Translated by Burak Erdoğdu / Roza Publishing
Read Turkish version
Narin Yükler's Creative Process

No water touches the nations of desert

Feet proceed with warm winds

Trails can be seen by the weights of the bags

Slowly chops the sands

I lay down my tongue to back of the coppery bowl

My hands are like roads that are between gulps

My hands collapse into Sahara

Mystery and prayer fall off from my face

Equal to house that has no stucco

Ramparts and wounds stay still at my chest

Trees that hold onto the barren lands

Epilepsy starts from the weak arms of the tree

Whichever arm that decays

Whichever side that turns to yellow

I bless her

Saints that come confessing to the tree

I kiss them with great desire

From the day that I fell down to the Sahara and epilepsy

Fooled by the borehole that comes from my clefts

I believe in a fairy tale of water

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Su masalı

su değmiyor çöl kavimlerine

sıcak rüzgârla ilerliyor ayaklar

heybelerin ağırlığıyla beliren izler

ağır ağır yarıyor kumu

dilimi seriyorum bakır tasın sırtına

ellerim iki yutkunma arası yol

ellerim içine çökmüş sahra

yüzümden dökülüyor sır ve dua

sıvası dökülmüş eve denk

duruyor göğsümde sur ve yara

çorak toprağın sırtına tutunan ağaçların

zayıf dallarından başlıyor sara

hangi dalı çürümüşse

hangi yüzü dönmüşse sarıya

onu kutsuyorum

ve ağaçlara günah çıkarmaya gelen azizeleri

iştahla öpüyorum

sara ve sahraya düştüğümden beri

yarıklarımdan çıkan kuyuya aldanıp

bir su masalına inanıyorum

Narin Yükler was born in Viranşehir of Şanlıurfa in 1988. She graduated from the Tourism and Hospitality Management School of Gaziantep University and from the Faculty of Business Administration of Anadolu University. After graduation, she started to work as a hotel manager. She got married in 2012 and had her daughter in 2014. During that time, she took part in the activities of various non-governmental and human rights organizations, especially women’s rights organizations.

Many of her stories and poems about Middle Eastern–especially Kurdish/Ezidi–women were published in several newspapers and magazines in Iraq, Belgium, Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. She held meetings in refugee camps where she read her poems written in Kurdish and Turkish languages. She has written theatrical plays on the human and women’s rights, some of which were staged. Being a woman, a mother and a refugee in the Middle East. Her poetry books include Aynadaki Çürüme and Rê û Rêç. Her awards include KAOS GL Short Story Award – Selection Committee (2015), Hüseyin Çelebi Poetry Prize (2015), Ali İsmail Korkmaz Poetry Prize (2016), Golden Daphne Award For Young Poets – Selection Committee (2016), Arkadaş Zekai Özger Poetry Award (2017) and the Arjen ArÎ Poetry Award (2017).

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MY CREATIVE PROCESS
Can you tell us a little about the origins of this series of poems?
My poetry deals with war, women, and migration.

Why do you write?
To cling to life. I live in the Middle East and have seen many countries in the Middle East. I wrote scripts and poems during these travels. Writing is a way of defending life. And therefore I see literature as necessary. Yes, we can not change the world by typing, but we can tell what causes war and immigration. I want to tell everyone about it.

Tell us about some of your formative influences and teachers who have been important to you.
My teachers encouraged me to read. I started to study philosophy. I write poetry and I cannot write poetry without reading philosophy.

The Future – What are you currently working on?
I'm working on a Kurdish poem. I am living in the heat. I want to develop projects related to refugee flags and children. I am interested in making documentaries, films, and poetry workshops.