Poem of the Day: from "Letter to My Wife"

This poem is about longing. The poet, Nizet Hizam (1902-1963), was an outspoken communist and often found himself in conflict with the authorities--often in prison for his political activities. He spent more than half his life either in prison or in exile.

Living alone in Turkey hasn't been too hard. I read all I want. I write. I know that there will always be a longing for home, whether I'm 60 or 6,000 miles away. The cool thing about love, is that it knows no distance, and I can feel just as cared for by loved ones here as anywhere.

One final note: as I was leaving and reducing the number of things to pack, I found dozens of "unfinished songs," which I scanned and saved to my Google Drive for later (image above: Turkish man with a saz, source: Fethiye Times)

If I have the experience here that I hope, I will return with many more.

I,
in the darkness of my last morning,
will envision my friends and you,
and alone
take with me the grief
of an unfinished song
to the soil...

Ben,
alaca karanlığında son sabahımın
dostlarımı ve seni göreceğim,
ve yalnız
yarı kalmış bir şarkının acısını
toprağa götüreceğim...

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Sunday at the İzmir Archeological Museum

After church today, I resolved to beat the heat and go to a museum. My target: the İzmir Archeological Museum , just south of the bazaar in the Konak district. My friend, Jen, had told me about a slogan she had seen: "Turkey, it's the world's largest museum." It's true. At any given place where I might stand, especially at an important harbor like Izmir, I may have seven millenia of history at my feet! I quickly learned, upon entering the gallery that ancient history is a pretty broad topic to examine. When we think of Ancient Rome, we think of a specific civilization that endured for 500 years. Ancient Greece casts our minds to Socrates and Alexander. But Ancient Turkey? There is really no one thing. I don't want to go into much detail here. I have years of living in and exploring this fascinating country ahead of me. So I have plenty of time to figure it out for myself. I'll just write that before the Greek civilizations, known as Ionians and Aeolians, ...

Turkish Lesson: Köpek

I passed this place on my way home from the train station today. I pass it every day. It's quite common to see owners here playing with a Köpek. It's not the only place I see a Köpek or two. Most are strays I see lying languidly throughout the day. In the evening they clean up the streets and make their rounds of alleyways. My landlord says they keep him up at night, but I haven't heard any barking...yet. Köpek . Your newest Turkish word! Postscript: i spotted this sign on my hike Saturday. I took several shortcuts, but never when I saw this sign. Var means "have or has" in English.

Türkiye in one Photo: Hopes & Fears

The first week of school we went over procedures with the kids. One procedure that caught my attention was the Earthquake Drill. We have to be ready for earthquakes here. The ground often shakes. Here's what we do: a siren sounds for 30 seconds. When it sounds, we duck under our desks and protect our heads. When the siren stops, I lead the class out the front door to the edge of campus and follow a wall to a parking lot, where we wait for ... aftershocks, clearance for return, I haven't figured this out yet. I have experienced one earthquake already, the week before school started. It wasn't much. The building shook for about 15 seconds, and my swivel chair kept moving around under me. But I wasn't knocked around or anything. I saw the tweet below this week. For me, it combines fascination and fear. I'm fascinated by the history and art that has shook this landscape for thousands of years. People moving in and out, empires rising and falling, and art that is anc...

Aegean Pearls: My Life in Izmir

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