Statement of Record

Two Poems by Gonca Özmen

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Two Poems by Gonca Özmen

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SUPPOSE IT IS

I’m quite blurry. Suppose it’s Thames.
Suppose my mind diminishes in front of a naked woman
Suppose I’m running among llamas
Suppose my legs got longer wrapped around history
Suppose I found myself speaking a bleary language this morning
Suppose there are two swirls on red carpets I cannot choose which one to fall onto
Suppose I called you in the middle of one night
did I say let’s become more deprived
more cowardly
Suppose everyone became the other all of a sudden
This poem also came in owl disguise

I tried to lift the panties all day long
of a word with lowered panties 
the girl with pink nail polish put her hands in me
I got a new tooth 
out of loneliness I’m not exaggerating
Suppose I got hung on a frilly feeling

Suppose that I was really brought by storks
to this end of the world
Suppose that I made love to all twenty 
one after the other
Everything is left behind
moaning and stretching
A road also had the right to cross to the other side
Suppose Ada walked along a painting that got to the bottom 
towards that enchanted scent that was uniquely her
Suppose I sold myself for pennies to that ravine

Suppose I bounced a bird onto your shoulder, a stone by absent-mindedness 
matches lit to your absence
Suppose someone walked with me side by side for the first time 
to eternity
I wrote poems that sucked on lollipop for him for the first time

We came to resemble gleaming things
vivacious things
A wind vane turned in our mouths forever
A zebra leaped out of me
It felt like looking down on Istanbul from a plane
that grows and grows as it descends 

xxx

xxx

DIV  ORCE/FUTILE REMINISCENCE

Hurts no more no
Nooks crannies hidden low
Stay still confettis bridal veils
The bridal gown danced applause in photos
We were at sea, floating with the wind
Whatever it means when two trees stand side by side

Hurts no more no
Odds and ends who was he what about his family
He had said I wouldn’t leave you for the world
He pushed joy towards my face
His hands were like soap slippery on my skin
His mouth was fine in mine

Hurts no more no
Day night dream real
Doesn’t say yes to all
Doesn’t say let’s sleep in sweat for millennia
Doesn’t say here is an eternal pulse for you
We are friends with your cinnamon

Hurts no more no
Home sweet home was the end eternal
People talk what are you gonna do
A xanthium body left behind makes
Syllables grow on your tongue:
Ddaaaaddyyy
Whenever the subject comes up: “Daddy is on tour!”

xxx

Translated by Sevda Akyuz

About the author

Gonca Özmen was born in Burdur (southern Turkey) in 1982. She graduated from the Department of English Language and Literature in Istanbul University in 2004. She received her M.A. in 2008 and her Ph.D. in 2016.
Özmen’s first book of poetry, Kuytumda (In My Nook), was published in 2000. It later won the Orhan Murat Arıburnu Poetry Prize. In 2003 she was awarded the Berna Moran Poetry Prize, which is given by Istanbul University, and in 2005 she was awarded the Homeros Criticism Prize. Her second book, Belki Sessiz (Maybe Quiet), was published in February 2008. Her third book of poetry, Bile İsteye (Knowingly, Willingly), was published in 2019 was awarded the Yunus Nadi Poetry Prize the following year.

About the author

Sevda Akyüz studied English Literature at Bogazici University. She has taught English and Academic Writing at the University of Nevada, Reno; Bogazici University; and Koc University. She has also taught Western Civilizations, Translation, History of Drama, and Film Studies. She edits and translates books, articles, stories, plays, and poems.

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