Bir Martıyı Ağlattın Sen (Küçük İSKENDER)
Original Version
Coordinator/ Human Translation
Machine Translation (Google Translate)
BİR MARTIYI AĞLATTIN SEN
bir martıyı ağlattın işte
bir çocuk garanti intihar eder artık
kütür kütür küfrediyor gece imanıma
bir yaprak kırılıp suya düşüyor
su yaralanıyor su kanıyor şelale!
ah nasıl titredim tensiz
bir piyanist büküldü sanki
kesişen ayrışık doğrular gibi
çarpışıverdim yüzünle. Yüzün
öyle düzgün suna bir elyazısı
yüzün yüzüme aksedince
yüzün ayna alnımda
yüzün uzun hüzünlü bir alınyazısı!
bitmemiş bir ömrün yalanısın
sen: kâbuslarımın tabiri
çocukluğumun arta kalanısın!
öldüreceğim kendimi dudaklarınla
dudakların etle, şehvetle seferber
sen! bana inen son kutsal kitap
son fakir yatır
son aciz peygamber!
bir martıyı ağlattın işte
bir çocuk garanti intihar eder artık.
YOU MADE A SEAGULL CRY
You made a seagull cry
Now a child will definitely commit suicide
The night curses fiercely at my faith
A leaf breaks and falls into the water
The water is wounded, bleeding like a waterfall!
Oh, how I trembled without a body
Like a pianist bent out of shape
Colliding like intersecting and diverging lines
I collided with your face. Your face
So perfectly smooth, like elegant handwriting
When your face reflects on mine
Your face becomes a mirror on my forehead
Your face, a long, melancholic inscription!
You are the illusion of an unfinished life
You: the interpretation of my nightmares
The remnants of my childhood!
I will kill myself with your lips
Your lips mobilized with flesh, with desire
You! The last holy scripture descending upon me
The final humble grave
The last feeble prophet!
You made a seagull cry
Now a child will definitely commit suicide.
YOU MADE A SEAGULL CRY
you made a seagull cry
a child commits suicide
the night is cursing my faith
a leaf breaks and falls into the water
the water is hurting the water is bleeding waterfall!
oh how i trembled
like a pianist bent
like intersecting divergent lines
I collided with your face. Your face
present such a neat handwriting
when your face is on my face
your face is mirror on my forehead
your face is a long sad fate!
you are the lie of an unfinished life
you: the phrase of my nightmares
You are the remnant of my childhood!
I will kill myself with your lips
your lips mobilize with flesh, lust
you! the last scripture that came down to me
last poor lay
the last helpless prophet!
you made a seagull cry
A child will commit suicide now.
Critical Reading and Analysis: Çıraklı “A Modest Proposal for Critical Reading”
Küçük İskender (1964–2019), born Derman İskender Över, was one of the most prominent and rebellious poets in contemporary Turkish literature. Known for his provocative style and exploration of existential themes, Küçük İskender often wrote about love, alienation, death, and sexuality in ways that defied social norms. "Bir Martıyı Ağlattın Sen" (You Made a Seagull Cry) exemplifies his unique voice, blending surreal imagery with emotional intensity. The poem reflects Küçük İskender's recurring themes of despair, emotional turmoil, and the intersection between love and death.
The poem takes place in a surreal and emotionally charged landscape, where natural and urban elements collide. The world created here is one of intense emotional pain, where a seagull crying and a child contemplating suicide serve as metaphors for the speaker’s inner turmoil. The night becomes hostile, "swearing at my faith," while the imagery of water being wounded and bleeding creates a sense of pervasive vulnerability. The speaker is caught in a deeply personal crisis, facing an emotional collision with someone whose presence (and perhaps rejection) causes immense psychological pain. The surreal environment mirrors the speaker’s fragmented emotional state.
Modernist Turkish Poetry
• Equilibrium: The speaker is in a state of emotional vulnerability, reflecting on their inner world. • Disruption: The presence or memory of the beloved causes turmoil, disrupting the speaker’s emotional stability, symbolized by the crying seagull and the violent night. • Recognition: The speaker recognizes the depth of their despair and emotional chaos, realizing the intense impact the beloved has on their psychological state. • Attempt to repair the damage: The speaker engages in introspection, confronting their own pain and desire for release, even contemplating self-destruction as a way to cope. • New equilibrium: The speaker reaches a resigned acknowledgment of their pain and the impossibility of escaping it, using the metaphor of the crying seagull and suicidal child to highlight the depth of their emotional wound.
• Childhood Traumas: Reference to former experiences—possibly unpleasant ones— show that Childhood still has a lasting impact on a the speaker’s psychological development. The character’s inclination for suicidal ideation and depression are also indicative that the line , “I will kill myself with your lips,” alludes to extreme pessimism and unrepaired despair. The speaker’s defence mechanism of projection makes him/her interact with others who hurt him/her relentlessly, eventually causing a personality split between Self (I) and other (you).
• Childhood Traumas vs. Development of Self • Joy of Life vs. Depression • Self-consciousness vs. Personality Split
