BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

 

REFRESHING THE PUZZLE    

puzzles need to be redrawn

and recut

according to 

contingencies

enemy deployment

and

the climate

of fantasy

and reality

usually no different 

from each other

and the sum total

of clouds of ignorance

and credibility

white and gray 

never totally black

depending

on

idea and faith

and sooth

saturation

pronounced

by the media

available for intervention

and purchase 

and accommodation

but with 

black spots

desiring

seldom reaching

goals 

imposed

and disposed

with ease

despite

the thought

and the humility

of the objects 

and the subjects

placed

to fit 

or misfit

visions of inquisition

of 

cloudy minds

and vois la

another

puzzle

with missing pieces

ahmet cafer celebiler

February 25, 2025

A NOTE OF THANKS

 

NOTE AND REQUEST

This is not a philosophical or literary entry.

You can tell by the use of capital letters.

It is mainly a "Thank you" note

To all the followers and readers of my blogs.

for keeping me young and alert in my eighty first year

of enjoying people, other living and inanimate things 

and all experiences

mine and those of others who appear in life and book pages and newspapers and films.

My request is that you write to me if you can and if you wish

at ahmetcelebiler@gmail.com  so that I can feel you are as real to me as to yourselves

at fifty or more countries worldwide, some of which I will never be able to visit.

And, if you ever have a chance of making it to istanbul in my remaining years, please call or stop by

so that I get to know you as you have known me. 

Ahmet

February 23, 2025

(one day before the critical football derby in snowy Istanbul, in last ditches of denying Global Warming and reminding me of very old memories of other snowy days which closed schools for the fun and excitement of Ahmet the Kid)

And if y

BLAME THE PHANTASMAGORIC CROUPIER

 

PARENTS MORE TO BE BLAMED THAN THE LORD 

asking for help

or praying for the right number 

or card

one enters the domain of Rudy

a friend of Buddy hacket

the comedian

blaming fortune

or kismet

is fine for him who is lost

and 

who has no parents

and

who has not been abused

by bullies

of classrooms

board rooms

and heart chambers

and brain portals

this requires study and thought

blaming a parent

or both

is easy

when 

you are the sole evidence

of wrongdoing

and

you have the scars

and

many witnesses

who are

partners in ignorance

and in the fun game 

of blame

whether 

a butler

or a chef

or a parent

who played the butler

and the chef

Instead

please

call buddy 

or rudy

to materialize

so that

you may befriend him

when depressed

so that

you may enjoy your own story

and 

never blame yourself

Ahmet cafer Celebiler

February 22,  2025

WHY IS CANDIDE?

 

PANGLOSS CUNEGONDE AND MARTIN

all esteemed people

eluding all

but a single thought

both cause and effect

scorned  

by an old woman

and

many a philosopher

and believer

took the wisdom of

making friends 

to other worlds

gentle

and 

susceptible

to needs 

rather than ideas

attached to Cunegonde

while himself

and

his story

denied the hereafter

just a lost soul

appearing 

sometimes

again

and again

years later

centuries later

as victim

to ignorance

that trumpets

with false glory 

and tramples

real

and imaginary

phenomena

thought

and

travelers in life

ahmet cafer celebiler

february 16, 2025

FAITH AND DIGNITY

FAITH ATTRACTION IN POLITICS

    

looking for

hoping for 

not seeing

yet believing in

miracles

that support

mission

vision

rule

law 

honorary school degrees

emeritus

by nature

and

definition

discovered

and rediscovered

though

not recollected

in 

kingdoms new

with reign

subject to wear and tear

and manias

and

phobias

illusions

and delusions

to rule

and

to misrule

lives

own and other

in empires defunct

and empires infant

all sizes

yet

always tight

fighting against

bursting

it seems

at seams

each eruption spewing

surplus

philosophy

and wisdom

to replace with new mag(m)a

from an endless supply

in the depths

burning with fear and greed

and self-image 

to be relentless

to be destroyed 

and rediscovered

by new applicants

or

supplicants

ahmet cafer celebiler

February 13, 2025

WELLS AND WELLNESS

 

HAPPY PLANTS HAPPY SELVES

there were two wells

in the fruit

 and cut flower

and vegetable garden

one was old

disregarded

feared

operated by a phantom horse

tethered to a rusty

ancient

iron wheel operated pump

which was connected

to two watering holes

and a moat 

around an island of taste 

meditation

and poetry

no gossip

but tea or coffee

viewing the sea

through leaves 

of the ball tree

a measure of being grown up

was the ability to jump acrossr the moat

disdaining 

either of two iron bridges

daring the multitude

of scorpions and spiders

at the waterless bottom

no more happy plants

but happy kids

and insects

and a sole poet

well forgotten

wellness

a hankering

a decrepit life

cut short

a bridge 

between two continents

imagined

and preserved

with ink and paper

and 

finally 

for us 

in print

and

vanishing memories

of giants

and genies

wolves and bulls

the second well

had a switch

stead of a horse.

fed vegetables

for wellness

and flowers

for beauty

for hobby and sale

poet's brother

a dervish

caring for larger family

austere

no laughter

yet

approving smile

sweet

as the candy

in cloak pockets

held ready

for the grandchildren

and

for my readers thoughts

ahmet cafer celebiler

February 12, 2025

PICKLED PURSLANE

 

SEARCHING PURSLANE LOVERS

soulmates

to appreciate

sparkling appetite

for pickles

weeds

also

for fusion

of exotic

and

exotic

and 

earthly local

to play sardines

to hide 

and appear

with splayed feet

edges frayed

toes 

bones

corns

that enjoy

bed sheets 

and comfort of comforters

cotton

        satin

at times

hands stroking

wishes 

memories

a knee crooked

no matter

a thigh

dreamt of

so many times

seen

and

appreciated

still cherished

sneaking out

of dreams

and sheets

comforting

watched

and watched

like those nights

like this night

with love

and

memories of desire

ahmet cafer celebiler

February 8, 2025

BITING YOUR OWN FEEDING HAND

 

BITING BUT NOT CHEWING

as one does

to

tongue

and cheek

unless

a dentist has been visited

or a naive

foreigner

or

an in-law's relative

is 

a political move

hiding

the pain

hiding the gain

or loss

of image

related

to the land of others

be they

islands

or strips 

or stretches of water

people

not known

not real

but foreign

like an alien

arriving on a saucer

or a magic carpet

no sense

to discern

ahmet celebiler

February 7, 2025

300 ODD CRAVATTES RECOLLECTED

 

SUITS AND TIES

live in memories

photographs

news 

dull

look alike 

lifeless

even the silken

or 

the super one or more hundreds

not remembering 

their rolled up days

or 

the pain of the scissors

memories of  hope 

hope for regard

discernment

poses for others

legs as so

hands unseen

even

when glancing 

from studded collars

gazing

and

being gazed

does the color of the tie 

and

the design

show

more than the length of the sock

when you were

what you wore

and each

had a meaning 

possibly

for you alone

ahmet cafer celebiler

February 6, 2025

APPARITIONS ARE ASSUMED

 

ZUHURAT (Turkish)

appearing out of the blue

unexpected passenger ferries

possibly hosting a fete of phantoms

they just emerged

in olden days

in Istanbul

unassumed

saviors

for those who had missed

a deadline

or a bread line

unassumingly

not hoping for a life line

waiting at a Bosporus jetty

i feel like one

at this age

an assumption 

soon to become an apparition

joining other phantoms

reserving a seat

at a fete

on a zuhurat ferry

holding court

to recite my poetry

to an applause

denied me before

ahmet cafer celebiler

February 2, 2025