Nilay Özer

here is some place in the world
did you like what you did
the smell of bone dust
the freckled leaves of an old begonia your skin
eddying at your hair follicles each time you are kissed
these did you enjoy giving them grief
what have you understood of the proximity of objects
take this tree maybe it shaped itself against this house
maybe both are dying at speeds that cancel each other out
what I wonder what have you understood
of the rocks that seem still while the rivers flow

can this world be made over sure it can
first towns can be built everywhere the dogs bark
then mountains then trains then did you ever like
you who had seen sparrow-hawks freeze in the air
seen the shape of your soul each time you were kissed
grey wolves in the snow the first time you had a mouth
bullet casings spewed from the words you sang
now freeze frame each moment of your fall and watch
listen to your breath tracing lines in the air
this kind of slowness is the measure of your error

if the iron wheels of a horse cart await
decay somewhere in a garden there
they are your face casts for brand new busts
if shadows have ambushed the public squares
if your left eye covets the dead each time you are kissed
what I ask you what have you understood
of the high tide when the sea levels out the land
of the low tide when the land levels out the sea
here slightly higher like the boat launches
here is some place in the world
did you like…

                                dersim, 1938