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| #Post#: 678735-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Mehmet Ya??n | |
| By: Angel/Poyraz Date: July 21, 2015, 8:26 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| <img src=\" | |
| http://i.imgur.com/34XiiCN.jpg\"<br | |
| />alt=\"34XiiCN.jpg\"> | |
| he trilingual Turkish Cypriot | |
| poet�Mehmet Ya??n�writes in Turkish, English and Greek, | |
| sometimes using all three languages in one poem. Ya??n has lived | |
| in Turkey, Cyprus and the United Kingdom. Turkey\'s military | |
| government deported him in 1986 because the frank descriptions | |
| of Cyprus and his criticism of war contained in his first | |
| collections of poetry, Sevgilim �l� A?ker (My Love, the Dead | |
| Soldier) and I??k-Merdiven (Light-Ladder), were deemed | |
| �subversive.� His overall oeuvre is lyrical, narrative and | |
| poignant, particularly when he writes about the conflicts of | |
| language as he does in the poem Wartime. Wartime and Don\'t Go | |
| Back to Kyrenia are two of his translated poetry collections as | |
| well as Step-Mothertongue: From Nationalism to Multiculturalism: | |
| Literatures of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, a book of literary | |
| criticism on national and cultural identity in Greek and Turkish | |
| literature from a multilingual approach. | |
| #Post#: 678736-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Mehmet Ya??n | |
| By: Angel/Poyraz Date: July 21, 2015, 8:26 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| A PRIMEVAL MERMAID | |
| turn on my right and there is a | |
| dream.<br> | |
| cannot sleep. I turn on my left.<br> | |
| e\'re lying | |
| with a poem in our embrace,<br> | |
| n our tender fondlings. A | |
| featherlight duvet<br> | |
| s weighing on us. But I\'m feeling | |
| lighter,<br> | |
| nough to escape from myself. A silver | |
| colt,<br> | |
| azelle-like, and wings from a thousand tales and | |
| one...<br> | |
| he is the answer to my life, no, no one else,<br> | |
| y | |
| wife, the better rest of myself.<br><br> | |
| ow is the time of | |
| peace in our passion,<br> | |
| he warmth of a cosy slumber of a poem | |
| I\'ve just begun,<br> | |
| feel elated.<br> | |
| ike a simple phrase, | |
| yael*, the beautiful �<br> | |
| y only rose : an image of multiple | |
| senses...<br> | |
| his is where the world begins, a primeval maid of | |
| the sea,<br> | |
| aveshine in her hair, and on her flesh<br> | |
| he | |
| scent of salt of sandy beaches...<br><br> | |
| ho can interprete | |
| such a dream?<br><br><br> | |
| �������* Yael is a proper female name | |
| meaning gazelle in Hebrew.<br> | |
| �������(Translator\'s note.) | |
| #Post#: 678737-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Mehmet Ya??n | |
| By: Angel/Poyraz Date: July 21, 2015, 8:27 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Sea was my lover\'s song<br> | |
| ar anchored on its blue | |
| voice<br> | |
| y lover,<br> | |
| he dead soldier.<br><br> | |
| heat was my | |
| lover\'s song<br> | |
| ar handcuffed its golden stare<br> | |
| y | |
| lover,<br> | |
| he dead soldier.<br><br> | |
| eace was my lover\'s | |
| song<br> | |
| ar divided its white laugher into two<br> | |
| y | |
| lover,<br> | |
| he dead soldier.<br><br> | |
| hear my lover<br> | |
| he | |
| soldier is singing a song<br> | |
| lue songs are knocking on our | |
| door.<br> | |
| hear,<br> | |
| hose who die in a war,<br> | |
| hey sing the | |
| best songs for peace.<br><br> | |
| efko$a, 1978<br> | |
| ehmet Ya$In | |
| #Post#: 678738-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Mehmet Ya??n | |
| By: Angel/Poyraz Date: July 21, 2015, 8:27 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| A GHOST<br><br> | |
| ���Phoenician inscribers of epitaphs were | |
| killed by Phoenician warriors themselves,<br> | |
| ���because they | |
| advocated an end to the war with the Greeks, and those who | |
| remained,<br> | |
