yeşim ağaoğlu

 a different breed

these women are of a different breed,

their hair is too much, far too much their eyelashes

their lips baloon-red

their cheeks homicide

ıts as if they fell here by mistake.

from another planet

they are a different breed, these women,

their voices an ill interpreted concerto

always a “do” where it should have been a “mi”

their nipples the nut placed on the icecream

shameless words on their lips at all times

these women are a breed apart

like the works of a surreal artist

ın their most unlikely places are hidden their most likely things

museum of modern arts

they are a different breed, yes,

when its day time their womanhood lies a-dying

drapes pulled shut, mirrors turned front to back

sadness multiplying in their eyes

their hands begin to grow big, then their feet

grow giant-sized in the light

on their faces wrong thorns

suddenly sprout

they are a different breed these women

they lie down to the night

ın order to be born again.

when dark descends and its night

all of them together the utmost woman

the avenues and sidewalks are theirs now

their laughter is heard

from beyond the mists

vampires nocturnal

looking for blood with their sharpest teeth.

what’s happened to us    

have we gone down with the titanic?

or got lost in the bermuda triangle mysteries?

oh, what’s happened to us my dear?

somewhere we have mislaid something

no more parachutes falling down on the bed

no more space ships squeaking like birds

ı cut down my bean stalks before they could grow into trees

oh whats happened to me, my dear

had they told me ı’d have wept

yet my eyes are dry like walnut shells.

and you, what’s happened to you?

porpoises used to gambol in your snuggest corners

ın those days my words would have hurt

didnt you use to say you hated the rhinoceros?

what a liar you turn out to be

oh, whats happened to us my dear!

night of the knife

ıt was a knife, lying beside me that night

sharp as nail and gold-tooth bright

ı saw my own self at times

my face was red

under the assault of a thousand fireflies

and my eyes two crimson carnations

ı was burning, my whole body on fire

yes, it was a knife lying beside me that night

ıt was no accident its lying with me

ı had taken it to my bosom, tempted it

with brazen looks, revealing my most private places

the sin is all mine

ı breathed with my breasts that night

my lips short-circuited

and it, you’d think it was no knife

so docile lying beside me in bed

never mind its so rough sharpness

ıt was like a gentle dolphin

no thoughts of bloody anger or revenge had it

the night was terrific, the moon a perfect round hole in the sky

ı spent the night away with that knife

sadly it lost its brightness in time

the fireflies died and the carnations withered one by one

my conflageration dimmed away

fatigued ı fell into my umpteenth sleep

no, it hadnt been easy, after all

ıt was a knife lying by my side

now my breasts are like a sailboat afloat on the sea

my lips like spent gulls on the sand

awakening, there was no knife or any other trace from the night

ı ran to the kitchen

blood was seeping from the sharpest point of a knife

gently ı picked it up and tossed it away in the garbage

the sin is all mine

nightmare shells

whever ı awaken

you are not there

ı am myself by my side

ı and the shells of my dreams left over from the night

like used up eggs

and who would you say had layed those eggs

water was drowned in water last night

ı saw the swollen body of each rain drop

on the surface of the turgid, purple sea

and the wind didnt know how to take wing

never mind that it blew everything away

ıt kept falling  flat on his head on the ground

whever ı awaken soaked in bloody sweat

you are not there

only myself and the broken shells of my nightmare

are by my side.

wish ı could get on trains

where would trains take me

wish ı could get on them

horse racing cars

screaming sirens

you can not look out of the same window twice

nor see  again the same trees or houses or anything

where would the trains take me

to night-misted platforms

whose clocks never work and where faces are always half-veiled as 

if arriving from ghost towns

where would trains take me

who is the one who sits opposite me

the secret ı’ve been keeping all this time

the love of a single night is worth a whole life

where would trains take me

what murder would they make me an accomplice to

whose is the blood soiling my hand

the pomp of danger’s reign is worthwhile to live

where would trains take me,

in full gallop and breathless

could it be to the sorrow which has no ending

terror pictures  

blood dropped from the easel to her face

she scooped it up, smeared it all over herself

then gazed with lust at herself in the mirror

she was stark naked

she kissed herself in crystal mirrors

and started her song

in the name of freedom, peace and revolution

insisting on the moustache

the pipe, the cigar

she loves her husband very much

her buttery fat husband

and her painted nails

she almost dies in her bed each night

her past a movie she cant give up watching

the angel of death the black tulip at the bedside

she makes love to herself in foaming bath tubs

blood in all the pictures

pictures on all the paints

oaths, slogans ever on all lips

for the sake of freedom, peace and revolution

with her  fat husband she sometimes catches up with her womanhood

or else she takes off her breasts and throws them away

the moustache long as can be and as black

living her manhood at a nurses side

then one day she draws an endless picture on life

crimson, lavish with blood

everything for life’s sake

everything for living

her coffin is covered with the red flag

doves are flitting around, with wounded wings

her  husband is weeping at her side

Yeşim Ağaoğlu

Born in 1966 in Istanbul, where she lives and works. She graduated from the Department of Archaeology and Art History of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Istanbul University. She gained her MA from the Department of Radio-TV-Cinema of the Faculty of Communications at Istanbul University. She produced a short film titled Loneliness, Machines and Meditation after a brief period of study at the School of Visual Arts in New York, she is also a poet with numerous published titles. With over 100 exhibitions held in Turkey and abroad, she has exhibited her work in Austria, Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, South Korea, Italy, Norway and Uzbekistan.