Deep Red Glow Lost and Found
By Siettie
Over the bridge there is a deep red glow
lost in the grim light of the day
I was born in Germany, says the taxici
Nerelısın, he asks again
Far away, I said, Furthest I've ever felt
Ama there was she, İstanbul
Mad, glorious city, beautiful
Do you miss Stuttgart?
Ya... alıştım artık, dedi. Aşılar bize
öldurecek mı, sizcede?
İçindeyiz yani ve hastalık olmadı
Çok şükür, neyse
An artist with a baby stroller,
my Ukranian friend settled free
A life that couldn't have been,
Ama olmuş, pandemic heavy
What would my daughter know
of the old world we used to live
they are and will all be born into
the new normal their yeni gercekliği
Isn't it funny what did we know
Nothing. We sorted apples kırmızı
sarı - Erzurum, Elmalı,
she was born in Eylül
Yanakları maşallah
elmalar gibi
Kış daha olmadı mı?
It is sun strong in the crisp afternoon
By six it is dark and I am near blind
I am layered deeply underneath
Rain and fabric like the slugs
along the walls outside windows
If they had homes on their backs
Apples ve books, glitter in their tracks
A bus sweeps past, not a lira left
I am to be stranded, the card reader
glares red, sağanak yağmur oluyor
Hadi gidelim, the kind şofor gestures
Along the highway towards the ferries
it rained the last remaining youth
of my memories of the city
A lifetime ago she sat by the ferries
Lilies in her bag, five
for the price of four, said the gypsy,
Bi hediye senin için, dedi,
autumn sunlight drowning by the kıtapcı
Terrace, seagulls, it was the first time
she resisted the devils, ama sonra kabul etti,
ama sonra korona ya bir cin gibi diyorlar
Tonight it rained no simit sellers
in sight no chance for tosts
Gone is her favorite gazoz
Outside, the vapur sweeps in
sturdy, it is their İstanbul after all
There is no upending them
A little cup Şehitlari marks in
siyah, sarı, beyaz, kırmızı
The boat tips a bit, new city side
Over the bridge there is a deep red glow
found in the bleak darkness of the night
I was born in England, says the immigrant
Nerelisin, he teases, a child-like merağı
Close, I said, Closest I have ever been
Ve there was he, in İstanbul
In the mad, glorious city, handsome
Do you miss Birmingham? Yes...
biraz, dedi. Aşılar bize
öldurecek mı, sizcede?
There are worse things
than death and the devils
Yet here we are, neyse.
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A Singaporean born and bred, Siettie always believes in the symbiotic pairing of Art and Literature, and has been drawing, painting and writing for as long as she can remember. She has taught art professionally for the last seven years, both in Singapore and Istanbul – whose light, love and melancholy she finds endlessly bewitching. She frequently makes paintings and pens poems surrounding this experience that combines both personal and public spaces.
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