Here is a re-post of some of the Turkish poems I translated into English:

Yaşadıklarımdan Öğrendiğim Bir Şey Var
Yaşadıklarımdan öğrendiğim bir şey var:
Yaşadın mı, yoğunluğuna yaşayacaksın bir şeyi
Sevgilin bitkin kalmalı öpülmekten
Sen bitkin düşmelisin koklamaktan bir çiçeği

İnsan saatlerce bakabilir gökyüzüne
Denize saatlerce bakabilir, bir kusa, bir çocuğa
Yasamak yeryüzünde, onunla karışmaktır
Kopmaz kökler salmaktır oraya

Kucakladın mı sımsıkı kucaklayacaksın arkadaşını
Kavgaya tüm kaslarınla, gövdenle, tutkunla gireceksin
Ve uzandın mı bir kez sımsıcak kumlara
Bir kum tanesi gibi, bir yaprak gibi, bir tas gibi dinleneceksin

İnsan bütün güzel müzikleri dinlemeli alabildiğine
Hem de tüm benliği seslerle, ezgilerle dolarcasına
İnsan balıklama dalmalı içine hayatın
Bir kayadan zümrüt bir denize dalarcasına

Uzak ülkeler çekmeli seni, tanımadığın insanlar
Bütün kitapları okumak, bütün hayatları tanımak arzusuyla yanmalısın
Değişmemelisin hiç bir şeyle bir bardak su içmenin mutluluğunu
Fakat ne kadar sevinç varsa yasamak özlemiyle dolmalısın

Ve kederi de yaşamalısın, namusluca, bütün benliğinle
Çünkü acılar da, sevinçler gibi olgunlaştırır insanı
Kanın karışmalı hayatın büyük dolaşımına
Dolaşmalı damarlarında hayatin sonsuz taze kani

Yaşadıklarımdan öğrendiğim bir şey var:
Yaşadın mı büyük yaşayacaksın, ırmaklara, göğe, bütün evrene karışırcasına
Çünkü ömür dediğimiz şey, hayata sunulmuş bir armağandır
Ve hayat, sunulmuş bir armağandır insana
ATAOL BEHRAMOGLU
(1977 Kuşatmada)

There are some things I learned in life
There are some things I learned in life
When you live, you'd live in the thick of it
Your lover should be tired of being kissed
You ought to be tired of smelling a flower

One could spend time looking into the sky for hours
One could watch the sea, a bird or a child all the same
Living means mixing up with all there is on Earth
And resting on it like a sand grain, a leave or a rock would

One should listen to all the different tunes of good music
As if filling one's entire presence with notes, and tunes
One should jump into life all at once
Just like jumping into the turqoise sea from a rock

You should be drawn by faraway countries and strangers
and have a burning desire to read all the books and learn about all the lives
You should not hold anything superior to the happiness a glass of water would give
You should be full of desire to taste whatever pleasure exists nevertheless

You ought to experience the sufferings all in earnest
Since pain helps you mature just like pleasures do
Your blood needs to be mixed up with the great circulation of life
The endless blood of life must run in your veins

There are some things I learned in life
You should live for the big stakes, like mixing with the sky and the whole universe
Because what they call life is a gift presented to soul
And soul is nothing more than a gift to man
Translated by Akin Ilicali

Sevgi Duvarı
Sen miydin o, yalnizligim miydi yoksa,
kör karanlikta açardik pasli gözlerimizi...
dilimizde aksamdan kalma bir küfür,
salonlar, piyasalar, sanat sevicileri...
derdim günüm insan arasina çikarmakti seni,
yakanda bir amonyak çiçegi...
yalnizligim benim, sidikli kontesim...
ne kadar rezil olursak o kadar iyi...

kumkapi meyhanelerine dadandik,
önümüzde altinbas, altin zincir, fasulye pilakisi...
ardimizda görevliler, ekipler, hizir pasalar...
sabahlari açiklarda bulurlardi lesimi...
öyle sicakti ki çöpcülerin elleri,
çöpcülerin elleriyle oksardim seni...
yalnizligim benim süpürge saçlim,
ne kadar kötü kokarsak o kadar iyi...

baktim gökte bir kirmizi bir uçak,
bol çelik, bol yildiz, bol insan...
bir gece sevgi duvarini astik,
düstügüm yer öyle açik seçik ki,
basucumda bi sen varsin, bi de evren...
saymiyorum ölüp ölüp dirilttiklerimi,
yalnizligim benim, çogul türkülerim...
ne kadar yalansiz yasarsak, o kadar iyi...
Can Yücel


