Gulf Turkish Holiday Heritage

“To return at last from Turkey
with my memories safely stored
between thin clear plastic pages.”

This is all I save from Turkey
where youth beauty are service bled
lifeblood devalues faster than wages.

Its January 1991 Saddam Hussein
is finally getting his ass kicked; during
the war I remained in Istanbul but

a holiday toward the scud threatened
border was too cheap to refuse; strange
watching fearful flee direction opposite

alive adrenaline rush alive dead chickens
would give warning gas was about to;
claim take our civilian collateral damage

[...] Read more

poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Fire Night

I wore the fire night
fires sorrounded and covered İ STANBUL
I was alone...I was poison..I was poisonous
and all my bridges were blown up
ı sank my ships with my own bare hands
İ stanbul was burning

suffocating and suffocating
you were in blazes
you were burning
your screams
ı could never forget
your hair was in blazes..burning
fire reached to my lips
noone saw the fires
noone afforded a dropp of water to estinguish
you were a hell burning
istanbul was a hell..burning
and me an old hell...burning
my poems began to scream

[...] Read more

poem by Metin Sahin
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Constantinople Line

Hey waiter
Im first class
Hey waiter
Where are we now?
Am I last
Am I last
Hey waiter
Dont talk back
These tenants speak
A travellers language
Caucasian talk
Theyre saying nothing
I see a land
As we crawl by night
I see a face
In the window in front
These stations are useful
These stations we love them
Newspaper
Encounter

[...] Read more

song performed by Simple Minds
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Florence Nightingale's Crimean War Patients

The facts myth and legend.

'Florence Nightingale
laboured in Constantinople;
nursing surgical period
Crimean War casualties;
British soldiers treats
near on two weary legless years.'

November 1854 sees
Nightingale's ship arrived;
at Selimiye Barracks
in Scutari Constantinople;
modern-day Üsküdar in
present day Istanbul Turkey.

Nightingale's staff
consisting of courageous;
38 women volunteer nurses
trained by Nightingale;

[...] Read more

poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Tim

Of the infidels of the East and,
Of the Christendom's Shrines;
But the crown of your thrown is like the feet of a bear,
So be very wise to handle issues of love.

Constantinople,
Open to the gates of war!
And with the culmination of things shared around,
But this muse will teach you my King.

Tim,
You are hellenized to deceive the eyes!
But the mouth of the lion is like the place of war.

poem by Edward Kofi Louis
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

November Memories

Sad autumn moments in
two thousand and three,
as victims were shopping
in Istanbul by the sea...
terrorism struck and bombs
brought despair; people
were deranged as debris
filled the air ~ little children
cried, many parents died.
All Turkey was silenced at
the truck-bomb violence.
Six years have been and
gone...but history lives on.

poem by Joyce Hemsley
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Towards Peace

Tomorrow can begin once you steer towards peace,
Inside the house of mercy is stored Byzantium.
To this brick of happiness and longevity
We study the references made of joy to come.
Winning us a favour on this side of the world
Is like that of Knowledge Keep.
Offer me a gift of tragedy to bespeak
And I will inherit all riches, so to the hardest.
Peace stores courage so mildly that we utter
Words of decisive nature, the opposite of regret.

poem by Naveed Akram
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Time Displaced Empires Conflict Expire

Byzantium Byzantine Empire survives;
to be time displaced Islam at greatest extent?
Arab Empire this region controlled 75%.

Europe dark Middle Ages slowly recovers;
Renaissance rebirth of 12th century leads
after centuries to European new aspirations?

Naval prowess of growing European powers?
Forced flexes muscles Ottoman Empire confronts
halts further rapid Ottoman Empire expansions?

European Catholic maritime states;
a coalition of southern Mediterranean
a Holy League fleet in 1571assembles?

