A little bit of Turkish: Bal (Honey) Parmak (Finger/Toe) Yalamak (to lick) Tutmak (to hold)

Bal tutan parmak yalar.

Who holds honey, licks fingers.

The image of The Empress above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

It was tight,
but The Slip Inn managed to open for the wedding:

and with a free buffet and wedding cake too!

A little bit of Turkish: Alet (Tool, Instrument, slang term for Penis) Iş (Work) El (Hand)

Alet işler, el öğünür.
The tool does the work, the man* grabs the pride.


*lit. hand


The above image of the bateleur is from the Tarot de Marseille style Noblet Tarot. An excellently crafted restoration of the Noblet Tarot deck is available from the master card-maker Jean-Claude Flornoy.

A little bit of Turkish: Taş (Stone) Baş (Head) Yarmak (to split)

Her taş, baş yarmaz.
Not every stone will split your head.


The image of The Tower above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

A little bit of Turkish: Yeni (New) Dost (Friend) Şarap (Wine) Eski (Old)

Her şeyin yenisi, dostun, şarabın eskisi.
Everything is good when new, but old friends and wine are best.


The image of Temperance above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

A little bit of Turkish: Cami (Mosque) Imam (Islamic spiritual and temporal leader; Islamic scholar; one who leads prayers at Islamic gatherings) Bilmek (to know) Okur (Reader)

Cami ne kadar büyük olsa imam bildiğini okur.
However big the congregation, the reader tells the same story.*
Turkish Proverb


*lit. '...mosque, the imam reads what he knows.'


The image of The High Priestess above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

A little bit of Turkish: Deli (Fool, Lunatic, Devotee) Gün (Day) Bayram (Holiday)

Deliye her gün bayram.

Every day is a holiday for a fool.

The image of The Fool above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

Deli | Ölüm ~ Fool | Death

A little bit of Turkish: Hoşlanmak (to like, be pleased with, enjoy)

Deli deliden hoşlanır, imam ölüden.

The fool is pleased with a fool, the imam with a dead person.
Turkish Proverb

The images here are from the Tarot de Marseille style Imperatrix Tarot by F. J. Campos - one of the many decks that are included in the Orphalese Tarot program.

windowed wall

windowed wall:

across filtered light
shadows shout,
bricks worn and cracked
curtains always drawn

First published in Simply Haiku, Winter 2011:

http://simplyhaiku.webs.com/

Spring 2011 Issue of Simply Haiku is now online:

http://simplyhaiku.theartofhaiku.com/current-issue.html

!!!April Book Sales!!!

10% OFF Books from Princeton Antiques now thru 4/30

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I Love ~ Dylan Thomas

At $5,408 a 1952 limited edition of Dylan Thomas's 
Collected Poems, 1934 - 1952, 
was among AbeBooks Most Expensive Sales of December 2010

I Love ~ Taha Muhammad Ali

One of my favourite poems by Taha is Meeting At An Airport


So I ask you, what do you hate, and what do you love?


(Click here to search for Taha Muhammad Ali on AbeBooks)

I Love ~ Turkish Cuisine: Karniyarik / Eggplant split belly (Parts 1 & 2)

twenty-five thousand dollar portraits

My hustler is a plastic whore
Waits on the couch for night to fall,
Anticipates the morning flesh
The need, the rush, the sticky mess.


My cowboy lives on campbells soup
And for a treat an oxo cube,
His p-stained silks I sell as prints;
They sell real well the more they stink.


My camera films him while he sleeps;
His portrait fills the screen-filled wall.
I watch the people watching watch
His eyelids dance to unseen dreams.


My killer wants her fifteen minutes,
She doesn't like to be unnamed.
A voice from fame's low altar says,
"This moment shall be infinite."


My body, bloodied, bullet torn,
Waits on the floor for death to call;
Anticipates the mourning flesh,
the loss of touch, taste, sound and stench.


My sight, the light undimmed caressed;
My star unset maintained its rise.
My life reborn the heavens blessed;
The moon, the sun, became my eyes.


My wigs, my scars, my pallid hues,
My small editions, mass produced;
Judge with grace my worldly views
And wave by buying my snakeskin shoes.





