Can Baba (Can Yücel)

Continuing on my nostalgic November trip to the writers’ and artists’ circles in Turkey, I want to introduce you to Can Yücel, a poet to whom many biographers refer as “Can Baba” – Father Can (non-religious connotation).  His poetry stands out with his use of colloquial Turkish, thus, making poetic compositions a product for the masses.  The video below demonstrates a flawless reading performance of one of Can Baba’s most popular poems – “The Most Beautiful Part about Being with You”:

For my translation, I have chosen a different poem by Can Baba, namely his “Hayal Oyunu” – “A Play with Imagination”:

Hayal Oyunu

Ellerindi ellerimden tutan
Ellerimdi ellerinden tutan…
Bıraktığı anda ellerimiz ellerimizi
Gökyüzüne vuracaktı gölgeleri ellerimizin
Kimbilir kaç martılar halinde

Bir masada karşı karşıya
Seyrederken dudaklarını senin
Dile gelmiş ilk Türkçeydik
Henüz başlamış kül rengi bahar
Ne savaş, ne barıştık biz…

Bu dünyaya yeni gelmiş bir diyar
Manolyaya gece konmuş kumrular…

A Play with Imagination

It was your hands holding mine

Mine, holding yours…

The shadows of our hands were going to hit the sky

As soon as our hands left our hands

Who knows? In the form of how many sea gulls

//

We were the first spoken Turkish

While I was beholding your lips

At a table, across from one another

We were the newly setting smoke-colored spring

We were neither war nor peace…

//

A realm newly born in to this world

Doves, perched on the magnolia in the night…

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I hope you have enjoyed your visit this Wednesday.  I look forward to you stopping by next week again but also for your visit to my Sunday Reflections.