Arzu Karadağ

 

 

(Turkey)

 

 

 

THE INVITATION

 

come to the day when i braid my hair

to my bosom on which i align the stones one by one

 

come to the laughing moment of my face

if i’m happy your coming won’t offend me

 

come to the land where i console myself with death

to my wounds i could wrap with the cities

 

come to the tired side of my mind

if i’m pensive your coming won’t offend me

 

come blowing in without being expected

i’m in the place where my eyes tend towards green

 

come dip me in love

 

donate me to the graves without prayers

to the starry nights of the east

 

 

 

SORROW

 

what are these distant ships carrying, master

two people mistaking the sea for the sky are at our table

 

if the tired ships of this gloomy sea did not exist

the world would think the grief in our eyes is unowned

 

what are these distant ships carrying, master

two people mistaking the sky for the hometown are at our table

 

but if the day were not our faces turning yellow without evening

the world would suppose the poverty in our hands is caused by the birds

 

 

 

AND PAIN

 

what day is today

i do not know why an account of time is not kept

 

leaning on the quiet mourning of a mountain

i’m watching the birds taking off from its ridge

 

what era is this

i do not know beyond what darkness we are

 

waking up with fear from the dreams

i embrace the sun

 

what summer of the year is this

have we been a little fading or blooming

 

i know the roof of loneliness has changed

time has been shaken off the feet of the mountains

and leaned on the stones

 

i touched it

i listened to it undauntedly

 

it said your forgetting is caused by pain
by pain

 

 

Translated by Baki Yiğit

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

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BIO

 

Was born in 1979 in Pülümür Dersim. She graduated from the Uludağ University, Faculty of Economics, Labour Economics and Industrial Relations. She is working in the logistics sector; she is the editor and coordinator of Ses and İz publications.

 

She published her first poems in Usça and Dostça magazine that she pulled out with her friends in university (1998). Then her works took part in the literature and art magazine

 

Prizes:

Bir Baktım Yarın / Ali Rıza Ertan Şiir Ödülü [2011]
Güneşin Tutundukları / Yılmaz Güney Şiir Ödülü [2012]
Kemiksizdir Dili Zamanın / Kaygusuz Abdal Şiir Ödülü [2013]
Kar Yazın – Sanat Şiir Ödülü [2013]
Ceyhun Atuf Kansu Şiir Ödülü [2015]

 

Books:

Kalbim Tut Beni [2005]
Şehirlere Düştü Gökyüzüm [2007]
Taşlanan Rüya [2010]
Bir Baktım Yarın [2012]