Love Barrier
Was it you or was it my loneliness*
We'd open up our rusty eyes in the blind of the dark
with a curse in our mouths lingering on from the previous night
with all the halls, hang-out places and the artphilia
I'd crave for getting you out there among people
with an ammonia flower attached to your collar
oh my loneliness, my filthy countess
the more hideous we get the better it is

we haunted the meyhanes* at Kumkapi for a while
on the table are Altinbas raki, pilaki and a golden necklace
and in the back are the police squads, and the saviours
they would find my body off-shore in the mornings
so warm were the hands of those garbage men
that I would caress you with their hands
oh my loneliness my bushy haired pal
the more we stink the better it gets

I looked and saw a red plane in the sky
lots of steel, lots of stars and lots of men
one of those nights we broke the love barrier
and the crash zone is so obvious
with only you and the entire universe at my bedside
I don't even mention those whom i made to suffer
oh my loneliness, you are my plural songs
the farther away from lies we are the better it gets.
Translated by Akin Ilicali

Yeşil Imgeli Kız
Yeşil imgeli kız! İlkyazım!
Hangi harf gül, hangi dal dize?
Bu büyük ağaçtan her ikimize
Kalan hangimizdik
ey hayal hanım

Yeşil imgeli kız! Biz size
Yazılı sevdalar sunduktu
Ve döne döne uçurumlar gibi şiirler
Şiirlerle örselenmiş yüzü
Ve kalbi güllere belenmiş
Biriydim ben Ve hangimize
Doğru akar suydum,
ey hayal hanım
Hilmi Yavuz


The Green Girl
Oh the green girl! The joy of the Spring!
which one of your letters is a rose
and which one of your branches a line
and who between us the two
could outlive this huge tree of love
Oh my lady phantom

Oh the green girl! We presented you
written declarations of love
and poems winding around deep cliffs
with a face bruised by verses
and a heart full of roses
I was but a river flowing
into which one of us?
Oh, my lady phantom

Oh the green girl! You pierced into my brain
like the sound of a collapsing building
Leaving behind a deep rosy feeling
Did you indeed feel like writing to destroy
and emerged from that destruction
to serve the fall of my soul.
Translated by Akin Ilicali

YERÇEKİMLİ KARANFİL
Biliyor musun az az yaşıyorsun içimde
Oysaki seninle güzel olmak var
Örneğin rakı içiyoruz, içimize bir karanfil düşÃ¼yor gibi
Bir ağaç işliyor tıkır tıkır yanımızda
Midemdi aklımdı şu kadarcık kalıyor.
Sen o karanfile eğilimlisin, alıp sana veriyorum işte
Sen de bir başkasına veriyorsun daha güzel
O başkası yok mu bir yanındakine veriyor
Derken karanfil elden ele.
Görüyorsun ya bir sevdayı büyütüyoruz seninle
Sana değiniyorum, sana ısınıyorum, bu o değil
Bak nasıl, beyaza keser gibisine yedi renk
Birleşiyoruz sessizce.
Edip CANSEVER


A Carnation with Gravity
Did you know that you live in me in little pieces
Whereas we could be beautiful together
For example, when we drink raki,
it feels as if a carnation is falling into us
A tree nearby runs in rattles
Then I don't care about my stomach or my mind
You are inclined to that carnation, so I pick it up and hand it to you
You give it to somebody else which is even better
And that other person passes it to someone else
The carnation travels from one hand to another
You see we are raising a love together with you
I talk about you, my fondness grows, but it is not just that
Look, how we unite in a silent accord
Like seven colors turning white altogether
Translated by Akin Ilicali

Yaşamak Nedir
Yaşamak bir denizdi önceleri
Şimdi olsa olsa yalnız sevinçtir
Ne acılar ne gözyaşları
Onun güzelliğini silebilir
Kayaları ellerimizde ufalayarak
Kurduğumuz küçük evlerde
Küçücük devler gibi ölesiye seviştik.
Ağaçlar diktik çocuklar büyüttük
Savaşmayı ve paylaşmayı bildik
Doğrudur her zaman bir şey eksik
Doğmadan ölmeye benzer
Bir şey var içimizde
İnancı ve sevdası bize yeter
Ãœrkek bir gidiş gelişte
Benim sende aralıksız yaşadığım
Bilgelerin kitaplarda tanımladığı
Sonsuzluk budur işte
Afsar Timucin


