AYTEN MUTLU

AYTEN MUTLU

THE DANCE

feasts used to be finished and Gypsies

used to leave

extinguishing their sensual fever

ashes and nights used to be left on the grass turning yellow

and that sound of the old wind

there used to appear agony, that uncontrollable water,

with the golden sleep of fallen leaves on its feet

like it was the last polka

days used to pour

out the broken handbasin of boozy songs

sparking to lonelinesses

and Gypsy dance of life used to start

on the magic arms of death

THE CUCKOO

snow falls

blowing to verdant crops

that laugh together with the day

into the perishing night

why, why, why

asks the cuckoo

on a branch to which snow hasn’t touched yet

PICTURE

horses are passing through an unfinished picture

horses are passing through an unstarting season

horses are passing through the thought only

without touching the gleaming grasses of the sun

THE WIND

The woman was smaller even than a grain of sand

the sea was smaller than the woman’s agony

That old wind was keeping blowing

regardless of the sea and the Milky Way

And the woman was walking with her nude memories

without stepping on the sand and stars

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY BAKI YIĞIT

AYTEN MUTLU

AYTEN MUTLU, a Turkish poet and writer (born in Bandırma, Turkey. Graduated from the Faculty of Management  of İstanbul University in 1975. She was retired from The Central Bank. Her political activism began in high school, when she was fifteen years old. Being in political activity she took part in the Women’s  Rights Movement too. She has published poetry, prose, short stories and essays on literary criticism. She also translated the works of a number of contemporary poets from English to Turkish that published many of them in periodicals. She translates the works of the women poets from Antiquity to the present days in  selections from the world over. Her research on women poets from Antiquity to the present day, published in many literary magazines. She presented papers at some universities. Some of her poems took place in many countries, some magazines, newspapers and anthologies in France, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Senegal, Morocco, Italy, Serbia, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Macedonia, Romania, Spain, Argentina, South Korea, India and Russia. She is a laureate of  Ibrahim Yildizoglu Literary Prize (1999), Poetry Prize of the International Meeting of the Poets of Yalova (2001) and Sunullah Arısoy Literary Prize (2005). Akköy Magazine Poetry Worker's Award (2015) Ismet Kemal Karadayı poetry honorary award (2017). Some Critics wrote about her poems: “Her poetry explodes with sound and meaning. She reflects a struggle within herself, as well as a view of the world in which all horror and beauty are seen at once and often intermingled. Her opposition and political ideas are reflected in her poems but from a lyrical point of view.” “Mutlu is a master the condensed poem, of the image that illumines and quietly explodes with sound and meaning” She said about her work; “My aim is to write poems that will sing like the peoples songs of the world. I wish to reach and enrich people in mines, on farms, homes, factories, prisons: to entertain, to show, to illumine. Because, I believe that poetry is wide broad like life and will somehow  succesfully call the humanity in people. Works: Dayan Ey Sevdam (Resist Oh My Love, 1984), Vaktolur (A Time Comes When…, 1986), Seni Özledim (I Missed You, 1990), Kül İzi (The Trace of Ash, 1993), Denize Doğru (Towards the Sea, 1996), Çocuk ve Akşam (Child And Evening, 1999), Taş Ayna (Stone Mirror, 2002), Yitik Anlam Peşinde (In Search of Lost Meaning, 2004), Ateşin Köklerinde (In Roots Of Fire - Selected Poems, 2006) Uzun Gemide Akşam (Le soir Dans Le Bateau Long, 2007) Eşikte (At Threshold-2009) долга вечер на одборот (published in 2011 in Macedonian) Threshold (2009), Istanbul eyes (Ochii Istanbulului-2012 in Romania- Les Yeux d’Istanbul poésie-2014 in France and published in Turkey in 2013 ) Stone Mirror- poetry published in India-2014 Dew Drops (2016). TRANSLATIONS: Ölü Canlar (Dead Souls), Gogol, 2006. Sen Sanırdım Her Baharı - Çağdaş İngiliz Şair Kadınlar Seçkisi (I thought it was you every spring - Anthology of English poems of women poets), 2007 (with Dr. Dincer Figun). Ölümün Anayurdu - Dragojlovic-Dragan (Death’s Homeland) - Poetry-2009 (with Dr. Dincer Figun) . Neredeyse Siyah- Niculina Oprea (Almost Black-Poems-2010) . Sana Bakıyorum -Maram al-Masri - (I Look at You) Poems I-2010) . Kükreyiş Ve Sessizlik-  Nedeljko-Terzic (Rrugissement and Silence-Poetry-2012) . Yağmur Yağabilir- (Rain it may) Ashis Sanyal (2014) . Ölüm, O Çıplak Gelir- Maram al-Masri (2014) . Sonsuzluk (Infinity) Natasa Bajic (2014). Kazınmış Işık (The Engraved Light) Militsa Yeftimiyevic Lilic (2014). Kara Güne Kaside- The Odd to Black Days) Stevka Smitran. Tutkunun Kanatlarında- On the Wings of Desire- Sappho. Senin İçin Bekledim-Androulla Shati