Poems

DON'T TRY TO UNDERSTAND ME Hasan Ildiz (Turkiye)

Don't try to understand me
What's the use of understanding love
Suppose you became a thorn
And you opened the wound of a rose
Will you understand love
The wound that is opened
Unless it's your wound...
My tongue doesn't wear a bra
The words I use
The breasts are obvious
Go on, do your philosophy
And don't feel a bit of sexuality
Try to understand me
Don't shine your headlights on my womb
My poetry isn't there
A person can make love with words too
Their brain is capable of that
But love is somewhere else.
Don't try to understand me
What's the use of understanding death
Understanding makes a person tired
So is loving
My verses
Don't wear a bra anymore
Go on, turn off the light
And apologize to your heart.



MAKING LOVE IS TAXED
Hasan Ildiz (Turkiye)

Making love is now subject to tax
We are poor people
We don't have that much money
Going to hotels
Like the rich
We can't start making love in the evening and make love in the morning
We can't wait for the moon to rise on the balcony
No such fantasies.
Our lovemaking
Should taste like tarhana
Hot, bitter and burning
Everything should be lived very fast
Tarhana should not cool down.
Making love is now subject to tax
Kissing the lips
Sucking the tongue is a luxury
Hands have acquaintances in high places
Whatever they eat and drink is deducted from the tax
We are poor people
We don't have a man in those high places
Let alone making love in the jacuzzi
We even pay taxes for the shower we take.



ANEMON
Hasan Ildiz (Turkiye)
 
My Alya, my Anemon flower, growing as being loved
Oh the gigantic soul and the wing of the soil will bleed
I will show up on one of the hot days
Every part of your body I touch will begin to talk
Alya, my Anemon flower, growing as being loved

 
You my love, I am a night, in the tale of Scheherazade
The tale of the one thousand and one, the hour of my birth
Flow me into the waters, sweep me before a gust
The seasons and still warm, see, my flesh smells rose
Love, I am a night, in the tale of Scheherazade

 
Ah you see, this tedium, I’ve been going through like a bird
A bit steam of love, a bit scent of the heaven
So many seasons I experienced, dreams in dream
A pigeon’s sleep on your left bosom
This tedium, I’ve gone through like a wounded bird

 
Lilac lips of the season, ah that white night
I’ve been riding a horse maybe for ten-thousand years to grieve
Ah that sacred rain, I felt it on my body
I was your forty-two, scattered on the atlas of my heart
Ah that white night, the season with its lilac lips

 
You see, the day gets opened like the milk with no yeast added
Love weaves for us, the life in the mouth of the death
This oriental drama and the wedding feast behind
Would take you one night, to my mountains
You see, the day gets opened like the milk with no yeast added

 
Ah, I’we could have not known for whom your hair is flipped
For whom your heart used to flutter at night
I used to wish to die sometimes, but not being able to die
Now it’s an autumn chilliness wherever I touched
I’ve could have not known for whom your hair is flipped


I know, your hands start the day by caressing a dream
Time blossoms in your mouth smiling flowers
Ah Alya, you would bring the second spouse after me
Who knows, what other sorts of evils cross in your head
Your hands start the day by caressing a dream


(English Translation by Mesut ŞENOL)

 

 
EPOCH’S ANGUISH
Hasan Ildiz
(For my Alya)

 
My soul could not explain it anymore
It doesn’t remember how it signed
The file of crimes
That was forced upon it.
God takes the floor in no time
Where everyone kept quiet
He claims here is the last haven
Bring the children down there
Beginning with the children…

 
What now does this separation mean
And which of my action requires severe punishment?
I arrived to this city just yesterday
I composed poetry, and I loved Alya
Give me one piece of paper, I am sixty
I have to write now on what contribution I made to life
And how my hands shaped which stone
As well as creating beauty on which tree.

 
My mother claims this epoch of smoke
Will kill the good ones, first
My heart cannot explain
Why half of my mother is
Made of Felâk and Nâs
Because of that the bottom of her foot
Was still warm while giving her last breath.

 
This is which epoch
The girls’ making love is dependent on report card
Why the roses look red when they bleed
Why are the shores of the morning in a welter of blood?
This new fashioned houses with the Ottoman view
Will eat one by one
The children in the bathroom.