On Life
Once life was a sea
it turned into perfect joy gradually
Neither pain nor the tear drops we shed
Could undo its pure beauty
Crumbling rocks in our hands
We built these little homes
To make love to each other breathlessly
We implanted trees, raised children
learning both to fight and to share
There is something in us
That resembles death before birth
It is what I live with you relentlessly
In an unsettled affair
This must be what philosophers call
Infinity.
Translated by Akin Ilicali

İnançsız
Açılır gecesi inançsızların
Tanrı sari bir çiçektir
Ormanın içinden atlılar
Geçerken çocuklar ölecektir

Denizin gözlerinden tuzlu
Bir sıkıntı vurur karalara
Uzakta olduğumuzu köprülerden
Atlar nereden bilecektir

Mavi kuşlar çiziyor biri
Eli değdikçe camlarına
Avcılar doğrultup namlularını
Nasılsa bir bir düşÃ¼recektir

Yorgun yıkılmış ölü
Bir yaz büyütür karnında
Soyunup toprağa yatınca
Kadınlar göklerle sevişecektir

Açılır gecesi inançsızların
Tanrı sari bir çiçektir
Ormanın içinden atlılar
Geçerken çocuklar ölecektir
Hilmi Yavuz

The Faithless
Opens up the night of the faithless
God is a yellow flower
as the horsemen ride through the forest
children are to die

A salty depression from the eye of the sea
Comes hitting on the shore
How would the horses know
how far the bridges are

Someone draws blue birds on a window
Whenever he takes his time
Hunters are sure to point their guns
and hunt down every one of them

Women in the bellies of whom
A battered summer grows
Once on the soil naked
They will make love to the sky

Opens up the night of the faithless
God is a yellow flower
As the horsemen ride through the forest
children are to die
Translated by Akin Ilicali

anamın ipiyle indim gökdelen damınızdan
kelebek gibi girdim kelebek camınızdan
taksinize mülkünüze dairenize...
heceleyerek üzerinde ayak ve el uçlarımın
belledim seyyarenizi ve kelimelerinizi...
gözlerinize baktım, mukaddes ciltlerinize, büfelerinize
vesairenize...
şiir fenerimle de baktım, son çığlık!
aşk yokmuş sizde beş paralık!
gidiyorum ben boşÃ§akallar
sıçmışım ortalık yerinize
kıçımın fosforuyla aydınlanın siz artık"
Can Yücel

I came climbing down my mother's rope
from your high-rise ceilings
flying through your butterfly windows
like a butterfly would
sneaking into your taxis,
properties and apartments
on the tiptoe or crawling to and fro
I took to your cars and to your words
looked at you in the face
looked at your sacred skins,
and looked at your buffets
casting one last look
through a poetic window,
I made one final cry out!
there is no love left in you people
not even a penny's worth
thus I bid farewell
to all you loveless jackals
when I am gone
you will be lit by the light
from the phosphor
on my deceased ass
Translated by Akin Ilicali

UMUT
Bütün iyi kitapların sonunda
bütün gündüzlerin,
bütün gecelerin sonunda
meltemi senden esen
soluğu sende olan,
yeni bir başlangıç vardır..

Parmağını sürsen elmaya,
rengini anlarsın..
Gözünle görsen elmayı,
sesini duyarsın...
Onu işitsen, yuvarlağı sende kalır.
Her başlangıçta yeni bir anlam vardır.

Nedensiz bir çocuk ağlaması bile,
çok sonraki bir gülüşÃ¼n başlangıcıdır...
Edip Cansever


EXPECTATION
At the ends of all good books
At the ends of all nights and mornings
There are new beginnings
A beginning whose breeze blows from you
A beginning whose voice belongs to you

When you touch an apple with your finger
you feel its color
When you see the apple
you hear its voice
When you hear it
Its roundness passes on to you
And in all beginnings there is a new meaning

Even the casual cry of a baby child
could herald a laughter to come much later
Translated by Akin Ilicali

Bir Masalda Türkü
Gözlerini kapasan hafifçe
Süzülür bakışların aralıktan
Bir savaşı sürdürür kendince
Bir savaş ki yalnızca güzellikten yana
Bir savaş ki aşar gider usulca
Afşar Timuçin


A Song in a Fairy Tale
When you close your eyes softly
Your gaze flies through the opening
It puts up a fight of its own right
A fight whose sole cause is beauty
A fight that goes yonder quietly
Translated by Akin Ilicali

