TE16 Turkish Delight

Ten Poems

I’m certainly tall because they passed me under a donkey 2 I walk, days are cooling down that moment Mountains cleanse on my lips, the stars Resemble my being cold. The pocket knife that fell in the water when I jumped Grows with my name that I had carved on trees Because my bosom bleeds on the knees of autumn.

(tr. Canan Marasligil)

2. An old superstition. Small children are passed under donkeys so that their height grows when they get older. 207