DENGE ESENTERK-BUILDING REGISTRATION
BUILDING REGISTRATION
Buildings keep people alive
if they rise too high some of them
become Istanbulites and live among us.
As buildings rise, they grow lonely
nobody says hello to anyone
it’s the earthquake regulations.
As buildings rise, they get a sea view
if they get too much sea view istanbulites move away
there’s no room left to breathe, lit by leds
maintenance fees are charged like rent.
Our buildings are istanbulless
the staircases are istanbulless
all the istanbulites move to Izmir.
Our buildings comply with earthquake regulations
never mind that 117 people died
our building is called barış apartments.
I’m very afraid during an earthquake
when the hotels collapse
give you a discount for cash payments.
Your whole family can cease to exist in a fumigated hotel
if they get sea view it gets booked full
all sorts of things happen in those hotels.
In those hotels there are
the german
the dutch
the english get drunk
the amount of eaten watermelons by the russian astonishes me.
I can’t stand these hotels and buildings ever,
the hotels rise as the buildings rise,
as the open buffets rise, rise the apartments
my blood pressure rises
as empires rise
my father dies.
Denge Esenterk is a Turkish poet and writer. His poems and writings and reflections on art have appeared in print and online publications since 2009, including SonAt, Heves, Ücra, S Dergi, Hacı Şair, Japonya, Dünyadan Çıkış Yolları, Başka Dünyalar, 160incikilometre.com and neden.co. His first poetry collection, LED, was published in 2015. Esenterk continues to write in Turkish and has been living in the Netherlands for some years, while also developing his work in English and Dutch.