Illustrious members were the Papal States;
Habsburg states of Spain Sicily Naples;
Republic of Venice Republic of Genoa mobilizes;

[...] Read more

poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Night They Won The Cup

Three-nil down at half time
And totally outclassed
Liverpool they came out flying
With a passion from the past
Three-one, three-two then three all
And into extra time
But the score stuck fast at three-three
As Dudek stood on his line
He saved the first two penalties
With some antics he’d made up
And it was magic there in Istanbul
The night they won the cup.

poem by David Keig
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Greeted By Your Smile

Spent 43 straight hours
at airports on flights
traveling by day and night
thinking of a friend.
I’ll meet at journey’s end,
be in Istanbul by 2pm. Amen.

Like dew at break of dawn
my heart grows steadily warm
as I strive to slip free,
of this weariness I’ve borne.

All this and more worthwhile
when greeted by the radiance
of your smile.

poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Knock It Down

Gonna steal your soul
By remote control
We smell and audience
We smell money
I don't need a gun
I own the network, son
And they love Baywatch
In Istanbul yeah

Chorus
Knock it down, knock it down, knock it down, knock it down yeah
Knock it down, knock it down, knock it down, knock it down yeah
Forget your culture
Forget your language
I'll give you virtual reality love oh!

Chorus 3 times

song performed by Fastball
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I Love You

I love you
like dipping bread into salt and eating
Like waking up at night with high fever
and drinking water, with the tap in my mouth
Like unwrapping the heavy box from the postman
with no clue what it is
fluttering, happy, doubtful
I love you
like flying over the sea in a plane for the first time
Like something moves inside me
when it gets dark softly in Istanbul
I love you
Like thanking God that we live.

poem by Nazim Hikmet
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

I Am Leaving Alexandria

Ah, I am leaving Alexandria
and will not see it for a long time!
I will see Cyprus, dear to the Goddess,
I will see Tyre, Epheses and Smyrna,
I will see Athens - the dream of my youth,
Corinth and far Byzantium
and the crown of all desires,
the goal of all strivings -
I will see great Rome! -
I will see everything, but not you!
Ah, I am leaving you, my darling,
and will not see you for a long, long time!
I will see much beauty
and look into many eyes,
I will kiss many lips,
I will caress many curls,
and I will whisper many names
waiting for trysts in many woods.
I will see everything, but not you!

poem by Mikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

At times it might look (in answer to W. B. Yeats)

At times it might look and feel if the young
are truly living, are really happy,
as if to them the whole world does belong
in their bliss, even in iniquity;

some call ageing trifling, even paltry,
but in the eyes of the honest true love,
age brings a kind of great maturity
and nothing can the loveliness remove

which in each word and deed selfless express
the greatest kind of sheer loving kindness
when a heart does unwavering love possess
and love has a own unique blindness

that does overreach everything else,
a deep thing about which any poet tells.

[Reference: "Sailing to Byzantium" by W.B. Yeats.]

poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Nocturnal Transmissions

At night in dreams she comes to me
In full length gown with veil of lace
With nobility, grace, grand authority
Gives sweet kiss ‘n warm embrace

Sits face-to-face with me then speaks
Of her many travels to distant places
Like Istanbul, Beijing, Mozambique
Of other lands she sometime graces

Reveals beauty of God’s Creation
The value of a loving heart, soul
The power of prayer, meditation
About man’s longing to be whole

My Guardian Angel then takes flight
As night gives way to morning light

ROTMS

poem by Ray Lucero
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Paul Anka

