Jenan Selçuk, (b.1974, Cyprus) has graduated from East Mediterranean University, then lived and worked in Germany and Britain. His poetry has been published in Turkish, German and other European magazines; together with the other members of the Subconscious Gang, he puts out the underground literature and art journal Isırgan. He has two volumes of poetry, Kaza (2003) and Haz (2007).
I am a tree, a date-palm
in some Mesaoria cemetery.
Civilisations buried in my shade,
their bones
my roots.
Forty curly-haired slaves rowed
the boats
which brought us from Egypt.
My grandfather a Hellene wearing an earring
my circumciser an Ottoman barber
a boy kidnapped into the Janissarie
a pederast.
I was apprenticed
to Aphrodite in spring
Zenon in winter
You may not have realized!
I was the model for the Lusignan architects.
Inherited from Venetian merchants
this sweet tongue,
chasing pleasure
RomanByzantium...
A creation of the British
my exhibition
of split personality syndromes.
From time to time
my presumption that I am a human being,
the more I am licked
the more I hold onto lies.
Paranoias
Stitched of flag cloth, a straightjacket
made in Greece
made in Turkey:
I see war when I look in the water!
Manchester, 2002
From Kaza (2003)
Translated from the Turkish by Aydιn Mehmet Ali, with the poet
The cadaver chews on the growing nails
of days getting short.
Deeper, deeper
until it draws blood.
The false teeth of winter chatter outside.
He watches the dripping water
collect.
He doesn’t tell anyone that
the sea flows
from the taps
of this city.
He keeps wondering
why he wonders about
things no one cares about.
He caresses the dust
of plastic flowers in plastic pots
spreads his ointment of medicinal herbs
on his balls before going to bed.
Rain-loaded sailing boats
move away in the dark
from the illegal ports of his country.
Orion rises
twisting from side to side
like a semazen* with arms open
to the skies.
* Participant in the Sema ceremony of the whirling dervishes.
Tamassus, 2007
From Haz (2007)
Translated from the Turkish by Aydın Mehmet Al
Aydın Mehmet Ali was born in Cyprus, has lived most of her life in London and recently returned to Cyprus. She is an international education consultant, project manager, researcher as well as an award winning author. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. Her publications include a short story collection, Pink Butterflies/Bize Dair (2005).
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