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Product description Selected poems translated from the original in Turkish; some of these translations have appeared in Hanging loose magazine. Review Orhan Veli Kanik, to use his full name, was one of the two or three indisputably great Turkish poets of this century. Writing at a time when the Turkish language was undergoing vast changes (primarily because words derived from Arabic and Persian were being exchanged for new ones in "Turkish"), Orhan Veli chose a vernacular, rather than traditional or literary, idiom for his poetry. English is so different from Turkish (which does not belong to the Indo-European family), that it is virtually impossible for translators to do more than hint at the nature of the originaL The successful translation of these poems requires a vocabulary and syntax which, at least, operates satisfactorily on its own terms (even if it fails to echo the original). And only a poet can do that. Murat Nemet-Nejat is a native speaker of Turkish (he grew up in Istanbul, Orhan Veli's city), but he has long since established himself as a respected translator and poet in English. He has not so much translated Orhan Veli's poems as recreated them in English. Talat Sait Halman, the dean of Turkish-English translators, tried this twenty years ago and succeeded. Now we have two remarkable versions in English. At the center of Orhan Veli's work is great charm and playfulness but, simultaneoulsy, a terrible sadness. It requires enormous dexterity to keep that balance in English, but this is exactly what Nemet-Nejat does. Here is his version of "Birds Tell Lies": "Do not listen. my coat~ do not listen To what the birds are telling you, You are my confidante in life. Do not listen, birds tell this lie With every coming spring; Do not listen, my coat, do not, ever!" -- From
