"Ransacker" by Akjemal Toshieva

Ransacker

BEFORE

Ogry gelmezden öñürty

Tomusiñ issy güni

Saçak başi doli

Garpiz we paçagi

Asman doli guwanç

Kömurde bişirlen etler

Ak marli köynek

Derli gizgin entak

Gijeler yöreyäñ monjuk

Deñiz başiñdan

Gaygysiz, aladasiz diñe söygi

BEFORE

Before the ransacker trespassed

summer was sticky picnic tables

adorned with watermelon rinds

Patriotism painted skies

Blackened meat from backyard

barbecues

Gauzy white dresses. Sweatstreaked skin

Midnight walks across pebbled shores

And love. Clumsy, careless, but love.

#1

Ogriñ oynayan wagti

Günyaşanda

Piçak uji bilen yarilan today

Kesilen yara, garalyar gözüm

Obada ses, gikilik

Sögünç belki ol dem alyandir

#1

Encroaching sundown ransacker playground

Knife tip busted lip half-hearted kick

Flesh incision blurring vision

Sirens blaring nosy neighbors staring

Curses seething is he breathing

IN THE DISTANCE

Şol owadanja öü

Bü dünyäñ çünkinde

Aynalar midama açikmi

Gizgindan dinmak üçin

Bu gapi bejeriljekmi

Yadindan çikarilan

Gapi yapilmajakmi

Gorkezmek, açip goymak

Ogra añsat girmek

IN THE DISTANCE

That lovely little house cornered into the earth

Was it the windows always open

A reprieve from the heat

Was it the latch never fixed

Practically forgotten

Was it the unlocked sliding door

Teasing, begging a stranger to embrace hearth and home

INTERLUDE

Pikir edersiñ möjekdir

Esitseñ nahili

Gürleyar yada aydyar

Gazet erbet habardan doli

Adamlar kömek iberyarler

Yaragim bolsa

Atardim şoni

Ogri öyümi boşandan soñ

Komek gözlemek maña

Gati kin boldi

Gözlerim yaşdan doldi

INTERLUDE

You’d think it was a boogeyman

to hear the way they spoke

or even the way they wrote

Violence tinged newspaper

pages

Social media fueled fundraisers

Shoulda had a gun shoulda shot him

Shoulda woulda coulda

AFTER

Ogrini izlamak

Kime gerekdi

Yûz sipati yatdan çikarildi

Endamlarim kesim kesildi

Özümi gurpladim men

Uzak günlerim

Yaram gelip gidyar

Yöne diñe yara.

AFTER

After the ransacker trespassed

summer was strained therapy

sessions

punctuated by shaken sobs

Investigators losing interest

Sketches of ski masks forgotten

Thick bandaged wounds.

Scarmarked skin

Self-imposed twenty-four seven

confinement

And pain. Inconsistent, obscure,

but pain.

Photo by Tim Caston