TE16 Turkish Delight

Ten Poems by İlhan Sami Çomak

before it is too late I have rubbed my hands with the curves of your letters I found 10 and 15 beautiful, because they were those songs breathed out of this era And now you, so happy, diving deep down into the sea, wet You will miss Diyarbakir when Bingöl will leave us to grow again with each earthquake I am a tall man they saw me striding out of my non-existing spite Pheasants, falcons, flies defy our skies as a dark June lays on our embrace Now I commiserate over our dying fires, the bronze on the battlements of our tents. Birds will fly even if I shout. For a while and a long line of letters: M, E, D, I and A Your tiny hands your tiny mouth your tiny feet Were the alphabet I never stopped learning by heart And we… (…) On the mattresses of the sea wobbling towards the windowless walls of Diyarbakir And we We made love with the most eminent letters

(tr. Canan Marasligil) 201