OPA: How long have you been
writing Poetry? We would like to know the early stories about your growing up
as a poet or writer in general. Who are your favourite Poets? What are some of
your favourite genres to read and to write? Had they inspired you a lot, do you
believe in inspiration as a guiding force behind writings at all?
LEYLA ISIK: When
I was 9 years old, my class teacher had gave us homework on poem writing and
she had found my poem beautiful. This encouraged me and I began to write my
first monologues and compositions and at the same time I was playing them too.
My writing has been continuously developing throughout all my life since
starting from elementary school. My favorite poets are Nazım Hikmet, Can Yücel,
Ahmet Arif, CemalSüreya, Ümit YaşarOğuzcan, Attila İlhan, Pablo Neruda…My
favorite genres to read and write are murder novel, love, adventure,
metaphysical, psychological, nature oriented ones. I believe inspiration is a
guiding force behind all my writings. All the experiences of the era that I
have tried to offer aesthetically in some sections of my life and artistic and
entertainment trends are influenced by the festives, wars, seperations,
desires, passions and beautiful constructions in my life.
OPA: What has been the
toughest criticism given to you as a writer? What was the biggest compliment?
Did that change how or what you write?
What has been the strangest thing that a reader has asked you?
LEYLA ISIK: A woman reader was
harshly criticized my poem due to perceiving my poem as pornographic whereas
although lust is used in a very broad sense as a word, it is considered to be
equivalent to eroticism in the language of speech, which is used mostly in the
meaning of sexual desires, even though it contains everything that the human
being desires with passion and intense desire. In my poems I can also feel that
eroticism, which is a kind of expression as much as emotions and thoughts in
bilateral relations, holds an important place but it has a more spiritual
nature, and you can also see that the concepts of war and peace reflected in
social sensibility in my poems. My readers find themselves in my poems and
saying "this poem tells me" is the most beautiful compliment for me. The
most interesting question from my reader was that “you are always writing love
poems, do you have so many lovers? “
OPA: What is your favourite
poem you have ever written? Compared to when you first started writing, have
you notice any big changes in your writing style or how you write compared from
then to now?
LEYLA ISIK: Poetry is a love and passion for
me, all my poems are favourite for me, they are my children. There are
naturally, improvements between now and the beginning of my poetry. Over time
my poems became more mature, and I discovered that I wrote my emotions better
with free style. When you look at the whole of my poems, you can realize that I
have not stopped back from making innovations by breaking some solid rules of
poetry. The language of poetry overlaps with the voice of its content. Sound is
composed of rhythm, unique music, meaning aesthetic structure. I write poetry
in free form by internalizing everything that happens in my life. I will count
myself unjust if I said that "The characters that I put forth are the
timber of souls of nature, love, nourishment" as a poet as well as the new
words producing, as well as a poet in contact with existing words sometimes
exceed the boundaries of logic because of the power of the imagination.
OPA: What has been your favourite
part of being a poet or and author? What has been your least favourite?
LEYLA
ISIK: To share my feelings and thoughts with the society, to
be universal in my writing, to guide the people by expressing social problems
is my favorite part of being poet. As a poet and a
writer, I tried to avoid lines of cold and contrite narratives in my stories
and to express my sincerity in what I wanted and felt. Also what I like
most thing is that I had succeeded being the other in poem . My least favourite
part of being writer is that poetry readers are few.
OPA: Did you get to quit
your day job and become a writer and/or author, or do you still have a day job
and writing is something you do for fun? If you still have a day job, what is
it?
