Oh New Zealand Poem by Peshawa Kakayi

Oh New Zealand
Peshawa kakayi
Translated: Goran sabah
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Oh New Zealand!
I am not an immigrant,
But my tongue is an untiring courier
Turns my jaw into sky,
Takes me over the mountain range of my teeth,
I slip,
My teeth stabilize my balance,
I am scared of bears in the mountains,
Of a wolf, peeling off my skin and eat me,
Then a dog lick my bones
My tongue would not be able to
Carry my bones and put them in my mouth
So that my teeth
Talk about their journey while grinding my bones!

When my teeth stabilized my balance,
The tongue licked me,
Gathered and put me back inside itself,
I got soaked in its saliva,
The tongue turned me into a thick and chewy word,
I came back to the paved street.
I passed through the Willington streets,
Without being a goose soaked under rain,
My wings fluttered and my tongue clucked.
Dogs behind me showed me their tongues,
I wished to be only a word,
When they bite me,
If peeled my skin and left only my bones,
I could at least fix my letters!
*

I walk through water,
Cannot guard the ocean,
But when I see its huge waves,
I raise, almost touching the clouds,
My bladder explodes, creating a hurricane,
My breath becomes windstorm
My vision blurs,
Am I the storm?
Or a storm whirls me around.
I don't know where is the head of the ocean
To where its leg extends.
But I know it is about to drown my with both its hands,
It thinks I am British
Have come to take the diamond in its belly.

Oh ocean!
The ships passed on your chest,
Ploughed you,
Took your jewels out.

Oh ocean!
I am not one of the emperors who turned Asia into a storm,
Emptied the stomach of Africa,
I understand your conceived waves,
Dying because of human beings;
I understand your complaints,
Who didn't visit you
To open your belly!
I am not an explorer who steals,
I am an explorer of language
Do not conquer any place,
Only look into your palms
To interpret ate your wishes so that
You can read them in my poems.




Goran Sabah: Goran Sabah is a novelist, critic and translator based in Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. His notable works include Cheap Humans (Science Fiction) , How to critique novels (criticism) and How to write novels.