AHMET YALCINKAYA was born in December 1963 in Giresun, Turkey, and grew up in Germany. He has studied engineering, robotics, management, business, and divinity at various universities in Turkey, United States, Uzbekistan and Sweden. He lived in Europe, Turkey, and Central Asia. Lives and works nowadays in Turkmenistan, and continues his studies, research, and teachings in Sweden.
His poems, essays, letters, interviews, and poetry translations have been published by newspapers and journals like Zaman, Al-Ahram Weekly, Impact, Avaz, Harman, Das Licht, Mavera, Yosh Kuch, Kiragi, Endulus, Poezia, Carmina Balcanica and others in Turkey, Germany, England, Egypt, Romania and Uzbekistan. Has been awarded with several prizes. Has taken part in the editorial boards of some literary journals. Edited and published for a short time (1995) the literary journal Mevsim (The Season).
Some of his poems have been translated into languages such as English, Uzbek, Arabic, Tamil, Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Romanian, German, and published abroad.
After his first collection Daglarda Yer Yok (Poems, 1997, “There is not any place in the mountains”), other works like Yetim Kalan Siirler (Poems, 2001, “Orphan Poems”), Yuragimning ko`z yoshi (Selected Poems, 2001, in Uzbek, “Tears of my Heart”), Özlem Sularında (Selected Poems, “In the Waters of Longing”, e-book, 2004, printed, 2005) have been published. He edited and published also the poetry anthology Poems of the Night (2005, 2008) together with Richard Mildstone.
He has also published works in technical and management fields.
An Evening at Sunset on the Mediterranean
sky had made a canvas of purple dreams
so it knows then that I am the missing wave
and knows there is someone whipping the city with her hair
here in the evenings
and an enormous storm broken up from a pair of blue satin
the Mediterranean goes mad as it wildly breezes
what happens is happening to my heart
with irresistible wind of a beauty
freeze my dreams and my heart freezes
not only the Mediterranean is it winnowing itself
everything is crazy here all along, all the way
the same storm finds anything with hearts bored by an arrow
surrounds the sea on all hands with a chilly kiss
swashing on the beach of Antalya like a madding foal
taking away the satin cover of head waters
wraps me up, you, all of us, and this
I bring back perforce by my hands
the ones gone away
then it comes and cuts all the ways with a light beam
the Mediterranean watches magically
head over heels in love and so helpless,
steals those hearts with blue eyes
rips off the bronze horizons with its touching voice
and all the winds are gathered flowingly in its eyes
everything is blue now, everything unicolor
there is a unique picture to which direction I may look,
at sunset on the Mediterranean this time the harmony
is blue but not bronze, being a far set
harmony connecting earth and sky as we took,
is then the neighborhood so deep or did I grow old…
time stopped in an evening at sunset
Ahmet Yalcinkaya
© Translated by A. Edip Yazar
Gün Batarken Akdeniz ‘de Bir Akşam
mor hayallerden tuval yapmış gökyüzü
demek biliyor ki benim kaybolan dalga
ve biliyor saçlarıyla şehri kamçılayan biri var
burada akşamlarda
ve bir çift mavi atlastan kopan muazzam fırtına
estikçe çıldırıyor Akdeniz
olan oluyor yüreğime
bir güzelin karşı konulmaz rüzgarıyla
üşüyor yüreğim ve düşlerim üşüyor
Akdeniz değil sadece kendini savuran
burada her şey çılgındır öteden beri
aynı fırtına gelir bulur kalbi bir okla delinen ne varsa
her yandan kuşatır serin bir öpüşle denizi
deli bir tay gibi kıyılarına çarpar Antalya ‘nın
saten örtüsünü kaldırarak engin suların
sarmalar seni, beni, hepimizi
elimle geri getiririm mecburen gidenleri
kesiverir yolları o gelip sonra bir ışık hüzmesiyle
büyülenmiş gibi seyreder Akdeniz
sırılsıklam ve çaresiz
mavi gözlerle tutup çalar o yürekleri,
söker göklerden tunç ufukları yanık sesiyle
ve akıp tüm rüzgarlar toplanır gözlerinde
her şey mavidir şimdi, her şey tek renk
tek resim var hangi yöne baksam,
gün batarken Akdeniz ‘de bu defa tunç değil mavi
yeri göğü birleştiren ahenk,
yakınlar mı çok derin ben mi yaşlandım yoksa…
gün batarken zaman durdu bir akşam
Ahmet Yalcinkaya
Poetry in this post: © Ahmet Yalcinkaya
Published with the permission of Ahmet Yalcinkaya