I BUY OLD THINGS

When I was a little girl, I wasn't yet acquainted with poetry. I didn't even know what literature was until one day when I stumbled upon a poem in one of the newspapers at home. From that moment on, I fell in love with poetry and the poet. I had just entered the second grade, I was very young, and perhaps I didn't fully understand the poem, but it opened doors to a new world for me. The author of that poem, Orhan Veli Kanık, became the first poet I loved in my life.

I read that poem repeatedly, memorized every word, and wrote it down in a corner of my notebook. Maybe I didn't fully understand what it was saying at the time, but it ignited dreams within me. Perhaps that's why I fell in love with the poet behind those dreams. Orhan Veli wasn't just a poet to me; he was also a source of inspiration that fueled my imagination.

I BUY OLD THINGS

I buy old things

And turn them into stars

Music is the food of the soul

I adore music

I write poems

I write poems and buy old things

I exchange old things for music

And if I were a fish in a bottle of raki

The man who wrote this poem was charming and imaginative enough to want to be a fish in a bottle of raki. My dream of meeting him occupied my mind every day. I pondered for hours what I would say to him when we met. Perhaps we would talk about his poems, maybe we would push the boundaries of imagination together.

But one day, I learned from a book that Orhan had died of a brain hemorrhage many years before. This news shook me to the core. My dream of meeting him and talking to him shattered into a million pieces. However, I decided to turn to his legacy, his writings, to understand him better.

I was still very young then, and Orhan Veli's poems might have started to feel a bit heavy for my age. But that didn't diminish the love I felt for him. After some time, I found myself drawn to Orhan Veli's poems again. I had grown into a bigger person, ready to delve into the depths of his poetry.

As I read his poems, I began to understand his thought world better. I realized that Orhan Veli wasn't just a dreamer; he was also a keen observer and a deeply emotional person. The intensity of emotion and the touch upon the human psyche in his poetry deeply moved me.

Perhaps that's why my connection to Orhan Veli's poetry never waned. His works weren't just lines from a poet's pen to me; they were traces of a person's life. Even today, when I read his poems, I feel the same excitement and emotion. Orhan Veli became a turning point in my life, and his works continue to be an endless source of inspiration for me. this is my favorite poem.

I Can't Explain

I can't explain, I can't find words,

It's something I've never felt before,

It's not love, it's not pain,

It's something I can't explain.

It's like a breeze on a summer day,

Or a distant memory that won't go away,

It's like a song you can't quite sing,

Or a melody that makes your heart ring.

I try to grasp it, to hold it tight,

But it slips away into the night,

It's like a dream that fades at dawn,

Leaving me wondering what went wrong.

I search for answers, but none are found,

It's like chasing shadows on the ground,

I can't explain, I can't define,

This feeling that is uniquely mine.

So I'll keep it locked inside my heart,

A secret that sets me apart,

For though I can't explain, I still believe,

In the magic of what I perceive.