Elevator

Sunay AKIN

ELEVATOR

Operators
connect me to you darling
nuclear power plants connect me to death
noone can answer
the smoke coming out of a boat
asking where the sky is

İstanbul is a mother
swinging her baby on a suspension bridge
and Leander's Tower
is her bottle
full of milk
dipped in water to cool

Pen is no servant to sword
and sword none to pen
they should learn to live together
let the pen
write love poems
and the sword be its sharpener

We smell the scent of a man
even when we're alone
and Robinson couldn't rid himself
of the fear of getting caught
when he masturbated for he first time
on his desert island

We are all elevators
hanging in our own space
and I hold
a fresh carnation
stuck between
two women

Translated by Şehnaz Tahir