there was a woman
on the train
who kept brushing
her long long hair
tossing it back
over her shoulder
the way I’ve seen
you do
sitting in your house shirt
in your bedroom
the same motion
before you would blow
a kiss
my way
suddenly
I am lost
in memories
of you

Everything started again in a harbor
The sea, the memory, and the woman.
Being naked, you were shivering
Your hair had come loose all the way down.
There were no flowers in the pot, no stars,
I didn’t have the money to buy you flowers.
Only the sky was left and a song,
There were patchy clouds in the sky,
You were there, your eyes too;
Besides your eyes were black as could be.
Everything started all over again.

translated by Talat S. Halman

I’ve been carrying this memory
for weeks now
ever since I walked past
your old building
on my way back
from The Strand
your long dark hair
the way you moved
on top of me
those nights
in my loft
crouching there
half Cherokee princess
doing a dance
later in The Village
hearing Tracy Nelson sing
that voice
shivers down my spine
and you swaying
eyes half closed
your hand in mine
and I thought
I should never
let you go
but foolish me
holding the world
in my hands
and letting it
slip away
even your painting
of sunflowers
lost over the years
all that’s left
this old address
an image
slipping in and out
of memory

I woke, this meant a love in the world
–Your voice was like forsaking a rose.
I was black, like paper on all sorts of life
Each day my name was on those seas, could you see
For a millennium I was an M sound in Lower Egypt.

I struck at loves, didn’t anyone notice
For a millennium I unfurled you in my loneliness.
Whenever my name came up in your bright light
. . . . .This meant a love in the world.

In Egypt once upon a time solitude was lovely
It was a brave new sky one could cross with you
When I glanced, it grew like a lily in my memory
Now it’s a shadow that grows tall in my meadows
This is the way I woke which wasn’t really waking
. . . . .This meant a love in the world.

translated by Talat S…

-April
It is something impossible
To write a poem
If you are in love;
And not to write
If the month is April.

-Desires and memories
Desires are different
Memories are different,
In a city where no sun rises
Tell me, how can one live?

-Insects
Don’t think,
Desire only!
Look, insects are doing the same.

-Invitation
I am waiting
Come in such a weather that
It will not be possible to give up.
-Translated by Rukiye Uçar

Original version in Turkish:

-Nisan
İmkansız şey
Şiir yazmak,
Aşıksan eğer;
Ve yazmamak,
Aylardan nisansa.

-Arzular ve Hâtıralar
Arzular başka şey,
Hâtıralar başka.
Güneşi görmeyen şehirde,
Söyle, nasıl yaşanır?

-Böcekler
Düşünme,
Arzu et sade!
Bak, böcekler de öyle yapıyor.

-Dâvet
Bekliyorum
Öyle bir havada gel ki,
Vazgeçmek mümkün olmasın.
-Orhan Veli Kanık

he tries not to drink
but those shadows will haunt him
and the glass refills
ice bumping shoulders again
the night never seems to end