and for Valentine’s Day: Carrier Letter by Hart Crane

February 14, 2015 / zdunno03 / 4 Comments

My hands have not touched water since your hands,–
No;–nor my lips freed laughter since ‘farewell’.
And with the day, distance again expands
Between us, voiceless as an uncoiled shell.

Yet,–much follows, much endures. . .Trust birds alone:
A dove’s wings clung to my heart last night
With surging gentleness; and the blue stone
Set in the tryst-ring has but worn more bright.

another one for the day before Valentine’s Day: Touch by Octavio Paz

February 13, 2015 / zdunno03 / 2 Comments

My hands
Open the curtains of your being
Clothe you in a further nudity
Uncover the bodies of your body
My hands
Invent another body for your body.

translated by Charles Tomlinson

An old favorite of mine: The Beloved by Paul Eluard

February 12, 2015 / zdunno03 / 5 Comments

She is standing on my eyelids
And her hair is inside mine,
She is the shape of my hand,
She is the color of my eyes,
She is surrounded by my shadows
Like a rock by the sky.

Her eyes always opened
She never lets me sleep
Her dreams in broad daylight
Make sunlight evaporate,
Make me laugh, cry and laugh,
Speak without a thing to say.

translated by Michael Benedikt

Black Joy by Jean Arp

February 5, 2015 / zdunno03 / 3 Comments

flowers are blackened with joy
the sky is beautiful as flame
i’m transported by just one day’s worth of flower-labor
how would you like to fly away with me

how would you like a day’s worth of lightning-flashes
how would you like a flower identical with heaven
how would you like several flowers like lightning-flashes
how would you like a fiery sky

hovering just beyond my head
is you my lovely flower-labor
hovering just beyond my head
is you my lovely black flame of joy

translated by Michael Benedikt

Muezzin by Cemal Süreya

January 28, 2015 / zdunno03 / 4 Comments

You hopped into bed,
But your hymen is on the table.
Never mind, Allah be praised.
There is more than one way to skin a cat.
Peel an orange and feed its slices to me.
I have a minaret, get hold of its charms,
Be my muezzin,
While the rain
Is pouring out in the street
And folks are keeping indoors
For their prayers.

translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat

Drizzle by Cemal Süreya

January 27, 2015 / zdunno03 / 1 Comment

The stars were on the sidewalk
As if at the Prophet’s coming
Because it had drizzled the night before
Dizzy like a cloud, I left her house
Skipping, skipping on the stars
Pleased as punch in the moonlight
Playing hopscotch
As at the Prophet’s coming
Because it had drizzled the night before.

translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat

from Lady Midnight’s Songs: Midnight’s Song

January 20, 2015 / zdunno03 / 3 Comments

Nights are long when she can’t sleep;
the bright moon glitters like a bangle.
She thinks she hears an answer to a prayer. . .
“Yes. . .,” she murmurs, into empty air.

translated by J.P. Seaton

little black dress

December 4, 2014 / zdunno03 / 19 Comments

little black dress
she wears
that night
and twirls
around the room
you like
she asks
that twinkle
in her eyes
yes
I say
very much
but more
I like
who wears it
she laughs
and twirls
circles
in the room
circles
in my heart
she twirls

Yellow Blight by Cemal Süreya

October 5, 2014 / zdunno03 / 2 Comments

My breath is a red bird
In the auburn sky of your hair
When I embrace you
Your legs grow long beyond words

My breath becomes a red horse
I can tell from my burning cheeks
We are destitute our nights are short
Let’s make love at full tilt

translated by Talat S. Halman

The Sea, the Memory, and the Woman by Seyfettin Başcıllar

October 5, 2014 / zdunno03 / 3 Comments

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.