A Short Anthology | Karahan Sarıtaş

Introduction
Poems

Introduction

I can’t really say that I’m a huge poetry fan, but I do enjoy reading a good poem every now and then. Recently, I came across a short antology shared by Martin Porter - creator of the Porter Stemming Algorithm. Inspired by the idea of compiling favorite poems (perhaps fueled by a sense of nostalgia evoked by its extremely simplistic website), I decided to share an anthology of my own. Here are a few of my favourite poems, enjoy!

Poems

Clown in the Moon

My tears are like the quiet drift
Of petals from some magic rose;
And all my grief flows from the rift
Of unremembered skies and snows.

I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream.
— Dylan Thomas

I wanted to put two poems from Dylan Thomas in this anthology, Clown in the Moon and Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. The latter is quite famous due to its inclusion in the movie Interstellar, from which I also happened to hear it first. Clown in the Moon is a lesser known poem, but it’s one of my favorites. I think it depicts a desperate clown in the moon, looking down at the earth and feeling a sense of sadness and beauty. Given the absurdity of the image (why would a clown be in the moon?), I think it incorporates a little bit of surrealism and romanticism. I must say, I just love how the Earth is portrayed as something so fragile and beautiful with strong wording in play. There is also a great translation of this poem to Turkish, here by Vehbi Taşar.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
— Dylan Thomas

This one really gives me the goosebumps. An uprising against the inevitable could not have been expressed more elegantly and strikingly than this. Not only the content, but the selection of the words and the rhythm of the poem is just perfect. With the emotional intensity at the forefront, this is one of the great examples of romanticism in poetry. Yet, I have lots of question marks in my mind about the imagery and the meaning of the metaphors. What does it mean that “wise men know the dark is right” although “their words had forked no lightning” (maybe their words had no impact on the world)? Maybe it’s about the leaders who failed to make a change in the world, and now they are facing the end of their lives. Final part of the poem is also quite emotional, as the poet is addressing his father and asking him to fight against the dying of the light. The usage of contrast between “curse” and “bless” is quite effective, as the writer desires his father to take some action before departing - curse, bless, just do something. A similar contrast is observed between “light” and “night” throughout the poem.

Bluebird

there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he’s
in there.

there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody’s asleep.
I say, I know that you’re there,
so don’t be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he’s singing a little
in there, I haven’t quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it’s nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don’t
weep, do
you?
— Charles Bukowski

I know, this one is quite depressive. Notice that the complexity of the words have decreased significantly compared to the previous two poems. Simple words, seemingly random line breaks, and dialogues. This is a poem by Charles Bukowski, a modernist poet, who is known for his raw and unfiltered style. Ever since I heard this poem, the concept of “bluebird” was extremely captivating for me. For most, it is not something easy to achieve. It is not like buying something that you wanted to buy for a while, or developing a simple habit. It is complicated, it is way more than that and it requires sacrifice. It requires a sacrifice for Bukowski, and thinking about all the book sales in Europe, he resigns.

Ne İçindeyim Zamanın

Ne içindeyim zamanın,
Ne de büsbütün dışında;
Yekpâre, geniş bir ânın
Parçalanmaz akışında.

Bir garip rüyâ rengiyle
Uyuşmuş gibi her şekil,
Rüzgârda uçan tüy bile
Benim kadar hafif değil.

Başım sükûtu öğüten
Uçsuz, bucaksız değirmen;
İçim muradına ermiş
Abasız, postsuz bir derviş;

Kökü bende bir sarmaşık
Olmuş dünya sezmekteyim,
Mavi, masmavi bir ışık
Ortasında yüzmekteyim…
— Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar

This is a poem by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, a Turkish writer and poet who lived from 1901 to 1962. I like this poem because of both the individualist and societal aspects it captures. Having witnessed the transformation of Turkey with the establishment of Republic, Tanpınar had focused on the transition process and its effects on the society in his writing as well. In his book, “Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü” (an humble attempt to translate it into English: The Time Regulation Institute), he portrays the Turkish society stuck between East and West, struggling on boths sides to find its own identity. Concept of time is a recurring theme in his works, and this poem is no exception. “Ne içindeyim zamanın, ne de büsbütün dışında” (I am neither inside the time, nor completely outside of it) is a great example of this. “Yekpare geniş bir anın parçalanmaz akışında” (In the unbreakable flow of a single, wide moment) means that the author is not in the past (east) or in the future (west) - because the past and the future is an unbreakable whole. Compared to all the other poems in this anthology, I believe this one is the most abstract and symbolic. From an individualistic perspective, I love how the poet describes himself as a dervish who has reached his goal without any need for a robe or a staff. Third paragpraph as a whole provides a great imagery of the one’s tranquility.

Ceviz Ağacı

Başım köpük köpük bulut, içim dışım deniz,
ben bir ceviz ağacıyım Gülhane Parkı’nda,
budak budak, şerham şerham ihtiyar bir ceviz.
Ne sen bunun farkındasın, ne polis farkında.

Ben bir ceviz ağacıyım Gülhane Parkı’nda.
Yapraklarım suda balık gibi kıvıl kıvıl.
Yapraklarım ipek mendil gibi tiril tiril,
koparıver, gözlerinin, gülüm, yaşını sil.
Yapraklarım ellerimdir, tam yüz bin elim var.
Yüz bin elle dokunurum sana, İstanbul’a.
Yapraklarım gözlerimdir, şaşarak bakarım.
Yüz bin gözle seyrederim seni, İstanbul’u.
Yüz bin yürek gibi çarpar, çarpar yapraklarım.
Ben bir ceviz ağacıyım Gülhane Parkı’nda.
Ne sen bunun farkındasın, ne polis farkında.
— Nazım Hikmet

This one is rather quite famous among Turkish poems. It was written by Nazım Hikmet (1902-1963), who had experienced the same era as Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar. This one is actually a quite political one as well, although it is not the reason why I included it here. I just love the imagery and the symbolism in this poem. The poet starts with a great line (that I believe to be the most striking over all), “Başım köpük köpük bulut, içim dışım deniz” (humble translation but not really what it is: My head is a foamy cloud, my inside and outside is a sea). This verse gives me a feeling of being dislocated. Both clouds and sea are unstable, going to and fro. Author describes himself as an old walnut tree in the Gülhane Park (quite a lovely place in historical peninsula). He looks at Istanbul, touches and feels it. There are different speculations as to the story of this poem, but apart from it, I think it is a great example of symbolism and imagery.