INTERPRETING INTERPRETATIONS

 

SEEING SOMETHING ELSE IN SOMETHING

poems are interpeted

also judged 

by any and all

except the illiterate

holy books are judged

and interpreted

by all

including the illiterate

who also 

judge

looks

speech

gestures

mien

attire

earnings

evaluations are short

and long

and mean

and

replace 

the poem

or a holy book

in languages recherche

as litanies

invocations

and

incantations

not so divine

the poem has a short half life

the holy book lives on

for the violence

and revenge

to 

recover 

its losses to the poem

even when the poem is no more

ahmet cafer celebiler

December 31, 2025

NAUSEA

 

ALL DAY SICKNESS

not just in the morning

anxiety or depression

political poisoning

or intracranial pressure

appear

as flashes

or dim feelings

upon

a fall imagined

 physical

or financial

even

matrimonial

to lurk

ever reminding one of those occasions

with and without other people

ahmet cafer celebiler

December 28, 2025

FORGETTING DEJA VU

 

COLLECTIONS OF SCENES AND PEOPLE

what was seen 

and

who walked into a life

do not always find a solid niche

and

if they do

they need strong guards

charms 

and talismans 

as well as

frequent chants 

to hole up

fortified to the brim

even then

with no dutch boy to put his finger in a hole

trickles of words

and visions

and battalions of persona

results of creation 

not at all subjected to evolution

march out of the destruction

to their new abodes 

in oblivion

ahmet cafer celebiler

December 26, 2025

WRITERS AND READERS

 

LAUGHING WITH ARISTOCRACY

readers who hold books

on buses and underground worm holes smile at the antics

and thoughts

and issues

of those beyond reach

on multicoloured maps

and 

colourless lives

present and past similar

peeves petty and pretty

in homes stately

and singularly

beyond comfort 

but with apparitions hoped

and magic never realized

while

lives and livelihoods 

taken away

and

stored in 

halls

hallways

drawing rooms for not sketching

board rooms for the condescending

play noiseless instruments

made of human skin

ahmet cafer celebiler

November 24, 2025

PRESENTING ORHAN VELI

 

GIFT WRAPPING

December, 2025

a week before New year's eve

a week before the prick of a needle

in each of my eyes

i am wrapping gifts to daughters

and to grand children

before i receive a gift of an apne mask cushion 

because I asked for it

and pecks

on cheeks

from all five 

and hugs

perfunctory

from a wish list nonexistent

it is easy to hurt an old body

a body with pains from a recent fall at night

and arthritis

and dark specks flying in the eye

almost an expert at delaying bladder needs night and day

daring the powers to act to punish my folly

I am gifting "Complete poems of Orhan Veli" to each daughter

thinking that they may understand misery, hopelessness and poverty

of a different kind in verses of a different kind of a different time 

if they find and riffle through the pages of  books and manuscripts of 

poetry, even if they consider them defunct like those who wrote them.

And one day, someone will visit this abode, or live here and feel the wings 

and the brief puff of one or more poets passing through the doors.

ahmet cafer celebiler

not yet wrapping it up

December 22, 2025

ORHAN VELI LIVES IN MY HOUSE

 

HOY LU-LU

I also want black friends

With unheard of names.

i would journey with them

from the ports of Madagascar to China

I wish one of them would sing 

the "Hoy Lu-Lu" song

Against the stars every night

From the deck of the boat

And suddenly meet one of them

One day

In Paris

(1937)

translated December 2025

REWRITING ORHAN VELI POEMS IN ENGLISH 1

 

DREAM

 I dreamt my mother dead

waking up crying

reminded me of a holiday morning

watching my balloon that flew off to the sky

and crying

Orhan Veli (1914-1950)

"No girl or man who has read Orhan's poetry can kill anyone, fight anyone, insult anyone."

from a panegyric by Sait Faik  Abasiyanik (1906-1954)

PAREIDOLIA

 

       SHAPES OF THE UNKNOWN

as seen on a day

• like most days
• unrecognized
• also
• familiar
• as in a cloud
• or a tree trunk
• uncarved
• a face
• on marble
• unshaped
• etched
• on a soul
• pristine
• wishing
• to know
• not knowing how

ahmet cafer celebiler

13 december, 2025

HAUTE CUISINE

 

FUSION VS ASSIMILATION

         food is fused

as in ginger

and lemon grass

used with

antipasto

or 

pumpkin seeds 

in

jasmin rice

         cultures are assimilated

as with the maori

and the inuit

or 

the abrahamic

and 

the pagan

some for better taste

or trade

some for ideas

and

action

irreplaceable

politics

power

location

taste 

and

marriage 

as in

enforced need

to please

appear

in ages millenial

discovered

or

rediscovered

to tease

ahmet cafer celebiler

December 8, 2025

         

PUBS INNS AND KHANS FOR TRAVELERS

 

MOTELS FOR CARAVANS

PUBLIC HOUSES FOR TRAVELERS

depending on

the number traveling

and wishing

to share

protection and a bed

brew or bath

possibly also borscht

if in Ukraine or Russia

but not 

at an Asian Khanate 

or a Chinese family dinner

some becoming sufi retreats

others

just watering holes

with water

for wudu and ghusi

left alone to thrive

by invaders

and jealous spouses 

till new barbarians

desiring

the silk

and the spices

and the oil

having no concept

of safety 

and sharing

and 

of posterity

in their rules and rituals and books

took over 

for power and modernity and greed

ahmet cafer celebiler

December 5, 2025

PARASOMNIA

 

SOMNAMBULISM 

fate of many a good person

decades of

sleep walking

including sexsomnia

may be also

extended

proprandial somnoloescence

long messimeri

or

vamakukshi

how does one make it to eighty two

with two children 

having survived life shaking events

a marriage

much gossip

and 

a whole lot of evil eyes

depleting energy

and stamina

if not for sleep

and

its recognition

with open eyes

and

an open mind

to be closed

at will

preparing

for the dark

ahmet cafer celebiler

December 3, 2025