I put a record or a disc oı ver there...on the old veteran record player...and the disc began to turn byself onthe tı urntable...what a fantacy....look at the music...shattering the room...to my memories...see it...from ancient scratched old and ancientr recorded things....paul ANKA sings in my ears...''I am so young...you are so old..this my darling ı have been told......oh please stay with me diana....and so so so...go record go...take the rust of my ears...the turntable clumsily turns....that takes me to the years...1955 or 1960s....or something later or between.....ı was a student in a boarding school...in istanbul......istanbul..istanbull...there must be a song like this nowadays...in desolate rooms on vacations....the songs of paul were my companı ons to my lonelı hood....ı imagined the seas....lived fancy loves...sung by his songs...but that was in memories....ı was in love with the lady with a big umbrella....yes ı did it my way....under the voices of dean martin...frank sinatra and santana...the magic woman was our secret....while my brother managing the music room and the pı ano....ı wrote humble poems lı ke these...paul was a famous singer then....a boy genı us...world known...years passed so quı ckly....after 38 years in the home affairs..ı retired...become an old poet unknown...but their songs too dissapeared....now we live in a world of internet...and easy hand....my lips cannot sing songs.....teenaging left....ı wönder where were those singers went....thge name of paul anka and pat where do they rest.....april love has been forgotten very soon...we lı ve in a world following spoon...hunger is not satisfied with the spoon...but our souls will need them soon....where have they gone.....their songs appear on my old veteran lazy turntable ancient...ı bought from the flea market...from time to time....come lets listen them...remember our old days...lets sigh a little bit fun

poem by Metin Sahin
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Filling the Emotions with Serenity...

Istanbul turkey...
Sailing away from Marmarra coast to the black sea...
Watching the ships, boats, sail and the waters so endlessly
The golden sunlight glistens and the cool...breeze so bountiful.
Caressing my weary face, cheering my soul in plentiful.
Trapped in emotional battles, that seem less to cease.
The mind wonders and has no limitations or boundaries.
The skipper shares a smile, steering the ship with dignity.
The sound of the waters, the moving ship majestically...
And Ahoy! Away from the demands that’s so stressed...
To enjoy life for a day, a great remedy a much needed rest.
(Summer 2011)

poem by Shirani Ibrahim
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Message from the Sea of Marmarra 2011

From across the oceans we meet old friends..
new friends, a walking miracl...e into my life,
Sharing a world that is shaking, trembling
and a life with a continuous strife,
Words so kind, loving and memories kept
to rise with every stumble, every fall...
A towering strenght to steadilly move on
with confidence dignity and to walk tall.
Now From Marmara/Black seas i send you
to share a few uncertain, but happy hours
With Friends so priceless, smiled into my heart..
with the sweetest fragrance of all the flowers!
Between Eurpoe and Asia Istanbul...with al my love n

(Not forgetting Seda n Derrya/Summer 2011)

poem by Shirani Ibrahim
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Things I Didn't Know I Loved

it's 1962 March 28th
I'm sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train
night is falling
I never knew I liked
night descending like a tired bird on a smoky wet plain
I don't like
comparing nightfall to a tired bird

I didn't know I loved the earth
can someone who hasn't worked the earth love it
I've never worked the earth
it must be my only Platonic love

and here I've loved rivers all this time
whether motionless like this they curl skirting the hills
European hills crowned with chateaus
or whether stretched out flat as far as the eye can see
I know you can't wash in the same river even once
I know the river will bring new lights you'll never see
I know we live slightly longer than a horse but not nearly as long as a crow

[...] Read more

poem by Nazim Hikmet
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

A Byzantine Nobleman In Exile Composing Verses

The frivolous can call me frivolous.
I've always been most punctilious about
important things. And I insist
that no one knows better than I do
the Holy Fathers, or the Scriptures, or the Canons of the Councils.
Whenever he was in doubt,
whenever he had any ecclesiastical problem,
Botaniatis consulted me, me first of all.
But exiled here (may she be cursed, that viper
Irini Doukaina) , and incredibly bored,
it is not altogether unfitting to amuse myself
writing six- and eight-line verses,
to amuse myself poeticizing myths
of Hermes and Apollo and Dionysos,
or the heroes of Thessaly and the Peloponnese;
and to compose the most strict iambics,
such as—if you'll allow me to say so—
the intellectuals of Constantinople don't know how to compose.
It must be just this strictness that provokes their disapproval.

poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!