I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/bees-emergency-petition

As the cat
climbed over
the top of

the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot

carefully
then the hind
stepped down

into the pit of
the empty
flowerpot

We have seas, full of the sun;
We have trees, full of leaves;
From dawn to dusk we go and go and come
Among our seas, among our trees
Full of
The blues.

translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat

You may know my son’s story. For once, I have no problem repeating it for those who do not. I have a very good reason for it that I have been bursting to share!

In 2009 my son was 25… a good looking, successful young man with a fast car, nice apartment near the coast and a very promising career. That ended on July 4th when he was left for dead in a Bournemouth alley, stabbed through the brain in an unprovoked attack.

2009 before the attack

I have written before of the terror of the next days as he underwent brain surgery to remove the shards of shattered bone from the left hemisphere of his brain. I have told of the weeks of heartache as we waited to see if he would live or die, while his brain bled and swelled, causing further damage to the brain stem itself…

(“Düzenli Dünya” by Melih Cevdet Anday)

-The Orderly World-

I am so fond of this orderly world

The winter, the summer

The spring, the fall

The nights and the days are in order.

The roots of the trees are under the ground

The mountains have their tops above

All the mountains have their tops above

The people are in their right minds

All the people are in their right minds

The five fingers are all in their proper places

The thumb, index, middle, ring and the pinky.

Let’s say the pinky just gets up and

Walks towards the middle finger

How would it dare!

Or a locust tree

By burying its head under the soil

Takes a walk

Hello chestnut, hello pine

Selamunaleykum, aleykumselam

Just while having a small talk

The conversation turns to the root of the locust

The wind begins soughing then…

Its root is out of the ground, out of…

-Let them be great-
I love great songs; let them be great,
Everything like a sea, a sky and sad.
If I love you, love is eternal in my heart, 
If I am in love, you are not my woman but a goddess, a queen. 
Seas keep inviting me to a journey, yet
I don't go, thinking of the day I would return.
I love great winds, let them be great 
My love, my longing, all of them, everything and sad. 
If one burns, he must burn like Kerem did.  
He must even wake up from sleep on the judgment day...
-Translated by R. U.

Büyük Olsun Ben büyük şarkıları severim; büyük olsun, Deniz gibi, gökyüzü gibi her şey ve mahzun. Seviyorsam seni aşk ölümsüzdür gönlümce, Âşıksam kadınım değil tanrıçasın, ece. Denizler yolculuğa çağırır durur da beni Gitmem düşünerek geri döneceğim günü. Ben büyük rüzgârları severim; büyük olsun Aşkım da…