 
(English Translation by Mesut ŞENOL)



About the Poet:
Hasan Ildiz was born in Alaşehir on 02.10.1960. He graduated from Horzumkeser Village Elementary School, Kavaklıdere Junior High School, Alaşehir High School, and the Turkish Language and Literature Department of Hacettepe University.
Hasan Ildız taught Turkish language and literature courses at Sarıgöl High School and Sarı Mahmut Elementary School. Between the years of 1998/2001 and 2005/2010, he worked at the Turkish Teaching Center in the city of Biskek, Kyrgyzstan. He taught Turkish language courses at the American University, Slavic University, and Social Sciences University. He returned to Turkey in 2010, and kept working at Salihli İMKB Technical and Industrial Vocational High School until 2017 before getting his retirement.
From 1985 on his poems have been appearing in literary magazines including Türk Dili, Çağdaş Türk Dili, Öğretmen Dünyası, ABC, Kirkit, Ege Layf, İnsancıl, Kardelen, Lacivert, Kurgan, Bireylikler, Yaba Edebiyat, Tmolos, Kasaba Sanat, Kurşun Kalem, Varlık, Yasak Meyve, Şiirden, Edebiyat Ortamı, Yedi İklim, Töre, Amanos, Beşparmak, Kasabadan Esinti, Kara Yazı, Şehir Edebiyat, Tay, Aşkın E Hali, Mavi Yeşil, Akatalpa, Dergâh, Caz Kedisi, Çinikitap.
He received an award of third place in the short story competition entitled “Turkic World Ömer Seyfettin Short Story Contest” jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Turkish Literature Foundation with his short story called “Exile”.
In 2007, he was given an honorable mention prize for his short story called “Joyful Mother” from the short story competition organized by Ümraniye Municipality.
In 2008, he received an honorable mention prize with his short story called “The Kid Selling Roses”, from the competition organized in the name of Mustafa Necati Sepetçioğlu.
In 2011, he was awarded with the first prize for his short story called “The Beauty Sleeping for Dying” in the competition of Novel, Short Story and Essay jointly organized by İLESAM (Professional Union of the Owners of Scientific and Artistic Works) and Akçağ Publishing House.
             
 
HIS LITERARY WORKS:
  1) SORGU / QUESTIONING –1997 (Poetry):Ürün Publishing, Ankara
            2) AKDENİZ’E GİDENLERİN TÜRKÜSÜ / THE BALLAD WHO HEADED FOR THE MEDITERRANIAN – 2009 (Poetry)- Devir Publishing, İstanbul
            3) SEVDA TÜRKÜLERİ / LOVE SONGS – 2012 (Poetry)- Yankı Publishing, İstanbul
            4) SÜRGÜN HİKÂYELERİ - KAFKASYA / EXILE STORIES – CAUCASIA,   1943 (Short Stories)- 2009- Devir Publishing, İstanbul.
            5) ÖLMEYE VATAN YAHŞİ- THE BEAUTY SLEEPING FOR DYING, 2012 (Short Stories)- Akçağ Publishing, Ankara.
6) AŞK ŞEHİRDE KİRLENİR / LOVE GETS CONTAMINATED IN THE CITY, 2014 (Poetry)- Şiirden Publishing, İstanbul.
7) RENKLER KİTABI / THE BOOK OF COLORS, 2018-(Poetry)- Temren Publishing, İzmir.
8) ELLERİ OLMASA HÜZNÜN / IF ONLY SADNESS DIDN’T HAVE ITS HANDS, 2020 (Poetry)- Klaros Publishing, Ankara.
9) AFORİZMALAR / APHORISMS, 2021- Klaros Publishing, Ankara
         10) ANEMON (Poetry)-2022- Klaros Publishing, Ankara
         11) PETUNYA / PETUNIA (Poety)-2022- Klaros Publishing, Ankara
          12) LOTUS (Poetry)-2023-Klaros Publishing, Ankara
          13) Azelya / Azalea (Poetry)-2023-Klaros Publishing, Ankara
          14) Begonvil / Bougainvillea (Poetry) 2024-Klaros Publishing, Ankara