Dutluk / Mulberry Grove

BY Gonca Özmen
TRANSLATED BY George Messo
Turkish

Dutluğa doğru gel
Evlerin uzağına

Sana susmayı öğreteceğim
Dalların kaygısını da

Azaldığın yerden öpeceğim
Azaldığı yerden doğanın

Ovayı geç
Dutluğu doğru gel
Arasına otların

Sana fırtınayı dinleteceğim
Theşub’un çığlığını

Bir suyun ardında seni
Neden sonra yine bekleyeceğim

Tarlayı geç
Daha gel daha
Dut kokusuna

English

Come to the mulberry grove
Far from houses

I’ll teach you to be quiet
And the worry of branches

I’ll kiss the point where you wane
The point where nature wanes

Pass over the plain
Come to the mulberry grove
In amongst its grass

I’ll make you listen to the storm
To Theshub’s scream

When all is done, I’ll wait again
For you, on the other side of water

Pass over the field
Further come further
To the mulberry scent

I’ll show you the ants

 

Biography

GONCA ÖZMEN was born in Burdur in 1982. Her two books, Kuytumda (2000) and Belki Sessiz (2008), have won several major awards. A selection of her poems in English, translated by George Messo, is forthcoming. She presently lives in Istanbul.

GEORGE MESSO is a poet, translator, and editor. His books include From the Pine Observatory (Halfacrown Books, 2000), Entrances (2006) and Hearing Still (2009), both published by Shearsman Books. He has written two books in Turkish: Aradaki Ses (The In-between Voice, 2005) and Avrupa’nın Küçük Tanrıları (The Little Gods of Europe, 2007). His translations include İlhan Berk’s A Leaf about to Fall: Selected Poems (Salt, 2006) which was shortlisted for the Popescu European Poetry Translation Prize, Madrigals (Shearsman Books, 2008), The Book of Things (Salt, 2009), İkinci Yeni: The Turkish Avant-Garde (Shearsman, 2009), and Birhan Keskin’s & Silk & Love & Flame: Selected Poems (Arc Publications, 2010). He is a Fellow of The Royal Asiatic Society and the former editor of Near East Review.

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