by Elif Sezen
I.
But human spirit is weaker than that of flowers
(absence grows from its joy
absence grows from its joy)
its joy says: that was me
a space between two leaves
like the space of a prophet-flower
it opens while we sleep
dominating emptiness
We there lying still watching small petals
surrounding bigger ones we were like prophet-bugs
smiling at each other on a joyful evening
(we were like people cackling to their deaths)
we were carrying a kind of big secret
that no one could take from us
we had a distinction:
being divided into components and getting smaller
(at the same time birds with the same destiny
were flying through familiar clouds)
II.
Morning flies through a cloud
morning celebrates its own end
morning sprouts into an abyss again
what’s the difference between morning and my breath?
you cannot you cannot catch it
but you can love it like you love your baby
“all the mornings of the world are irretrievably gone!”*
*an old French saying
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ABOUT THE POET ~
Elif Sezen is an Australian/Turkish multidisciplinary artist, bilingual poet/writer, translator and researcher. She obtained her PhD in Fine Art from Monash University (2014). In her doctorate she researched how memory can be reconceptualised through symbolic and metaphorical transformations between visual arts and poetry. Her poetry collection 'Universal Mother' was published by GloriaSMH Press in 2016; her most recent book of poems 'A Little Book of Unspoken History' in 2018 by Puncher & Wattmann. She also published a chapbook 'The Dervish with Wings' in 2017. Her Turkish translation of Ilya Kaminsky’s acclaimed book Dancing in Odessa was published by Artshop Press (2014), and her first collection of experimental mix of short stories and poems 'Gece Düşüşü' was published in Turkish by Hayal Press. Her work has widely appeared nationally and internationally in journals and anthologies. She lives and works in Melbourne. Her website: www.elifsezen.com
Last updated October 19, 2012