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Tag Archives: Maureen Thorson
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
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 21
flour, water, salt, hands,
diligence, speed, energy,
hot plate: his food art
Filed under Poetry, Reflections
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 19
female virginity
a tireless phobia
its purity
its lack as well
a timeless obsession
before
during
after
matrimony
intact or dissolved
an ageless restrain
oh, my sweet country of birth
when will you depossess
your menhood
conceive your women in whole
unveil their centuries-long wisdom?
Filed under Poetry, Reflections
NaPoWriMo Challenge: Day 17
Today, I adapt to the prompt from day 6 on the NaPoWriMo challenge but it is day 17. Since all prompts are optional, I take this liberty with no feelings of guilt (!) Maureen Thorson describes the task as follows: “[…] This might seem like a bit of a downer, but I challenge you to write a valediction. This is a poem of farewell. Perhaps the most famous one is John Donne’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”, which turns the act of saying good-bye into a very tender love poem. But your poem could say “good-bye” (and maybe good riddance!) to anything or anyone. A good-bye to winter might be in order, for example. Or good-bye to the week-old [E]aster eggs in your refrigerator. Light or serious, long or short, it’s up to you!”
As a semi-confident pessimist, my heart takes me to a serious goodbye, one I have dreaded severely during my daughter’s infant, toddler, formative, teenage years and even early twenties. For I had feared to leave her without a mother when she still needed one. Now that she is a young but very mature adult, I am able to shed those feelings of dread…
my mother, grieving over her own
believed I must leave before I arrived
my melancholy is meant to be
don’t you, *Bir Tanem, ever think thus!
I
grieved over her;
him, whom you know of;
myself, the once intact one;
my accidental life
them, who loved me so
yet migrated one by one
I
aching heart
I
burdened years
I
a *can torn from *canan
I
on eternal leave
had arrived this time
You
just don your prominent smile, Bir Tanem!
Let your beautiful self evade all ills!
Hold that delightful thrill in your eyes!
Life is stunning, as it is arduous.
Hurt is incredibly real but so is joy.
You
keep at your path through and through
don’t forget to taste others, too
demand from your crossroads – one or two
to not close you in with whomever!
Whether a mate or a lover,
make sure to only have a *dost beside you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Turkish words in translation:
Bir Tanem: My One and Only
can: life; soul
canan: the beloved
dost (in its original meaning): gender-neutral friend for life; bad-time friend
Filed under Poetry
hülyaswritings 