LEYLA ISIK: I have been involved in
literature, painting and theather since I was a child. Before retirement I was
a teacher. Now I’m dealing with only cultural and art organizations together
with literature, painting and theater. I’m the Vice President of KIBATEK and
International Organization and Project Coordinator, organized the 31st KIBATEK
International Litrary Festival in Istanbul / Tuzla in 2003, 34 th KIBATEK
International Litrary Festival in 2004 and 39 th KIBATEK International Litrary
Festival in 2016 together with the Pablo Neruda Cultural Association in
Taranto, 42nd KIBATEK International Litrary Festival Project in Ortahisar
(CAPPADOCIA) in 2017. I’m also besides KIBATEK (Cyprus, Balkans, and Eurasian
Turkish Literature Institution), Aegean Cultural Platform Association Cultural
Arts and Theater Coordinator, Belgium Barış Manco Lovers Association Cultural
Art Advisor, Literature Association, Member of International Activist Artists
Association, Turkey Representative and Honorary Member of Italy Pablo Neruda
Cultural Association, Member and Turkey representative of World Nation Writers
Association. I’m keeping on my works at International Turkish Language,
Literature and Translation Platform KIBATEK (Eurasian Balkans, the
Cyprus-Turkish Society of Literature). I’m attending conferences, panels,
conversations, and poetry feasts at home country and abroad. Contributes
introducing Turkish Poetry at the international platforms as a volunteer envoy
and publicating interactively and systematically translation of Cyprus, Balkans
and Western Europian Turkish Literature in to their dialects.
OPA: Besides writing and
reading, what is your most favourite thing to do? What genre are you most
looking forward to explore during your writing career? Why?
LEYLA ISIK: Besides writing, my most favourite
things are painting, theather, cooking, travelling. First of all, I must say
that I enjoy the work I do.I have been interested in literature, painting and
theater since my childhood. I received two years of acting training at the Özel
Sahne Tozu Theater Supervised by Haldun Dormen.Besides poetry and storytelling,
I also write theater play. I have yet an uncompleted novel.I want to convey my
feelings, ideas and longings to public by via
poem, story, essay and painting
and I want to be a world poet and a writer in literature.
OPA: Do you think literature
or poetry is essential in our life? If so why? How does it relate to the
general history of mankind?
LEYLA
ISIK: The
basic concept of literature (poetry, story, novel etc.) is human who is a
social entity. We can find all human relations in literature. Because
literature is a mirror of society, it is natural that the changes in society
are reflected in literature. Lives, feelings, thoughts, beliefs and wishes of
the poet / writer who lives in this society also change together with society.
This change also leads to the change of literature. Literary works influence
the society by giving people's beliefs, sadness, suffering, values, desires,
longings via poems, novels, stories, tales, proverbs, idioms. It is important
for this reason and the relation with the general history of mankind is related
to language, history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literature.
OPA: Our readers would like
to know your own personal experience regarding the importance of literature and
poetry in your life.
LEYLA
ISIK: In
order for my readers to understand the importance of poetry in my life, it is
necessary to read the following text,
"A Journey to my Poetry ".
A Journey to my Poetry
I had no chance to stop
time flowing, and was partly experiencing happiness in it while my pains were
flapping. You started knocking on my door as the time that has taken me away
was affecting me. You were like a lover, like a breath. You were a breeze sweetly
blowing in the hours when the sun wrapped us in all its glory. At such moments,
you were my hero, and just to spite the sun I used to give my arm to you, and
sail into the infinity, swinging. You used to whistle in my ear, constantly
saying, 'Recognize this enthusiasm.' At first, I didn't used to understand it.
I later combined you with the sun, the sky and the sea with the blue, and an
endless journey with love. With its increasingly rising identity my soul was
telling me to seek you. On that day I departed for deserts, and on that day I
started piercing mountains. Those who were around me did not know what I was
seeking. They could not know the place where I was seeking you because they
were not there. You who knocked on my door as one unknown in the years of my
youth have now would be the known passionate love that I cannot give up. And I
have decided to fall in love with you.
You sometimes came to
me, hiding among pages but mostly came out of life and held my hand. Your hands
were my coolness in summer days, and my warmth in crazy coldness’s. My hands
that I have left in your hands would not know anyone else's hands but yours. I
cannot fully define that feeling but I understood that I could not do without
it. Was it a state of madness? A word in you would take me to unseen places. In
the places I went, the calls of other places saying, 'Come.' No, no! My going
was not a straw on a stream of water. I was gladly living my every moment, and
gladly taking my every step. What kind of love was this? I didn't even know its
name.
