As to Remind
Karin Karakaşlı
The poems selected by Karin Karakaşlı for the exhibition GÖRÜNmeyEN İZLER? are presented in this hall alongside illustrations produced by Eda Çağıl Çağlarırmak for Istanbul Gender Museum.
History-Geography
No one is the first to set foot on any soil
You’re always borne by souls who passed before
Time was, gods and goddesses
were alive just like you
Their strengths and weaknesses flow through you
into the earth
trodden underfoot by the procession
of the mortal dead
Granted some of you are my history
yet not my geography
Geography is the name of those who occupy the land
and it takes heart to stay
I stayed in my geography with my dead
Yet you denied your very self
Turned official, emptied of truth
I stayed in my geography with my life
to write my own history
Deserted
The day flows past the newspaper spreads I leave unread
crammed with words, a surfeit of images
Whenever I forget what I was about to say, even what I do speak
is wiped from memory
Isn’t it funny how some days are given titles
all hanging there in eternity
What did you expect
Every language is really a goodbye
Every language is a manifold despair
Innocence is too big for your mouth
China consumes small bodies
every time you buy its goods
Yes, you dreamed of a universe
Life is Made in China
I’m silent as a classroom mid-exam
There was something I forgot
or was too shy to share
In my heart there is a dark and vaulted well
How crowded I am on the outside
how deserted within
Illustrator: Eda Çağıl Çağlarırmak
Uniform
They won’t look good no matter what you do
school skirts
Even when you roll them up at the waist
or take them in it makes no difference
Always that same mouse grey
You know the pains it takes to look different
After so many generations
It’s a piece of your girlhood
you’re looking at, that half-tamed madness
Even now moments out of uniform are hard
And it demands a miserable effort
What we call being oneself
It’s their first strike against us
the grey school skirt
Karin Karakaşlı
Poet, writer. Born in Istanbul in 1972, she graduated in Translation and Interpreting Studies. She has completed an MA in Comparative Literature. For many years she worked at the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos. She has regularly written for various platforms including Agos, Radikal 2, Kültür Sanat Servisi, Gazete Duvar and P24 among others and leads writing and reading workshops. She is the author of three poetry collections as well as several short story collections and novels.