| ���continued to live like ghosts under threat of | |
| death<br> | |
| ������������From a tombstone in Idalion, Cyprus, 8c | |
| BC<br><br> | |
| nly as a ghost can I now return to my own | |
| home,<br> | |
| merging from blurred mirrors. I haven\'t much | |
| time.<br> | |
| throw the windows open, in utter dark, | |
| starlight<br> | |
| loods the rooms. I shake the dust off the | |
| curtains,<br> | |
| ff the linen draped over bookshelves. I must also | |
| clean<br> | |
| ith my moist breath, the family pictures in | |
| frames.<br> | |
| he avenging angels of this polyglot house, now | |
| silenced,<br> | |
| ake every one who enters it, promise to | |
| write<br> | |
| gainst wars, against everything jingoist, even | |
| tongues.<br> | |
| prinkle the antkiller around like enchanted | |
| words,<br> | |
| he mothballs. I\'ve wiped the floors clean. I lock | |
| the doors,<br> | |
| nd I\'m off again, no one has even seen | |
| me.<br> | |
| ���I\'m a phantom... they can\'t have me killed. | |
| #Post#: 678739-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Mehmet Ya??n | |
| By: Angel/Poyraz Date: July 21, 2015, 8:28 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| A POEM OF THOSE DAYS WHICH DIDN\'T BELONG TO US<br><br> | |
| <br> | |
| Was your name Stella,<br> | |
| he aunt who lived in this | |
| house<br> | |
| efore us?<br> | |
| id you have children?<br> | |
| nd this | |
| picture on the wall,<br> | |
| as it taken on your wedding day, dear | |
| aunt?<br><br> | |
| Was your name Stella,<br> | |
| as it you who used to | |
| hang the washing<br> | |
| n the balcony, before us?<br> | |
| n the wall | |
| tiles, are they your finger prints?<br> | |
| nd the voice which | |
| still vibrates in the rooms?<br> | |
| h, my auntie, my dear, dear | |
| aunt!<br><br> | |
| i<br> | |
| ou are the door shattered with a | |
| rifle-butt,<br> | |
| he cotton fabric that clothes | |
| strangers,<br> | |
| ou are the cooking pot to feed the | |
| others.<br><br> | |
| ou are just a fading photograph,<br> | |
| ot even a | |
| corner for you in an album.<br><br> | |
| ii<br> | |
| f I could only meet | |
| you one day,<br> | |
| \'d be so happy, ever so happy...<br><br> | |
| \'m | |
| keeping all your photographs, little girl :<br> | |
| here is your | |
| birthday<br> | |
| under the mandarin tree, the cake with three | |
| candles<br> | |
| you, in the sea with Donald Duck<br> | |
| you, waving | |
| from the car<br> | |
| your parents smiling at you<br> | |
| nd now | |
| you\'re smiling at me.<br><br> | |
| \'ll give these pictures back to | |
| you, little girl,<br> | |
| ut from time to time<br> | |
| ll this weighs | |
| heavy on me, I am anguished :<br> | |
| hat, if they killed you | |
| during that war?<br><br> | |
| v<br> | |
| \'m very curious to | |
| know<br> | |
| ho was this Greek-Cypriot reading this book?<br> | |
| e | |
| stopped on page 48.<br> | |
| erhaps he was called up at that very | |
| moment?<br> | |
| nd, what is more, the title is :<br> | |
| an is not | |
| Born a Soldier.<br><br> | |
| e could have shared memories,<br> | |
| aten | |
| ice-cream together,<br> | |
| might have dressed the wound on your | |
| hand,<br> | |
| een able to wear your rain coat on a wet day.<br> | |
| would have liked you to know of my surprise at myself<br> | |
| how | |
| can I continue with your unfinished book,<br> | |
| ere, like | |
| that!<br><br> | |
| <br> | |
| mell of blood all around | |
| me<br> | |
| lood.<br><br> | |
| am not a murderer,<br> | |
| ake peace with | |
| me, flowers in pots<br> | |
| ounterpanes, easy chairs,<br> | |
| nd the | |
| photograph in the album.<br> | |
| am not a murderer.<br><br> | |
| lood | |
| is flowing all round me<br> | |
| lood.<br><br> | |
| f only you had been | |
| there and witnessed :<br> | |
| am not a m u r d e r e r .<br><br> | |
| #Post#: 678740-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Mehmet Ya??n | |
