my head foaming clouds, sea inside me and out

Mary is one mother among many mothers.Mary gave birth to a son,a son among many sons.That’s why Mary is so beautiful in all the pictures of her.That’s why Mary’s son is so close to us, like our own sons.The faces of our women are the book of our pains.Our pains, our faults and the blood…

I don’t like to turn backat three I served as a pasha’s grandson in Aleppoat nineteen as a student at Moscow Communist Universityat forty-nine I was back in Moscow as the Tcheka Party’s guestand I’ve been a poet since I was fourteensome people know all about plants some about fishI know separationsome people know the…

and knead the dough enough for dozens of loavesof which you’ll taste not a morsel;you are free to slave for others–you are free to make the rich richer.The moment you’re bornthey plant around youmills that grind lieslies to last you a lifetime.You keep thinking in your great freedoma finger on your templefree to have a…

drops of water.In each drop existsa tiny signof our geniuswhich has given life to cold iron.Our eyesare limpiddrops of watermerged absolutely in the Oceanthat you could hardly recognizethe drop in a block of icein a boiling pan.The masterpiece of these eyesthe fulfillment of their geniusthe living iron.In these eyesfilled with limpidpure tearshad failed to emergefrom…

amid the newsof victory and deathas my fortieth year passes…Remembering you is goodyour handforgotten upon a blue dressyour hairwith the grave softnessof the earth of my beloved Istanbul.This joy of loving youis like a second person inside me…The smell of geranium leaveson your fingertipswarm and comfortingThe invitation of your flesha hotintense darknessscored by vivid red…

neither riches no real-estate —a pot of honey is all I own.A pot of honeyred as fire!My honey is my everything.I guardmy riches and my real-estate— my honey pot, I mean —from pests of every species,Brother, just wait…As long as I’ve gothoney in my pot,bees will come to itfrom Timbuktu…Trans. by Mutlu Konuk and Randy…