Poems by ​Mehmet Erte

Sounds  


The dead go tick-tock
The space the living occupy by their heartbeats
the dead occupy by the ticktock of a clock

The clocks overflow with the wheezing of old, weary patients
Those clocks that suck all room light 
And a sound, a fleshless boneless sound
Like all such sounds, from far away, far far away
A sound that fills the basin vacated by light
A sound that upon striking human matter splits into two objects:

Cradle and Grave

Gravestones emit door creaks
So do my blinking eyes
My eyes, clamps that squeeze things
And my head is between my two hands: My God!

It is the same howl that inhabits all skulls 
It leaks through bones and rots flesh, this howl
Our teeth clatter with the same fear, death is a fraternity
And there, a joke of a human!
moaning and groaning, responds to that distant sound




I Can Reflect Light as Much as Anyone

this is an improvised poem, today is october sixteenth two thousand and six, one must 
start somewhere, i’m here, i’m at the tip of something, everything grows 
from its tips, i’m at the growing tip of something, i was going to tell you, i wanted
to tell you, with words, using empty words is easier 
than moving your limbs about loosely, but you’d
rather watch, it’s better than listening, read these lines slowly, you won’t find me 
on the next page, nor for that matter on previous pages, in my hideout
i found solace in the belief that i was being sought, if i survived
i did so by imagining the turmoil i’d cause when i reappeared, yes,
there is something foolish about this, but i fled from you,
i carried the pride of fleeing from you during all those fleeting years, 
the waiting room of a government office, a long
dining table, a cocktail party at a hotel lobby, the thought that 
we might run into each other at these places scared me to death, i’m now
at the only place i dare venture, i myself prepared the stage
where i can afford to be seen, i stripped off my mask for this game see, where 
are you, a thousand people are watching me apparently, that’s great, i only ever cared 
about your eyes, for many years i feared you’d catch me in one of those queues
holding my petition, i couldn’t let you see me knocking on that door with
my wrapping paper in hand, but i’ve torn up my petition now, and slammed the door, 
where are you, if only i could find you, find in your eyes the
fatigue of words that have never encountered me, it’s clear you won’t
forgive me for all those years i ran away from you, still wouldn’t you care to
make an appearance for me, don’t make me say gone once gone forever, one can
settle on a course and set out on that path from anywhere really, see what’s left behind
from anywhere if only one’s got a sense of direction, i’m here, because
what i needed was a total failure, there is no ‘reason’ beyond my control,
all reasons are in my chest, but alas the shirt i have on 
has no buttons so i can’t bare my chest, if i were to tear it
off, and stand naked, they’d call me mad, they’d say what he
took off and flung to the ground was a madman’s gown anyway see, the key is simply
to venture into the light, once i do that i can reflect light
as much as anyone, to reflect light is to find words before
your eyes, yet i’ve never confronted those eyes, there’s never been any distance
between us that would let you see me, never have i overcome any hurdles, nor known any distances, to stir is to exhaust a hope through movement before 
your eyes, i stood still between the lines, one must 
end somewhere, today is october sixteenth two thousand and six, this is an improvised poem.

Translated by Buğra Giritlioğlu, Daniel Scher

Mehmet Erte (born 1978) is a contemporary Turkish poet-writer. He completed his undergraduate studies in Physics at Sakarya University. His first poem, “Yıldırımları Beklemek” (Awaiting the Lightenings), was published in the literary journal Varlık in 1999. Erte’s poems, short stories, essays and interviews have been published in various literary journals, such as Varlık, Kitap-lık, and Yasakmeyve. In 2003, Erte’s poetry collection Suyu Bulandıran Şey (What Muddies the Water) won the Yaşar Nabi Nayır Poetry Award and was published as a book. His first short story collection, Bakışın Kirlettiği Ayna (The Mirror Smeared by the Looking) (May 2008), his second poetry collection, Alçalma (Humbling) (February 2010), his first novel, Sahte (Fake) (June 2012), and second short story collection, Arzuda Bir Sapma (A Swerve in Desire) (April 2015), were published by Yapı Kredi Yayınları (YKY). His two poetry collections were combined into one book by the publisher zoomkitap in 2016. He has worked as an editor for Yasakmeyve for two years. He is currently the Editor of Varlık Publications and of Turkey’s longest-standing literary journal Varlık, due to celebrate its 86th anniversary in 2019.

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