The Behavior of Words, by Efe Duyan
reviewed by Carolyn Forché
Efe Duyan translates the silent intention behind our instinctive, urgent need of human expression and connection. Duyan's poetry is based on finding unique linguistic forms that fit the respective content of the poem. Through a visible structure, he combines complex metaphors in a rhythmic way, to integrate the daily language by decontextualizing it, and to construct a network of meaning in the background. He is influenced by the art movements of Futurism, Surrealism, conceptual art, and medieval Middle Eastern poetry as well as the modern conception of functionality in architecture.
Some poems, built like houses with architectural intention, draw us in through their overall design, clean fine lines breaking at striking angles, guiding our eyes through carefully defined spaces opening to hallways that irresistibly lead us to unexpected enclosures where natural light plays among the walls breathe life into the lives for which they are intended. Where form and function are inseparable, the space is not merely for dwelling. It asks to be experienced. Physically, materially.
“In The Behavior of Words, Aron Aji does not so much translate Efe Duyan into English as he translates English into Efe Duyan: luminous bursts of lyric art in the tender sensorium of intimate love, fusing Turkish structure and English sound. One language enters the other seemingly without loss, attentive to such matters as elephant burials and the tiring of geese in flight, the falcon/who glides a while longer/after its heart has stopped. These are poems that hold our breaths, that ask us to drink water from each other’s mouths. An attention emanates from them, precise and vigilant and new, as in the poem wherein Upturning the turtle, little girl runs away/For the first time, turtle sees sky. Such poetry as this is an event, and we are fortunate to be in attendance.”
Some poems, built like houses with architectural intention, draw us in through their overall design, clean fine lines breaking at striking angles, guiding our eyes through carefully defined spaces opening to hallways that irresistibly lead us to unexpected enclosures where natural light plays among the walls breathe life into the lives for which they are intended. Where form and function are inseparable, the space is not merely for dwelling. It asks to be experienced. Physically, materially.
“In The Behavior of Words, Aron Aji does not so much translate Efe Duyan into English as he translates English into Efe Duyan: luminous bursts of lyric art in the tender sensorium of intimate love, fusing Turkish structure and English sound. One language enters the other seemingly without loss, attentive to such matters as elephant burials and the tiring of geese in flight, the falcon/who glides a while longer/after its heart has stopped. These are poems that hold our breaths, that ask us to drink water from each other’s mouths. An attention emanates from them, precise and vigilant and new, as in the poem wherein Upturning the turtle, little girl runs away/For the first time, turtle sees sky. Such poetry as this is an event, and we are fortunate to be in attendance.”
Carolyn Forché is an eminent American poet and the author of In the Lateness of the World.
