by Koray Feyiz
The storm didn't pull the night's teeth, I did.
It was me out there in the pitying forest, fluttering,
The geranium tearing open the window
To hold onto you when you’ve already gone.
It was my broken wing, my forgotten voice.
I was the tremulous and mournful cistern.
It was me getting restless at the locksmith's dinner table
Before the little dishes laid out in poor light.
I wanted to speak lovingly
To dissuade the chick that wants to leave.
The well's empty bucket
Can't be forgotten once it's swinging free.
Making love for the last time
I warmed the shivering roots of insomnia.
The salt of morning melted in the rising sun.
Your secret is safe with me,
It's you, the clovers.
Gathered with ecstatic melancholy.
Your frost-covered meadows
Make mountain ridges howl.
Flowing through a fine scar inside me,
A scream interrupts your blood flowing.
That scream is you, trying to breathe.
Translated by Dr. Nesrin Eruysal & Ken Fifer
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ABOUT THE POET ~
KORAY FEYİZ, A Turkish poet, born in Istanbul in 1961, Koray Feyiz studied Geodesy and Photogrammetry Engineering, and Urban Planning, at Karadeniz Technical University, and at Middle East Technical University. He completed his doctoral dissertation on Urban Psychology. Feyiz is currently engaged in research on Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing. His first published poem appeared in one of Turkey’s most prestigous literary magazines, Varlık, in 1987. His poems and prose essays have continued to appear in numerous Turkish literary magazines over the last two decades. He has also published seven collections of his poetry: Mezarlar Eskimedi (The Graveyard is Not Exhausted, İz, 1987), Bir Mektupta İki Yalnızlık (Two Solitudes in One Letter, Engin, 1988), Ben O Issız O Yorgun Şehir (I Am a Desolate, Exhausted City, Prospero, 1995), Uhrevi Zorba (The Metaphysical Autocrat, Urun, 1995), DüşleGelen (To You Who Arrived in a Dream, Suteni, 1995), Seni Bağışladım Çünkü Beni Çok Üzdün (Cause of My Grief, I Forgive You, Hera, 1999) and Su Yarası (Wounded by the Water, Artshop 2010), (Translated by Dr.Nesrin Eruysal)
Last updated June 12, 2016