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
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
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
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
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
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)
SHAPES OF THE UNKNOWN
as seen on a day
