Nurduran Duman [Turkey]

 

teapot
 
i mixed with the streets ripped from your roots a rose bud no longer
the road is shortened, one small bud
with my yearnings sunk i’m a tea a little bit blood red, a lesser
lover
 
mother come wrap my sprouting shoots, pick me up tuck me into the house
steep me on the window in your song’s vibrations, garnish with basil
sugar me, stir with your hand make the house drink me mother
 
i left the street i’m a frostbitten petal my sweat is tired
i took my missing feelings back i’m a little bit emptiness, a full separation
i’m a small roof a small portico, i’m a rose bud torn loose
no longer
 
mother come shake off my dust, tuck me like a roll in your chest
raise me again with letters and lullabies, put me to sleep three days and nights
lay me in life mother before your eyes
spread a thick inside over me
 
(Translated by Andrew Wessels)

the sky settled on the lake
 
the sky settled on the lake, clouds a flying carpet
we prepare to step on the moon, its walk
and pass over the moon’s dance, its water and time
 
rustling hydrogen skirts float
passing by our sides by our heads. daybreak.
we spread and are spread from cinnamon to blue from diamond from bee
we’re graced with fields and gardens on the earth’s silk
 
we, too, are learning to cultivate: its light

(Translated by Andrew Wessels)


ability
 
light collides with the flower if there’s an eye color becomes
if there’s no eye it’s just being, becoming becomes only
 
if there’s no ear let the leaf crunch
sound is only being, the echo waiting for the mountain
 
scent desires inhalation to discern/divine the name the reputation
membrane flies from membranes, the knowing of skin with skin
 
the human is the plus one of the world
she is the added value, individual talents
the same loving
 
(Translated by Andrew Wessels)


Author’s  Bionote:

*Nurduran Duman is a Turkish poet and playwright, also known as a columnist, journalist, speaker, translator, editor, and event curator. She holds a degree in Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture from Istanbul Technical University. Her books include "Yenilgi Oyunu" (winner of the 2005 Cemal Süreya Poetry Award), "Mi Bemol", "Exchanging Glances with Istanbul" (novella), "Semi Circle" (published in the US), "Selected Poems" (North Macedonia) and "Selected Poems" (Belgium). Her new poetry collection "Poetry, I Have No Bad News for You" published in 2026, and her "Collected Poems" are currently being prepared for publication in China and North Macedonia in 2026. Her poetry collection "Steps of Istanbul" received the “Poetry Collection of the Year” award at the Second Boao International Poetry Award (China) in 2019, and she was honored with the “Golden Camel Award” at the 2020 Silk Road International Poetry Awards. Most recently, she received the “European Poet of the Year Award” at the Dubai 5th Silk Road International Poetry and Art Festival in 2025. In 2018, she was featured in Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT)’s list of ten women poets in translation from around the world. Additionally, at the request of the Paul Valéry Museum in France, she wrote the poem “Act” regarding a work in the museum’s permanent collection, which was published in the museum’s book “Peinture et Poésie”. Her poems have been translated into many languages. Duman teaches poetry, theatre, creative writing, and literary sociology at various universities and academies. She organizes and hosts the event series “Poetry Soiree with Nurduran Duman”, held every Tuesday in Istanbul for four years. She serves as the Turkey Coordinator for Poets of the Planet and is a member of Versopolis and PEN Turkey.