The Rose Sellers of Üsküdar

By Enesa Mahmić

 

Wise gypsy women with their hands full of roses 

looking for weakness in the eyes of men

                  -  instinct brought to perfection

That who smiles will not carry on without a bouquet 

Fresh flowers, fresh breeze from the Bosphorus

Our hands, ravenous hunger

Grabbing anxiously from the present

Storing for the autumn

When there is no heat, no giggles

Lovers are collectors

Constantly searching for valuables

Hoarding needless things

 

Wise gypsy women with their hands full of roses

Looking for melancholy in the eyes of women

                 - instinct brought to perfection

That who gets saddened will not pass without a withered rose  

Red petals fall as fragile promises

They drag along the street

                       all over tourists

Through our embalmed lives

 

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Enesa Mahmić (1989) is an Bosnian writer based in Slovenia. She has published five poetry collections. Her work has appeared in anthologies such as Social Justice and Intersectional Feminism, University of Victoria (Canada), The Larger Geometry; I am strength (USA), We Refugees (Australia), QUEEN Global voices of 21th century female Poets (India), Le Voci della poesia (Italy), Writing Politics and Knowledge Production (Ireland \ Zimbabwe) and more. Intercultural writing, social justice, feminism and history are central to her work.

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