Bolla Chardonnay
leftover meal with old friends
laughter for dessert
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 27 – IN CELEBRATION OF A VERY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY
Für meine liebe Lilia Felice Siede, die ich dank meiner liebsten Yasemin Ergün als Neugeborenes in meinen Armen als die “hülya Teyze” halten durfte: Meine herzlichsten Wünsche zum Geburtstag! For my dear Lilia Felice Siede, whom I was allowed to hold in my arms as a newborn as her “Auntie hülya” thanks to my dearest Yasemin Ergün: My most heartfelt wishes for your birthday!
I have written this poem also to honor the memory of my long-deceased cousin, Yasemin Ergün from her heart who was robbed by a fatal cancer of any opportunity beyond a mere one year to celebrate her daughter’s much sought birth.
To all cancer survivors: May you live long, healthy lives with your loved ones!
Lilia, *mein Schatz
you won’t know me
I left too soon
you were born of love and longing so strong
made me feel immortal by your side
merely a year, though, is all we had aside
you are a young woman now,
beautiful, bright and loved very much
no longer the tiny darling in my arms
precious but ever so fragile,
sending me beams for immense joy
shaming even the cancer of its call
it is your birthday today
I am not there for you again
but don’t be sad as you are not on your own
also the one with whom you locked eyes long ago
in my in-laws’ house, on the ground story
when we were cradling you, a newly born beauty
the one who probably mirrored me to you
for the color of her skin, hair and eye
whose both arms better secured you many a meal
before you glided into a sleep so deep and real
embraces you always with my and her love combined
whom I introduced to you in her mother’s tongue
you know, mein Schatz, you have met her online anew
the one who signs her e-mails hülya *Teyze for me and you
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* (German): my treasure; my darling; my sweetheart
* (Turkish): aunt; auntie (non-biological)
Filed under Poetry, Reflections
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 26
waiting
a call
a line
a sight
a presence
to reminisce
exchange
interact
argue
part
settle
unite
make up
caress
love
be loved
solo dining travel slumber
freedom, bitter-sweet, indeed
Filed under Poetry
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 25
nostalgic for elation
bursting balloons wrapped in a rainbow
splashed by the waves of my daily walks
arms extended, my lair, prancing along
my shadow, secured away, awaiting a return
in and out of the Town Square, stores and cafes
still in high heels, my frolicking spirit
all senses, honed by the keenest of eyes
with a soaring want for a final reunion
Filed under Poetry
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 24
resentment, past and present
thirty-two years
he has been married to her
half a year after her only love – his words
longer united than – but
he has had it with her, he now concludes
nerved, edgy, even offensive
can’t and won’t stay with his son and his wife
few blocks down
the family he financed throughout their lives
wants to be on his own
with me, in the heat of my life struggle
after decades are gone
continents away
impossible
too much resentment
if for nothing else…
Filed under Poetry, Reflections
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 23
eyes on my work chair
mouth in fast non-stop motion
feet on hopping gear
Filed under Poetry
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 22
Day 22 prompt of NaPoWriMo challenges me “to write a poem in keeping with Earth Day. […]” Unfortunately, I don’t have a happy poem about a new growth in nature somewhere. I am no gardener. As for house plants, even the most negligence-tolerant ones tend to die fast in my hands. I do, however, appreciate nature and like it very much from indoors. In other words, I am not a grouch of some kind but rather one of those people who just can’t grow anything that comes in the form of seed into their hands. At any rate. To compensate the somewhat grim tone of my verses today, I am leaving you with the ever-so-mood-lifting images from a link I was eager to borrow from a long-time friend. With much appreciation for both of my sources, for they helped me save the Earth Day for a change.
caressed each dead branch
poured love to the dried up soil
oh, why, my Bonsai!
Mentioned Sources:
Filed under Poetry
Thank you, Michelle Vinci!
My gratitude comes to you, dear intuitive, creative, poetry-supporting and hard-working Michelle Vinci! For conceiving the brilliant idea behind your remarkable project, The Global Twitter Community Poetry Project and for having posted my poems today. You have my appreciation, in particular, for being ever so inclusive and accepting when it comes to submissions. It felt very good to me to see my poetry attempts taking shape on your project’s site. But it was quite a different, i.e. stronger pleasure, to read the passion-displaying work of others, something I very much look forward to keep doing.
Thank you!
Filed under Reflections
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 21
flour, water, salt, hands,
diligence, speed, energy,
hot plate: his food art
Filed under Poetry, Reflections
Why?
The question “why” has been on my mind since I heard the news about yet another destruction of humans by humans. There are many unknowns yet. Regardless, the murder act says it all to me: Indifference to human life and its beauties. This time, my intentional shutting down the stream of tragic details and images didn’t help me. Besides, the delivery of information seems to feed out of repetition to the point as if numbing the reader through the acute phase of the event is the aim. So, I resort to creative writing, to poetry, to be specific. For I hold a strong belief in one claim of Charles Bukowski: “Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.”
I am participating in the National Poetry Writing Month challenge this year. Writing one poem for each April day is the objective. The site provides optional prompts. Sometimes, I opt for one of them. On other days, I follow my own prompt from wherever that may appear. Yesterday, my poem, Day 20 assumed a critical tone on self-pity – under the influence of the recent human-to-human monstrosity. Then, also yesterday I followed my curiosity regarding a video on the latest event coverage (I must have really slipped as far as my usual rigid rule of “no-news until you have people around you”). I instinctively retitled that short program to read “indifference didn’t win” (instead of “evil”) – to stay true to my answer to “Why?” but also to my religion-neutral life view. Today, I am grateful to my curious act, as it led me to where I had so much hoped to go: Human-to-human love. The reporting by Byron Pitts seemed genuine, heart-felt, compassionate, refreshing to the extent that I am sharing it with you, Boston Marathon Bombing: Evil Didn’t Win.
It is my conviction that human-to-human destruction happens on account of indifference to human life and its beauty. And that ferocious approach to humanity at large breeds inside age-long thought processing systems where the individual is being indoctrinated toward or against one another.
Why?
For, not all of us heed the teachings of the authentic heart, the easiest lessons to embrace.
“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” – Dalai Lama
Filed under Reflections
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