In The Encyclopedia Of Forgotten Beings Poem by Ulas Basar Gezgin

Volume 1. Women

In the encyclopedia of forgotten beings,
I assigned the seat of honor for you,
In the memoirs book of some sort, of my heart.

Your view gets darker and darker by years,
The songs that we felt a sense of belonging are getting older,
New metro lines are inaugurated, some of them getting dysfunctional,
A fire in the department stores, just extinguished,
They are clapping the young artisan,
My memory is full, and then empty, full and then empty,
In this volume, I assigned for you thousands of pages,
In this volume, I assigned for you thousands of entries,
In this volume, I spent thousands of inkpots...

New oppressors surfaced in the history, as well as the new oppresseds,
However, no savior prophet appeared, who knows why not...
Everybody is grieving in front of his door, everybody separately,
Everybody is separately dreaming, hoping, singing.
Phone booths insisting on not returning the phone card...
The pines that had revolted against the dark winter are swinging by the wind,
The rebels are always alone, they are just a single bullet,
However they take over power, when they become millions, billions;
I even forgot how many of them there were...

I forgot your name, your face, the way you walk,
Maybe you are no longer you, you are somebody else,
I would never know this. Never ever...

In this encyclopedia I narrated you for hundred thousand pages,
If I would remember you just a little bit, you won't be in this book.

In the encyclopedia for forgotten women,
I wrote about your red shoes, your green shawl...
There would be no more offhand entry other than this...


2002