Fahriye Abla
Hava keskin bir kömür kokusuyla dolar
Kapanırdı daha gün batmadan kapılar
Bu afyon ruhu gibi baygın mahalleden
Hayalimde tek çizgi bir sen kalmışsın sen!
Hülyasındaki geniş aydınlığa gülen
Gözlerin , dişlerin ve akpak gerdanınla
Ne güzel komşumuzdun sen fahriye abla

Eviniz kutu gibi küçücük bir evdi
Sarmaşıklarla balkonu örtük bir evdi
Güneşin batmasına yakın saatlerde
Yıkanırdı gölgesi kuytu bir derede
Yaz kış yeşil bir saksı ıtır pencerede
Bahçede akasyalar açardı baharla
Ne şirin komşumuzdun fahriye abla

Önce upuzun sonra kesik saçın vardı
Tenin buğdaysı , boyun bir başak kadardı
İçini gıcıklardı bütün erkeklerin
Altın bileziklerle dolu bileklerin
Açılırdı rüzgarda kısa eteklerin
Açık saçık şarkılar söylerdin en fazla
Ne çapkın komşumuzdun sen fahriye abla

Gönül verdin derlerdi o delikanlıya
En sonunda varmışsın bir Erzincanlıya
Bilmem şimdi hala bu ilk kocandamısın
Hala dağları karlı Erzincanda mısın
Bırak geçmiş günleri gönlüm hatırlasın
Hatırada kalan şeyler değişmez zamanda
Ne vefalı komşumuzdun sen fahriye abla
Ahmet Muhip Dranas



Fahriye
There would be a thick smell of coal in the air
The doors would be closed well before the dusk
You are the only one who remains in my dreams
From that half-dead half-numbing district
You'd smile from that broad sunlit opening
With your eyes, teeth and your pale neck
Such a beautiful neighbor you were Fahriye

Yours was a small house that looked like a box
and its balcony was covered with ivy
just about the sunset hour
its shadow would bathe in a calm creek
And in the window there would be a scented flower
In the spring acacias would bloom in the garden
What a beautiful neighbor you were Fahriye

First you had long hair then you shortened it
Your complexion was wheat and you were as tall as grain ears
Your hands full of golden bracelets
would give tickles to men
When the wind blew your skirt would open
You'd sing those nasty songs
What a scamp you were Fahriye

They said you fell for a young boy
but in the end, married to that man from Erzincan
I don't know if you are still with your first husband
or if you are still in snow covered Erzincan?
Let my heart remember all those bygone days
for memories will not change by time
What a beautiful neighbor you were Fahriye
Translated by Akin Ilicali

Slavica, so nice to see you! I definitely agree with your suggestion.

Thanks but I don't consider them finished yet. Many of them are just 5-10 minute translations. When I have time, I will take another look at them.

The poetry of Bulent Ozcan:

is unique not only because poetry and music entwine with each other in his poetry but also its doors are open to philosophy; it has its own subtle mathematics, its own colourful metaphysics. The mystical workmanship that we see in his poetry can almost be compared to an aesthetics which is almost flawless, like we find in a diamond. This mystical realism which does not give itself away so easily becomes even more tasteful as times goes by, like a bottle of aged wine, combined, of course, with his Anatolian, spotless personality. He sometimes creates his own dreams of what he would write down on paper. He takes a deep breath of their smell and finds shelter in the bosom of poetry. The perfume of his poetry oozes out of many different places, which are quiet and secluded... He is both a goldsmith and a porter of his poetry. With so much labour, little by little, sometimes painful, he weaves his poetry like a silkworm... He listens to that tinkling voice in complete silence. The poetry of Bulent Ozcan has its own unique colours, its own unique personality; together with air, wind and earth. As Bilsen Basaran pointed out in the "Poetry of Bulent Ozcan": "...In all of his poems there is magic and charm. Their colour, taste and sound are very very special and these poems are decorated with extraordinary things unique to Ozcan." He processes life like a goldsmith. He questions life itself but he believes that his poetry too must be consistent with his questioning, and he stubbornly insists that one cannot separate a poet's workmanship from his own being as a poet in this world. One needs to see that the overwhelming problems in the society in which we live are very much part of our own realities, and yet one also needs to weave his or her own philosophy of life around those realities. It is probably for this reason that the poetry of Bulent Ozcan are full of Mesopotamian colours. The true colour of Ozcan's poetry is based on those colours... He steps on each word, then he turns his face toward Nile and pours out his words... His poems are like a well-steeped tea brewed with the clear waters of Ararat...

"Every bird
carries on her wings
the geography
of her own country..."

Bulent Ozcan does not see any higher love than love for humanity.