Mesut Senol [Turkey]

 

The Tongue of Love
 
An emerald bird rises from the bushes
                                    out of the blue
Barking hounds follow a trail
                                    with their faceless rage
Emancipated souls get jaded regardless
                                    at least for a while
So gigantic - as it were - a desire’s vastness
                                    tears drops turn into a snowball
 
Yet love keeps its solid grasp in people’s fate
                                    it can speak for its objective
Its tongue utters a language everybody can guess
                                    even the nonsense matters there
Foreign pastures become homeland meadows
                                    you can afford to go virtual
Ghostlike existence perpetuates at loving hearts
                                    a never dying experience
 
Dilemmas run amok in the planet of love
                                    who gets hurt nobody knows
Resignation to the end and the fate’s unfair games
                                    a case always proves to fail
Just like the tongue of love’s claim to achieving its goal
                                    what is given to us by stars
An illusion of moon’s reflection paints a different picture
                                    an epic narration in a bizarre style
 
Love’s codes written by the monks of desire for one kiss
                                    and believe me
                                    this legend will never become obsolete
 
 
 
A Crazy Woman
 
You were nuts in the longest moment
 
With your pearly teeth you were biting me
Though smooth and coated passion we had
It was such a pleasantly lighted flare
 
I didn’t mind you were out of your mind
Stretching your imagination pushed many envelopes
Bruises on the body registered as love wounds
They did not require a special treatment
 
I loved your being attracted to me
Even your foot dragging in commitment
The best part of our breezy period
A crazy woman, that’s you, didn’t fail me
 
 
Her Teeth and Dreams
 
the moment one takes a step for a journey
equal to the hurting and tickling pleasure of biting
one wonders whether the helm of the dream-sailed ship steers
for sure she is destined to reach the mid oceans
one would look between the teeth and dreams
of the waters accompanied by the fatigue of the voyages
 
in the race with the wind pretending to whistle
ecstatic from the cinnamon smell of sleeplessness
without touching of the fingers on the neck
there is an awkwardness in the riddle solved through kisses
the projections of light from the passing and shooting stars reflect
the greenhouse of our soul seems to be the dungeon for rare flowers
 
an attack through the brainwaves but without any riffles or artillery
the bullets of the soul have a genuine power to injure
in order to pick the fallen ones behind the line
some run and fetch them to teach a lesson
a cure for longing, just a drop out of the thirst medicine
shall enter stubbornly into the noble soul carried by that body
 
 
Author’s Bionote:
 
*Mesut Şenol graduated from the Political Science Faculty of the Ankara University in Turkey. Earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Public Relations. Served as District Governor, Vice-Governor and Mayor in various regions of Turkey. Worked as an editor at the Directorate General for Press and Information and served as Prime Ministry’s PR Division Head and Prime Ministry Advisor. His eight poetry collections were published, and many of his poetry and literary translations appeared in many national and foreign literary publications and anthologies. A freelance translator and instructor on public relations, communications, public speaking and voluntarism. Attended in a number of national and international poetry and literary festivals in the country and abroad, and acting as an organizer for some of them. An Honour Prize laureate of Naji Naaman’s Literary Prizes 2011. Mr. Senol is a member of the Turkish PEN Center, Union for Translators, Turkey’s Writers Syndicate, FILM-SAN, Turkish Authors’ Association, Turkish Journalists Association, Union of Authors of Scientific and Literary Works, and FIJET (World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers. He serves on the Executive Board of the Three Seas (Baltic Sea, Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea) Writers and Translators Council headquartered in Rhodes. He is the Culture Delegate of Spain based literary organization “Liceo Poetico De Benidorm” and a member of “Movimiento Poetas del Mundo”. He was awarded with the First Prize at the International Galeteo Literature Prize Contest in Italy in September 2017, and with the TULLIOLA-RENATO FILIPELLI 2019 Prize at the Italian Senate in Rome. Currently he teaches at the Communications Department of Bahçeşehir University and the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies of Yeditepe University. He is the editor-in-chief of Papirus literary magazine.