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14th Anniversary Edition, Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Three Nov-Dec 2023.
Instructions to the new seeker, poem by Elif Sezen.
Instructions to the new seeker
Toward us and away from that buzz,
that troubled thing. Come now and let us
exit the city of oblivion of our small selves.
For troubled is the narrow valley of senses,
mediocrities of screwed up civilisations
and everlasting demons of supremacy.
If you don’t come there will be more minds
sewed together with pathetic soul-contracts.
Hypnotised inheritors like wandering
dismal screams. So come and come quickly,
open-eyed, ready, and we can finally head to
the edge of realms with a courage to breathe.
Spin. Spin at your own pace, attach to nuclei
like humans nowadays. Exit the train station
a simple body. A luminal heart in preoccupation.
But what do you really need among
the deadest of minds? A truth so thick,
a silence hard to fake. So eat. Chew well.
Then the awakening, cold and arsenic,
superluminal, inner, outer, fill within. But O!
Circling brings the consciousness of roses.
Not-so-dark waters. The hush of wormholes.
Unknown tree bark. Smell. Lick. Drink.
And you are a rose. Complete.
© Elif Sezen
Elif Sezen is an Australian/Turkish multidisciplinary artist, bilingual poet/writer and translator. Her practice evolves through various media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, print media, installation, performance, music, digital media, artist’s books and poetry. Her poetry collection A Little Book of Unspoken History was published by Puncher & Wattmann (2018), Universal Mother by Gloria SMH Press (2016) and experimental mix of poetry and short stories in Turkish, Gece Düşüşü by Hayal Press (2012). Elif’s Turkish translation of Ilya Kaminsky’s acclaimed book Dancing in Odessa was published by Artshop Press (2014). She also published a chapbook The Dervish with Wings (2017). She was recently shortlisted for the Born Writers Award 2023. Her work has widely appeared nationally and internationally in journals and anthologies. She holds a PhD from Monash University, and lives in Melbourne. Elif’s website: https://www.elifsezen.com/