Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Gülten Akın

STAIN

At the knottiest point of our age we stood
let someone write us, for if we don’t
who will
the quieter it stayed, the blunter grew
the fine knife we used to hack out the rough day

where are they: the miracle that gleams
and the magic that glimmers at every stir

another day gone unseen
another day passed withering the grass

and so we learn it was blind, as if there were
no road and no passersby
and no one to record the passersby
they said
lock them up and put the key back in its old place

though really
it’s a shameful thing, or so Camus says
to be happy on your own
voices and other voices, where are the world’s voices

so quietly
the stain has seeped into the fabric

LEKE

LEKE

Çağın en karmaşık yerinde durduk
biri bizi yazsın, kendimiz değilse
kim yazacak
sustukça köreldi
kaba günü yonttuğumuz ince bıçak

nerde onlar, her kımıldayışta
çakan tansık, ışıldatan büyü
bir gün daha görülmedi
bir gün daha geçti otları soldurarak

öğrendik de körmüş, sanki yokmuş
ne yol ne bir geçip giden
ne kaydını tutan geçip gidenin
dediler ki
onları kilitle, anahtarı eski yerine bırak

oysa
utanılacak bir şeymiş, öyle diyor camus
tak başına mutlu olmak
sesler ve öteki sesler, nerde dünyanın sesleri

leke dokuya işledi
susarak susarak
Close

STAIN

At the knottiest point of our age we stood
let someone write us, for if we don’t
who will
the quieter it stayed, the blunter grew
the fine knife we used to hack out the rough day

where are they: the miracle that gleams
and the magic that glimmers at every stir

another day gone unseen
another day passed withering the grass

and so we learn it was blind, as if there were
no road and no passersby
and no one to record the passersby
they said
lock them up and put the key back in its old place

though really
it’s a shameful thing, or so Camus says
to be happy on your own
voices and other voices, where are the world’s voices

so quietly
the stain has seeped into the fabric

STAIN

At the knottiest point of our age we stood
let someone write us, for if we don’t
who will
the quieter it stayed, the blunter grew
the fine knife we used to hack out the rough day

where are they: the miracle that gleams
and the magic that glimmers at every stir

another day gone unseen
another day passed withering the grass

and so we learn it was blind, as if there were
no road and no passersby
and no one to record the passersby
they said
lock them up and put the key back in its old place

though really
it’s a shameful thing, or so Camus says
to be happy on your own
voices and other voices, where are the world’s voices

so quietly
the stain has seeped into the fabric
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
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