Your winking when you
said, "My name doesn't matter." is still fresh in my memories.
Because you knew I would unwittingly find you name. Although you seemed alive
and kicking, your developed identity had such an experience. I have believed in
this, sometimes running, sometimes limping, and sometimes breathlessly putting
my hands upon my waist on the way to God. You would be respectful to those who
are loyal to you, and those who take pains with you and you would always stop
at nothing to evince this. You were the reason for the blooming of the suns
inside me while getting wet in the craziest rain, and you were also the one who
came down to me like a beardless johnny-on-the-spot when I was at a dead-end in
a most wretched manner.
I was a lover, a mother
and in love with you like no one would know. When you understood this you made
up your mind, and extended your hands. You said, 'My name is poetry.'
It was caressing my
hair, saying 'I am your poetry, don't love someone else, and don't have an
affair with someone else. Let me be in your night and day. Give me your hand in
the places most impossible to get out, I will get you out, I will be your wings
at the abysses, did you understand me?'
I decided not to love
anyone else, and with the greatest love in the world said, 'My poetry,' to it.
OPA: Do you think people in
general bother about literature in general?
Do you think this consumerist world is turning the average man away from
serious literature?
LEYLA
ISIK: According to necessity of era we
are in, people are not sufficiently interested in literature because they use
social media more than needed or they do not use it properly. In our day
everything is consumed quickly. I think
that people are also away from literature within this consumption environment.
Solutions should be produced and opportunities should be provided to raise
awareness of the community in the early ages.
OPA: If humanity tries to
understand tradition and modernism; do you think literature can play a pivotal
role in obtaining understanding? If so, how? Again, how can an individual
writer relate himself or herself with the tradition and modernism?
LEYLA ISIK: Modernism is a particular literary concept that is
widespread in the beginning of the 20. century and is described by certain
literary methods, ways, and sensitivities, especially after the First World
War. The first names that come to in my mind on modernity in literature are:
Joyce, Rilke, Woolf, Kafka, Faulkner, Proust, T. S. Eliot, Valery, Beckett. Modernist
literary activity; it is not a writing activity that is done to capture the
life itself as it is, but an artifact which is made by itself and meaning is an
artifact that emerges with its own inward turn. For this reason, modernist
literature has broken the "representation" relationship, which is the
most powerful part of traditional literature. The closeness and immediacy
relationship between the creator of the work of literature and the creator’s
life which the writer is benefiting it, is not a meaningless scale that can be
waved aside. Modernist, by intending to reach a whole and to an intuitive poem
with a strong will by catching the world from one corner and by demonstrating a
deeper form of effort according to the previous prose writers can associate
modernism with itself.
OPA: Do you think society is
a factor in shaping you as a poet, or your poetry altogether?
LEYLA ISIK: I see society
is a factor as a poet or shaping my poetry. The society traditions, social,
economic and socio-cultural structure I have in it will feed and enlarge my
literary identity. All the experiences of the era that I have tried to offer
aesthetically in some sections of my life and artistic and entertainment trends
are influenced by the festives, wars, separations, desires, passions and
beautiful constructions in my life. "Woman" and "night" are
two indispensable elements of aesthetics and my poetries. You can also see that
the concepts of war and peace reflected in social sensibility in my poems. In my
poems I present social messages through an aesthetic filter. Even though I am a
poet of love, there are social messages even in my poems.
OPA: We would like to know
about any influences that has inspired your poetry and writings.
LEYLA ISIK: My congenital structure able to write and ability
allows me to move from reader stage of poem to poetic production. Every event,
formation, observations, emotions and thoughts that surround me triggers me to
write poetry. I am very impressed from the nature, from the night, from the
rain. The poets, authors and their arts are also calling the others to write,
to create their own original work. The works of contemporary poets and writers
deeply influence me. So it is not possible to write poetry without reading poetry,
listening poetry. We can also add songs, Turks folk songs, lullabies, Turks
mani. It forms from a little bit inborn and a little bit external factors. The
subject of poetry, events and thoughts that I consider, the emotions and
enthusiasms that I want to reflect, concepts such as rhythm, measure, image and
repeats in terms of sound, they are the things that should be in my poem. Poetry
is an aesthetic, semantic, phonetic, organic, historical, social organization.
