Anthology – Preface: Enis Akın
Translation: Angeliki Efstratiadi
Ali Erbil, Cihat Duman, Davut Yücel, Enes Malikoğlu, İnanç Avadit, Melda Köser, Mihrap Aydin, Nazlı Yıldırım, Ozan Can Türkmen, Ozan Eren, Sevinç Çalhanoğlu, UfukAkbal, Özgür Göreçki, Rıdvan Gecü
Find the book here
Robespierre said, “History is written by the victors,” but Deleuze asserted “Nomads have no history, only geography.”
It seems, nomads are double-deleted out of the human history.
This little piece will never achieve being a definitive preface for contemporary Turkish poetry.
This book represents a selection of most notable young Turkish poets, that I recommended, poets, who undertook the challenge of providing the contemporary reader a reason.
Most of the times, a reason is all we need to survive.
When this preface was being written, circa 2020, COVID-19 quarantine was sweeping away the last remaining traces of “nomadness” off of human society. No geography for you, only lock-down, only curfew.
In this battle of contemporary times it was a challenge to have a walk on the streets, or have a tea with a friend.
We are unable to walk around freely.
In these confined days of curfew, we found that music, poems, and other forms of art have helped us to go on.
In the solitude of our homes we learned that just being able to walk around on the streets of the city is indeed an important humanly activity.
We missed our “nomadness.”
Even if it seems as if it is wiped off of history, surprisingly, our “nomadness” was still a part of us.
Most of the times, a reason is all we need togo on living.
One may say all poet’s efforts for providing a meaning of life are destined to end up in defeat, but the fight itself will always remain to be noteworthy.
A poet is who stands against the wind, tries to see beyond today and here.
If current economic relations devalue anything that does not produce profit, then poetry is, by definition, anti-capitalist.
This is something I can live with.
In ancient times, I do not doubt that the first human painter, using a piece of coal on a cave wall as her/his canvas, was judged by his/her peers who shouted at her/him to “stop playing around and go find some food.”
Today, around 30,000 years later, the expectations of wider society are the same.
Everywhere under-informed critics of art continue criticising the poets that they are “escaping from reality.”
I am not suggesting that the poems should not have any social context, how can such an art even be possible?
Well, in my opinion, today in Turkey, poetry is something like this in this collection.
I am just saying, in too many words maybe, that this is not a good time to shut our poems in, it is time to open up.
We have a long history of living as neighbours, we used to live on the same streets, now we have a border and the beautiful Aegean between us.
If same earthquake brings down both of our buildings, is it too much to expect same poets should trigger notes of both our hearts?
Enis Akın