Ataol Behramoğlu

Ataol Behramoğlu (born 13 April 1942) is a Turkish poet, author, translator and columnist.

Quotes



 * I do not remember any other term when the force that had captured the political power in this country had become so vulgar as it is today, so corrupt, and so hypocritical; when the legal system had been so downtrodden, deteriorated, collapsed and turned into a means of cruelty.
 * "Two Heart Pain" ["İki Kalp Ağrısı"], in Republic [Cumhuriyet] (16 June 2012)

Rendered it brilliant with meaning''' They were eyes, that embraced me with glances They were eyes, for which I now hopelessly long
 * '''They were eyes, that while gazing on the world
 * "They Were Eyes", as translated at Kritya : A Journal of Poetry

I've Learned Some Things (2008)

 * I've Learned Some Things : Selected Poems (2008), as translated by Walter G. Andrews; alternate translations also provided, as noted.



If you're alive, experience one thing with all your power''' Your beloved should be worn out from being kissed And you should drop exhausted from the smelling of a flower
 * '''I've learned some things from having lived:
 * "I've Learned Some Things" ["Yaşadıklarımdan Öğrendiğim Bir Şey Var"] (1977)

Can gaze for hours at a bird, a child, the sea To live on the earth is to become part of it To strike down roots that won't pull free One can look for hours at the sea, at a bird, at a child Living on this world is being one with it Growing unbreakable roots into it
 * A person can gaze at the sky for hours
 * "I've Learned Some Things" (1977)
 * Variant translations:
 * One can look at the sky for hours
 * Translated as "There Is One Thing I Learned From What I Lived" by Sãleyman Fatih Akgãl at TC Turkish Poetry Pages

As though filling all the self with sound and melody One should plunge head-first into life As one dives from a cliff into the emerald sea
 * To your utmost, listen to every beautiful song
 * "I've Learned Some Things" (1977)

To read every book, know other's lives, you should be burning You shouldn't exchange for anything the pleasure of a glass of water No matter how much the joy, your life should be filled with yearning
 * Distant lands should draw you, people you don't know
 * "I've Learned Some Things" (1977)

If you're alive, experience largely, merge with rivers, heavens, cosmos For what we call living is a gift given to life And life is a gift bestowed upon us''' When you live, you must live big, like being one with the rivers, the sky, and the whole universe Because '''what we call lifetime is a gift presented to life And life is a gift presented to you.'''
 * '''I've learned some things from having lived:
 * "I've Learned Some Things" (1977)
 * Variant translations:
 * There is one thing I learned from what I lived:
 * Translated as "There Is One Thing I Learned From What I Lived" by Sãleyman Fatih Akgãl at TC Turkish Poetry Pages

Love is a two-person thing''' Love requires two people
 * '''Death, one experiences alone
 * "Love is a Two-Person Thing" ["Aşk İki Kişiliktir"] (1994)
 * Variant translations:
 * The only thing experienced alone is death

I was going to write a poem, I was stifling, fed up with old things Eat, my mother says, but they're all things I've grown accustomed to, in the end. Like Camus and — I don’t know — people like that, I'm cracking up Everything will begin when it untangles itself from your hair
 * Gulls into the water, women proudly into the bazaars
 * "How Awful When Poetry Ages As It Is Read"

A person should let himself go.'''
 * Is the truth of tablecloths to be spread? '''How awful always to take refuge in known words
 * "How Awful When Poetry Ages As It Is Read"

Later they'll make a picture or something, then go and drink wine
 * Writing poems is perhaps the loveliest deception
 * "How Awful When Poetry Ages As It Is Read"

Maybe there were new things over there It comes from within me to write as though rabid, I'm hungry, do you understand Let the doctors call it what they will '''Who can know anything best of all What does it mean to know anything best Which religion doesn't grow old'''
 * I'd make me into a brand new sailor if I were God
 * "How Awful When Poetry Ages As It Is Read"

If I stop thinking and put my hands down perhaps I will have much to say I'm scurrying to the attic like a solitary bug Before you become old and ugly, I must kiss you on the nose
 * I want to write poetry, I'm bored, disgusted by my habits
 * "How Awful When Poetry Ages As It Is Read"

In dark black waters they arise Dark songs pass before their eyes They lie awake gazing into darkness
 * Once more in that hour of darkness
 * "Black Song" ["Kara Şarki"]

Suddenly they grew tired, out of breath Little by little they felt the death Of some places left in darkness
 * In the most affirming places of their love
 * "Black Song"

The Poet's Poetic Responsibility (2012)

 * "The Poet's Poetic Responsibility" ["Şairin Şiire Sorumluluğu"], in TÜYAP (18 November 2012)


 * The poet should be responsible to the poem.


 * A poem is a living organism.


 * Creativity is a hidden gem. Education is needed to uncover it.