laytkültür
zu fajr ist mir ein langer bart gewachsen. wenn du magst, brich
die challa auf dem grau meiner haare. die gabe nehm ich das
letzte stück mit über ausgetrocknete becher unter verhornten
füßen. was soll ich sagen, an den rändern schnalzt die zunge
lauter. glaub mir, wir haben genug gewartet. den hummus muss
man teilen. spring mitten rein kopfüber, bis du nicht mehr weißt,
ist es ihr finger, ist es sein finger. und wem gehört der
versalzene traum in der sesampfütze. meine vatermutter sagt,
wer alleine zu abend isst, begeht eine sünde. sie hat recht.
gemeinsam lässt sich besser pläne schmieden. gemeinsam sitzt
es sich frecher auf dem minarett. sonnenuntergang über
kreuzberg und die schabbatkerzen leuchten von einem cuma
zum nächsten. was soll ich sagen, an den rändern schnalzt die
zunge lauter. zeit, die gästeliste umzuschreiben. glaub mir, wir
haben genug gewartet. mit maghrib fängt der tag erst richtig an.
tisch und stuhl sind reserviert, die rechnung geht auf abendland
sein nacken.
wie für hafis
dein name hat sich verirrt, wandert über arme.
rücken. und beine auch. wenn ich dich
beschreiben müsste: wie für hafis der wein, die
schlanken zypressen. und wangen wie
mondlicht. die lippen keçi boynuzu,
sonnengereifte badinjan, das pistazieneis im
mahalle. und deine blicke wie warmer sand,
vergraben sich tief in die poren, zerreiben
achselhöhlen. knie. und zehen auch. kurz vor
’ischa den kopf unter heißes wasser tauchen,
die augen schließen und murmeln, deinen
namen immerzu murmeln, irgendwann den
stöpsel ziehen, mich drehen und drehen und
drehen, und vielleicht entschwinden.
aus prinzenbad
Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç
Listen to a recording of "laytkültür" read in the original German by the poet:
The two poems are from Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç’s debut collection, Prinzenbad, named after his eponymous poem and a public outdoor swimming pool located in Kreuzberg, Berlin. The swimming pool is regularly staged as a threatening place by the media, as it is visited by migrant and Muslim youths. Keskinkılıç, in his poem, stages it as the scene of queer desire and love.
Just as Keskinkılıç subverts the scene set by the media, he twists his plurilingualism into neologisms that a monolingual reader might not grasp on first reading. The title laytkültür, for instance, is a humorous neologism that playfully undermines the German term used by politicians and the media: Leitkultur. While Leitkultur is used to fuel homogeneity fantasies and racist tropes, the poet claims it by creating a neologism that stamps it with the Turkish language.
We see Keskinkılıç's linguistic world in his German-language poetry when he uses Turkish, Arabic and English phrases, sometimes within a single poem. Keskinkılıç is unapologetically his own centre and refuses to be placed in the margins, and that is what has made the translations of these poems so delectable for me as a translator.
These translations were made possible with the support of the German Translation Fund (Deutscher Übersetzerfonds).
Just as Keskinkılıç subverts the scene set by the media, he twists his plurilingualism into neologisms that a monolingual reader might not grasp on first reading. The title laytkültür, for instance, is a humorous neologism that playfully undermines the German term used by politicians and the media: Leitkultur. While Leitkultur is used to fuel homogeneity fantasies and racist tropes, the poet claims it by creating a neologism that stamps it with the Turkish language.
We see Keskinkılıç's linguistic world in his German-language poetry when he uses Turkish, Arabic and English phrases, sometimes within a single poem. Keskinkılıç is unapologetically his own centre and refuses to be placed in the margins, and that is what has made the translations of these poems so delectable for me as a translator.
These translations were made possible with the support of the German Translation Fund (Deutscher Übersetzerfonds).
Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç is a political scientist and author based in Berlin. His widely acclaimed book Muslimaniac: Die Karriere eines Feindbildes (Muslimaniac: The Career of an Enemy Image) was recently published in a revised new edition by Verbrecher Verlag (2023). In addition to academic texts, Keskinkılıç writes prose, radio pieces and poetry. His poems have been published in newspapers and various literary journals, magazines and anthologies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and translated into English, French, Italian and Kazakh. In August 2022 his debut collection, Prinzenbad, was published by Elif Verlag; the third edition is now available. Keskinkılıç has been nominated for the Clemens-Brentano-Preis and the Dresden Poetry Prize. He is currently working on his debut novel.
Özgecan Kesici is a writer and translator whose short stories and poems have appeared in stadtsprachen, Banshee Press and Poetry Ireland Review, among others. She translated Rakhymzhan Otarbayev’s Kazakh short stories (Dağyeli Verlag, 2022) and received a German Translation Fund Initiative Scholarship to translate Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç’s debut poetry collection, prinzenbad (Elif Verlag, 2022). She holds a PhD in sociology from University College Dublin.
