Long Chins Poems

Turkish Poetry Translations II

Çanakkale Sehitlerine
"For the Çanakkale Martyrs"
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Was there ever anything like the Bosphorus war??
The earth’s mightiest armies pressing Marmara,
Forcing entry between her mountain passes
To a...

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A Stolen Memory
A Mirthful Chorus
By Sy Roth 


We surrounded him 
Asked to let go.
She stared at the misshapen face,
Unshaven sandpapery skin 
Eyelids a tabula rasa
Fluttery sere skin
And we could see the humor blossoming in his...

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     by how many badbyes can you measure the length of your day

                 first comes...

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We are the days that we’ve become. 
moments dripping gifted from
the lounging clocks in rolling melted sightings, 
given by the gifted madness of a soulmate’s fightings. 

Our lives wrapped up in phrases coined
in books like,...

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#1
"It is a sin to kill a Mockingbird.
While playing games with rocks or guns, defray,
them, please, ...shoot old tin cans.  Each whispered song 
from Mockingbirds, can heal the wounds  of the day"

Virtues are...

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Mehmet Akif Ersoy: Modern English Translations of Turkish Poems

Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (1873-1936) was a Turkish poet, author, writer, academic, member of parliament, and the composer of the Turkish National Anthem.



Snapshot
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation...

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we sat, my brother and I
leaning against the old wood pannels of the room
the smoke engulfed us like breath
as the threat of violence loomed

his voice was quiet still
passion and regret burned in his eyes
when he...

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LETTER TO A SOLDIER
A Trilogy


I.  SONGS OF LOVE

Love walked with me
In the crisp fall air
In a shower of gold and red.
Love showed me the print
Of a doe’s foot
And where she made her bed.

Love sat...

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IS THIS...?             Poem 8/17/

Written for Jim Eslinger , 37-year anniversary

What are these specks we must trudge over, 
Transplanting ourselves from one wilderness to
Another?...

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Rugby SCRUM* DANCE for Divorced and Dis-abused Wedding Guests

(Packs made up of eight « players » (see note below) may be formed indifferently : either segregate the sexes or mix them up. No sweat !...

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This is the final CANTO of Hell. I am going to publish the full translation as epub on AMAZON. It was a very hard work to find rhymes in english.

“Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni now
Toward us;...

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I can't sleep.
Or, I can
and did
for three hours
but I continue waking
into a Stephen King nightmare
too real to ignore
because I feel isolated
in this quagmire
of hopeless history.

In this my collective nightmare,
President Trump goes to Saudi Arabia
like Mr....

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Once upon a time in the lands from the north, south, east to west    
Navigating on the cold white sands formed of sugar and ice       ...

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Conflict was in turmoil at the thought 
    of what he'd done.
And the walls were quickly closing...
    so he was forced to run.
Danger lurked at every turn
  ...

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THE FIRST PART OF A CROWN OF 15 SONNETS BUT IT HAD TO BE SPLIT UP BECAUSE OF CHARACTER SPACE ALLOWANCE WHICH RUINS THE WHOLE THING



Life is hard yet worse to say a goodbye.
We strive,...

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They sit at benches;
Small legs swing above
Green industrial tile.

They sit at benches;
Thin arms cross around
Frail, frightened bodies.

They sit at benches;
Lips thinned upon
Tightly clenched teeth.

They sit at benches;
Down-cast eyes inside
Sunken, hollow faces.

They sit at benches;
Tiny fists...

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You didn't go out and just buy a costume
at least not when I was growing up.
You had to be more inventive
than just going out to shop.

I learned that simple things 
can make wonderful costumes, too.
I've...

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A hymen or a hyena on a hyperlink is akin to a rotating rogue on a rhododendron. Balancing is deemed important by heavy duty wheels upon petals. Such a fascination for the hibernating hybrid horses....

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Grown man? With kinda light blond hair but not yet white nor silver.
Everyone walking by seemed normal but you milder.
Your face was pale like snow.
Why did you stand in my kitchen?
Why did you take the...

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Soon is the time when blankets will be tucked under chins
moonlight will wash over frosted trees.
the clinking sound of empty milk bottles
early in the pre-dawn air as life begins to stir from slumber
moving into day.
I...

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The mirror reflects a lifetime etched upon my skin; a canvas of stories whispered through maturity. I stand before it, middle-aged and exposed, my nakedness laid bare. My image holds no judgment, only truth—an unyielding...

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Excerpt from last night's dreaming:

Being plunged into the Lackadive Sea
blue green below me to sky scraper depths and beyond
With the quickness of burned off clouds, I think:
there must be sharks, somewhere, in the planet beneath...

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Run across the fair fields, as fast as you can run, the fields your grandmother ran as a young girl,
Over long lush dark green grasses, whipping your knees, soft spongy turf springs each new step,
To...

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When the wolf applied nicely
If he could come in,
The pigs replied thricely he shouldn't.
Then they scratched at the hairs
On their chinny chin chins,
And tightly bolted the door so he wouldn't.

But wolves, when out shopping,
Are not...

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Don't ask your heart,
Don't blame it,
Don't chastise your heart,
Don't scorch it,
Make yourself assured
You grasped a true love,
That would never short,
Because I made it as hard love.

I will fill each hole of your heart
To have it...

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