*smile, It Is 2010 and Spring
May the forked tongue bind their bloody hands,
And the womb birthing you all char them in their own fire.
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O You, Honorable Grandfather-Husband!
You think a prayer cleanses your sins.
My cradle, barren yet long after your manhood burst!
§ § §
Mama, Did You Turn Into Stone?
Why did you rip me off of your breasts?
Under his atrocious soil is where I now must rest.
© hülya n. yılmaz, 3.12.2016
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*The first folk couplet – a Landay (defining also a short poisonous snake in Pashto), is a tribute to a teenage Afghani poet who died soon after setting herself on fire in protest of her severe beatings by her brothers. Her crimes? To fall in love, to seek education through other women’s poetry, to write her own poems and to read them on a hotline for girls. Mirman Baheer, a women’s literary group that, in addition to offering other services for Afghanistan’s female population, ran the radio program. This young frequent caller whose poetic word was of promising extent was much adored. The news of her burning would reach her circle in the spring of 2010 from a hospital through a phone call by the teenager herself. Her on-air persona was Rahila Muska – smile in Pashto.
This Landai Trio appeared as my poetry contribution in the April 2016 issue of The Year of the Poet III, a monthly international anthology published by Inner Child Press, Ltd. and consists of poems by eighteen writers, with between two and three new featured poets each month.
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