I quit my job in real
estate
and started a new job:
painting pictures of an empty lot.
The most famous piece of real estate in the world
is a big hole in the ground.
Tourists swarm around this cavity at all times.
Like ants that don’t understand
they creep along the edges,
carry away souvenirs.
I have a new job now,
I told them at the real estate office:
painting pictures at Ground Zero.
A self-proclaimed profession.
I’ve run away to join the circus,
a sentimental media carnival
where artists arrive daily from distant lands
claiming to be on a Mission from God.
Jostling for airtime on the Today show.
And I just keep on painting.
I’ve stepped into a Tom Robbins novel
where businessmen tell me their dreams
where policemen stand around weeping
where fire chiefs dance drunken
wearing lingerie over their uniforms.
And I just keep on painting.
I’ve fallen in love with a street vendor,
a master of economics
selling God Bless America
for the love of Allah.
I’ve fallen in love with an invisible man:
“Attaboy, Ataturk–
If U R Kurdish U R Arrested.”
(For the Innocent are always invisible)
(For the Loving are mute and robbed of their tongues)
On 9-11- 01 an airplane left Istanbul
carrying an invisible man.
An invisible man in search of a language
to replace one that had been stolen.
Searching for a tongue with which to cry
“Let there be Justice for my People!”
And I just keep on painting.
I miss you, my love,
so much
it feels like the inside of me has been removed and is crushing in
I am so sad and missing you so much today
Our honeymoon is like a garden that began to grow in spring
when a cruel snow fell, freezing all the little plants
and making the flowers wither and die
I hate this war with all the strength in my poor painful body
I hate the horrific tragic loss of innocent lives
I loathe the vengeful hateful feelings that arise in human hearts
I despise the cold and heartless ones who carry out orders
and the greedy monsters who give them, licking their lips
as if sitting down to a tasty meal
And now I have one more reason to hate this stupid,
nauseating and frightful war:
I hate it for taking my beloved from my side!
I hate that you could be here with me and are not,
are for conscience' sake about to enter into terrible danger.
I love and admire your unselfish courage, but
I hate the evil that forced you to this choice.
I hate this war, I hate all wars
for filling our hearts with fear for the future
with fear that there may not be a future!
Our hearts should be rejoicing with love!
I hate it for causing us to doubt
whether life should even be
whether we have the right to a single simple pleasure
and whether we can spare the time
for happiness.
Beloved,
we are such pathetic newlyweds, you and I
our honeymoon was only the beginning
of a long separation
and where it will end
I cannot foresee.
But when the day comes, as I pray it will
when I can feel your arms pressing me once more
to your beating heart
when the slow slow clock rings the hour
that is the end of our loneliness
and the beginning of our lives-- at last! together
then, Kocam,
the true honeymoon will start!
Our honeymoon
will be like the stars that appear at night
but are always there, unseen
throughout the brightest day.
Our honeymoon, my husband
will be as long as life
and blessed with such great tenderness
that the angels will weep with joy
to see the sweetness of our love.
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