Poems by ​GÜLSELİ  İNAL

AND A GODDESS SILENTLY RECLINES

against the sunset there stands a face
gazing at me stands the face
there it stands following me, vanishing along the endless
                    vine-clad paths
pathways that will soon be smothered under the leaves of dawn
the depths of the vale invisible to me the secret there I cannot see
both in the vermilion garb of the sun
and on the warm breast of the night Venus would reveal herself
a cry would arise with the dawn in the east
as slowly with the silence of snow
the hair-ribbon disentwines from my locks

gazing at me stands the face
as silently and persistently as a shadow it follows
                                                    me through life
its pallor and its patience gifted by the snow
and ripened in a pool of blue
a complexion from the earthen depths rosy pink in hue

I rise to my feet that I may descend into the caverns of my soul
you starlings magpies and butterflies
should come once with me at daybreak
                                                              to watch the sun as it arises
and a goddess silently reclines upon the break of dawn.

Translated by Suat KARANTAY






LOVE  AND FOREST

White angels swim through its water
human destiny a scattered torso
the world’s suns  are growing pale now the moon’s winds at  dawn
wilting at the soaring grove
and the moon glides with its silver rowboat into the roots of trees
now I almost identify this oblivious being that  whirls in the blue void
it had come there having torn open the ground
saying I hail from another necropolis
with a tune I had never heard and tossing its huge body into the  waters
its steps were heard through the forets
as it put forward the appeals to love’s high roof
it had washed its feet in the roots of trees
vigor and grandeur oozed out of its toes
and I trailed it with tiny steps
as I walked a forest opened up before me
your hair had fallen over your dark shoulders
did god send you
oh where dreams are aflame at the red coral
the forest keeps over there in a rage
in a tumult of green
the river’s blood vessels
a great deal more than what you had been given
all shapes are there
yours are all the forms of forging ahead
you are the being of what lies beyond the forest
so you came and found me in fragments of the moon

Translated by Talat HALMAN

GÜLSELİ  İNAL was born   in İstanbul. After Studying  English literature for two years, she majored in the Department of Philosophy and Sociology at the University of İstanbul and graduated in I975. She taught English and Turkish in a   secondary school for a while and her first essay appeared in a daily newspaper.  Her first volume of poems “Sulara Gömülü Çağrı”-A Call Burried into the Waters- illustrated by contemporary Turkish painter Burhan Uygur was published in I985. Her second volume was “Lale Sesiydiler ve Yoktular -they were the Voices of Tulip" and  Nonexist-was published in I987 and her lyrical prose  “Dolunay”-The Fullmoon” appeared in I988 and shortly after it was adapted and filmed by Şahin Kaygun. The film received awards at international and domestic film festivals. Her volumes of poems: Letoon I989, Dans Natura I990, Bakkaris I99I, and Sif ve Gula  was published in I992 . Her volume of poetic prose “Saklanmış Levha”-the Preserved  Tablet” appeared in I996. Gülseli İnal initially proposed “2I st March World Poetry Day” to Turkish PEN which carried the proposition to the international PEN, and was finally adopted by UNESCO.

Her volumes of poem “Chöd Raksları”-the Danses of the Matriks was published in 1998. The poet also studied the theory of art and painting during this period. Her volume The “ Kayıp Bağlantı”-Lost Connection appeared in 2000 and the next volume “Melek Kolonisi”- Colony  of Angels was published in 2004. The Vortex of the Electra was published in 2005 and a new poetry volume -  The Last Day of Childhood was published in 2007. The Divan of Dream was published in 2009. Kap Kario was published 2011. Pann was published 2013 and Before the Sun was published 2015.


She has also attended various international literary assemblies. She joined “Postmodern in Literature” panel held by Literarirsches Collogium in Berlin I992. She also attended seminars on poetry interpretation with contemporary English poets in I993. She read her verses in Rotterdam Poetry -Park and  Amsterdam Vondel Park Poetry Festivals in I994. She attended the opening ceremony of international Writers and Translators Center of Rhodes held by Waves of three Seas and she read her poems at International Poetry Days at the antique Apollon Theatre of Rhodes in I996. She joined poetry reading at Frankfurt City Library about Book Fair in Germany in 2001. The poet attended  Festival international De La Poesıe Turcophone Strasbourg France in 2003. She was invited at Kuala Lumpur World Poetry Reading Fest at Malasia 2004 and she joined Assocıazıone Culturale Allegoraın at İtaly in 2008.  Her poems have been translated into  German, English, French, Malay, Dutch and Farsi. 

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