Poem by MUHSINE ARDA
Muhsine Arda was born in Turkey, in 1952. Between 1980-1997 she lived in Great Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia and The USA and traveled extensively around the world . Her first poetry book Erkek Gibi Kadın was published in 1992. For her short stories Yanlış Dokunmalar she was honoured with the Ömer Seyfettin award in 1997. She has been the editor and essay writer for Dikili Ekin-A literature periodical since 1999. Her essays are in collected in a book Dicem Tebüle which was launced in January 2018. Her other poetry books; Marmara’dan Yükselen Dalgalar (2000), Aşkın En Güzel Yanı (2001), Bakire Sevinci (2017). Serçe Yürek (2018). Her novel İntihar Gözyaşları was published in 2015 and was translated to Swedish and Spanish. After leaving her teaching post at New York University in 1997,she moved back to her hometown Bursa, Turkey.She is currently living there.
ASYLUM SEEKER
I am an asylum seeker
daddy packed a suitcase
for each of us
then we were packed
into an old boat
I did not know
where we were going
I did not know
where we were living
I cried and cried because
I had forgotton my Barbie
who was a lovely blonde
my brother was also sad
he had forgotten his ball under his bed
my mother cried too
I was puzzled
because she owned
neither a doll
nor a ball
I cried and cried
the sea water got angry at me
suddenly waves swallowed me
PENCARI SUAKA
Aku seorang pencari suaka
Bapa mengemas pakaian dalam beg
untuk setiap orang
Kemudian kami dimuat
ke dalam bot usang
Aku tak tahu
ke mana kami akan pergi
Aku tak tahu
di mana kami akan hidup
Aku menangis dan menangis
kerana aku terlupa anak patung Barbie ku
dengan rambut perangnya
Adik lelaki ku juga sedih
dia terlupa bola di bawah katilnya,
ibu ku juga menangis
aku hairan
kerana dia tak punya
anak patung
maupun bola
Aku menangis dan menangis
air laut menunjukkan kemarahan kepada ku
tiba-tiba ombak menelan ku .
Translated into Bahasa MELAYU by Siti Ruqaiyah HASHIM
FROM: 3RD WORLD PEACE POEM ANTHOLOGY
‘ARTFUL GAMES OF THE GODS’
COPYRIGHT RESERVED.