A little bit of Turkish: Yiğit (brave, hero, stalwart)
Her  yiğidin bir yoğurt yiyişi vardır.
Each brave eats yoghurt in his own way.
Turkish Proverb

Asılan Adam (Hanged Man)

A little bit of Turkish: Ağaç (Tree) Meyve (Fruit) Taş (Stone)


Meyve veren ağaç taşlanir.


The fruit-bearing tree gets stoned.
Turkish Proverb


The image on the left is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

Kupaların Uşağı (Servant of Cups)

A little bit of Turkish: Balık (Fish), Baş (Head)


Balık baştan kokar.


A fish stinks from the head.
Turkish Proverb


The image on the left is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

Other names for the Page of Cups in Turkish decks: Kupa Prensi - Prince of Cups

Please feel free to use the comments to add your own reflections upon this card and how it may be read.

Tılsımlar Uşağı - (The Servant of Talismans)

A little bit of Turkish: Para (Money) Kul (Servant, Slave, Man (as creature in relation to God), Devotee) 

The image on the left is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

Varsa pulun olurum kulun; yoksa pulun kapidir yolun.

If you have money*, I am your devoted servant; if not, there's the gate to the road.
Turkish Proverb
*pul : lit. stamp, small round disc.




Other names for Page of Coins in Turkish:
Para Prensi - Prince of Money


Please feel free to use the comments to add your own reflections upon this card and how it may be read.

Kılıçlar'ın Dokuzu (nine of swords)

A little bit of Turkish: Kılıç (sword) Dokuz (nine)

Doğru söyleyeni dokuz köyden kovarlar.

Speak the truth, and be dismissed from nine villages.
Turkish Proverb


The image on the left is from a 1910 pack of the Tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set

Please feel free to use the comments to add your own reflections upon this card and how it may be read.

Grubs Up

latin ghosts
awoken by autumn
rainfall
vestigial winged females
are waiting

Forgotten

Lost in the missed 
tongue twisted ties of word to thing,
knotted and made nought.

Writ in the mist
fogged breath window of a mind,
wiped and clean slated.

Woke by a kiss
goodbye of strangers, long known,
or so we are told.

And so it is
we are lost to each other,
but love keeps searching.

holy holy holy

holy holy holy

See now the top rung lights of the world,

both called holy:

here top the Ladder of the Moon,

Holy Roman Emperor;

there top the Ladder of the Sun,

Holy Father, Bishop of Rome.

Two lights with brides 

in triumphal train,

a juggler and a madman

or, perchance, a holy fool and true: 

the other two outshone.

Kampuchean kids

Kampuchean kids
harvesting pastoral dreams
migrate down the road
engraved by carpet-bombing
red carpet to the country

First published in Simply Haiku, Winter 2011:

http://simplyhaiku.webs.com/

A little bit of Turkish: köy (Village) -den (suffix meaning 'from')
Doğru söyleyeni dokuz köyden kovarlar.
Speak the truth, and be dismissed from nine villages.
-ye (suffix meaning 'to')
A'dan Z'ye (lit. A from Z to)
From A to Z.

Triumphant Sun

the sun
rose triumphant
bright jealous enemy
of stars night's canopy of gods
outshone


A little bit of Turkish:  Güneş (Sun)
Güneşte yanmayan gölgenin kıymetini bilmez.
Who has never been burnt in the sun, does not know the value of shadow.

IX - Kenosis

hermit
self emptying
to make one self nothing
fully divine, fully human
alone


A little bit of Turkish: Kafes (Cage)
Bülbülü altın kafese koymuşlar, ah vatanım demiş.
Even in a golden cage, the mockingbird says 'oh, homeland'.

X

X

What a Circe is Fortune
.

to turn us into beasts
..

and wheel us through our seasons
...

as Time upon us feasts.

....

(((Japan)))

a thousand prayers

from valley folds and mountains
flocks of paper cranes

http://studentsrebuild.org/japan/


A little bit of Turkish: dağ (mountain)
Tavşan dağa küsmüş, dağın haberi olmamış.
The rabbit pouted at the mountain, the mountain didn't notice.