Naturally, it is also a linguistic group.
OPA: We would also like to
know; how do you relate the present literary trends with the literary heritage
of your country?
LEYLA ISIK: It is necessary to touch on the currents of beliefs
and ideas that have established the Turkish poetry tradition in order to relate
current literary tendencies to the literary heritage of our country. The
community without poem is unthinkable. Every nation has a tradition of poetry
in the historical process that it created. It is very important in terms of
carrying and understanding the Turkish poetry tradition to the right level.
Turkish literature in the Republican period was divided into two periods
as 1923 - 1940 period and after 1940 period. Republican era had been nourished
and developed with three traditions as western poetry, Divan poetry, folk
Poetry like post-Tanzimat renewal era. The strongest influence we call Western
poetry is actually French poetry from the begining. In recent years, however,
the influences of British, American and other national literatures have also
participated additional to French influence.
Successful artists have especially studied western poetry, made them
translations and exhibited their own powerful poetry. Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar,
Ahmet Muhip Dranas, Nazim Hikmet Ran, Necip Fazil Kısakürek, Cahit Sıtkı
Tarancı, Orhan Veli Kanık, Behçet Necatigil are the first to come to in mind.
Today, it is not only the western world, but the translated literatures
from all the countries of the world are taking place among the sources that
feed our culture.
Some poets, just as form and prosody, do not go beyond showing the
presence of this influence as continuing Divan poetry. However, those who
contribute to the poetry of the Republican period by understanding their image
world and its structure and contributing to their poetry. Attila İlhan, Behçet Necatigil, Turgut Uyar, Edip Cansever, Hilmi Yavuz these
poets have three traditions of poetry. The most important source in the early
years of the Republican period is the tradition of folk poetry. The last
representative of folk poetry tradition is Aşık Veysel. Folk poetry and culture are the nourishing resources that
Turkish poets will never give up.
The ongoing language debate is tied to a scientific conclusiona and
Turkish literature has escaped imitation of Western contemporary understandings
and had found its own personality. The gap between the people and the
intellectuals was tried to be closed, our literature has successfully
maintained its development in line with contemporary understandings. The new
world views that emerged after the Second World War made radical changes with
the understanding of art. The trend towards homeland and rural problems have
been continued in stories, novels and theater works. The difference between the
writing language and the speaking language had been vanished and simplification
studies of the language have been continued. Our literature has acquired a
socialist character and a realistic understanding in literature has been worked
out. Syllable has taken place instead of “aruz”. The daily conversation
language had been used in poems. The poetry was further liberalized in form.
Literature had not only been the focus of a privileged segment, a number of
writers had also grown outside Istanbul. Social realism dominated in the story
and romance. All Eastern societies and Turks are emotional. I am trying to
solve love and human psychology by taking advantage of the tradition of Turkish
poetry.
OPA: Do you believe that all
writers are the product of their nationality? Is it an incentive or an obstacle
in becoming an international writer?
LEYLA
ISIK: I do not think that the authors' nationality
would be an obstacle to being an international writer. The important thing is
that the writer’s contribution to the world literature. Writers must be
remembered and exist in the international arena with their literary qualities
nourished by their language, religion, race, and society, rather than their
color, language, religion, race, and society.
OPA: What 7 words would you use to describe
yourself?
LEYLA
ISIK: I am a leader, peaceful, patient, innovative,
passionate, courageous and creative
OPA: Is there anything else that you would like
to share or say to those who will read this interview?
LEYLA ISIK: Love forfraternity, friendship, peace, living humanly. Poet of passion, longing, love... I’m a love poet. With a
deign passion to give a body that came from the ground again to the soil, that
is, to the nature...LOVE, RESPECT AND ENDLESS THANK YOU
The editorial staff of this
project: Stacia Lynn Reynolds and Deborah Brooks Langford; sincerely thank you
for your time and hope we shall have your continued support.
