s show of strength;
I cannot find you I’ve arrived too early
It’s as if a rehearsal is taking place.
Birds have flocked together migrating
I wish I loved you only for this.
translated by Omer Kursat
At The Afyon Train Station by Cemal Süreya
Remember the little girl at the Afyon train station, you know,
She had removed her shoes as she boarded the train;
Recall the Varto earthquake,
The carton of powdered milk and the bra
Sent as aid from the West.
The man had whitewashed his walls with the milk powder,
His wife had kept the bra, not knowing what it was
She was going to use them as earmuffs in winter;
My God, were these really your childhood days?
Crowds sitting outside on doorsteps
I wish I loved you only for this.
translated by Omer Kursat
Leonard Durso 