| By: Angel/Poyraz Date: July 21, 2015, 8:32 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| <div style=\"margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana, | |
| \'Helvetica Neue\', Helvetica, Verdana;font-size:12px;\"> | |
| div | |
| style=\"margin:0px;\"> | |
| ehmet Yashin | |
| div | |
| style=\"margin:0px;\"><a data-ipb=\"nomediaparse\" href=\"\" | |
| http: rel=\"external nofollow\"><img height=\"19\" | |
| src=\" | |
| http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/images/print_b.gif\"<br | |
| />title=\"Print this page\" width=\"56\" alt=\"print_b.gif\"></a | |
| > | |
| <strong>Don\'t go to Kyrenia</strong> | |
| div | |
| style=\"margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana, | |
| \'Helvetica Neue\', Helvetica, Verdana;font-size:12px;\"> | |
| div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| em><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\">�If you should come to | |
| Kyrenia<br><div style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| on�t enter the walls.<br><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| f you should enter the | |
| walls<br><div style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| on�t stay long.<br><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| f you should stay | |
| long<br><div style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| on�t get married.<br><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| f you should get | |
| married<br><div style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| on�t have | |
| children.�</em><br><div style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\">����������������From an old | |
| Ottoman-Turkish song of Cyprus<br><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| �������������� Translated by | |
| Lawrence Durrell<div style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"><div | |
| style=\"margin-left:{option}px\"> | |
| Don�t go to Kyrenia�, they | |
| said,<br> | |
| ut if you do, have no children.<br> | |
| undreds of times | |
| they said it,<br> | |
| our fault if you paid no attention. | |
| t was | |
| the same boat that docked,<br> | |
| ou thought the sail was satin, | |
| it was a shroud.<br> | |
| hey unloaded the songs to the port<br> | |
| ut | |
| they were not the songs of our love<br> | |
| he amphoras were filled | |
| with sea-blood<br> | |
| nd those who drank from them were | |
| poisoned,<br> | |
| ut if they didn�t drink, they�d die of the | |
| plague,<br> | |
| nd if they didn�t die, they�d go to war. | |
| he lights | |
| at the discotheque daze,<br> | |
| et them daze whether we die or | |
| not<br> | |
| e spin in slices of multicolour shadows,<br> | |
| et the | |
| lights daze, daze . . . | |
| don�t know what tremor of war<br> | |
| as | |
| petrified Kyrenia but left her eyes wide open,<br> | |
| n a | |
| confusion of who�s gone away<br> | |
| ho�s come back,<br> | |
| he loved | |
| ones who have sailed away,<br> | |
| nd the dead<br> | |
| nd the dead | |
| have sent back.<br> | |
| yrenia will be machine-gunned if she | |
| moves,<br> | |
| nd if she doesn�t, she will still be bombed by | |
| planes. | |
| ove will move, even if we won�t<br> | |
| on�t water the | |
| garden they said<br> | |
| ut if you do, don�t dig,<br> | |
| here�ll soon | |
| be a war, anyway. | |
| f we�ll strip down to soldiers in the | |
| Fort,<br> | |
| hether the geraniums burst open or not, in a tumult | |
| of noises,<br> | |
| r not bloom at all, around the Loveterranean, | |
| our sea.<br> | |
| f we light a fire and dance,<br> | |
| f we dance in | |
| the submarine-caves<br> | |
| ith LSD and videos and revolvers, we�ll | |
| dance,<br> | |
| hoever doesn�t dance will lose his mind<br> | |
| nd who | |
| doesn�t lose his mind will drown in salt. | |
| on�t go to Kyrenia | |
| they said,<br> | |
| he lights at the discotheque, let them | |
| daze<br> | |
| here�ll soon be a war, anyway,<br> | |
| et the lights | |
| daze, daze... | |
| ***************************************************** |