Rubaiyyat for a Jam Session, a ‘Cem’ Ritual at Saigon (poetry)

Rubaiyyat for a Jam Session, a ‘Cem’ Ritual at Saigon

I

Cognitive Linguistics Visits A Drunkard

Are the ashes on the table

or the table is under the ashes?

Hard to decide if your job

is making a life out of tables, ashes, ‘on’s, ‘under’s, all…

Live from Saigon Jazz Club…

Rubaiyyat for a Jam Session, a ‘Cem’ Ritual at Saigon

II

Infinitesimal Existence

Yes, they are smaller and smaller, the sips are,

smaller and smaller they are,

gradual nonexistence of the beer…

It will still be finished up,

despite the smallness of the sips…

Well, Zenon had a paradox,

And another drunkard he is…

Rubaiyyat for a Jam Session, a ‘Cem’ Ritual at Saigon

III

An Apparent Dilemma for the Jazz Pianist

When you highlight the notes,

I cannot see the sheet;

When you highlight the sheet,

I can see nothing in the name of notes…

That is how I become a jazz pianist,

I never mind highlights, notes or sheet;

I play however I feel…

Rubaiyyat for a Jam Session, a ‘Cem’ Ritual at Saigon

IV

Neumenalist (Batıni) Sax Player

The inside of the saxophone is always dark.

Don’t deceive yourself by seeing it

shining due to stage light,

Hey social drinkers hey,

you can hear only the sounds!

But sax? It has no sound, but voice…

Rubaiyyat for a Jam Session, a ‘Cem’ Ritual at Saigon

V

Drummer, Alarmer

The drummer, bald he is,

plays as if

he is a Chinese opera performer.

Well, if his is a job of attracting the ignorants,

Well done! He has already completed his mission,

Even the sleeping beauty woke up…

Rubaiyyat for a Jam Session, a ‘Cem’ Ritual at Saigon

VI

Search for Heterarchical Processing

Woken up by the bells of the church in the mornings,

Or by the Muslim prayer of the imam…

Neither… I would like to be woken up

by the smoke of the Buddhist cremation,

And a cloud of heterotopia…

Ulaş Başar Gezgin

05.07.2007, HCMC, Vietnam

Gezgin, U.B. (2017). For Those Who Will Sail Across The Oceans: An Explorer’s Vietnam Poems.

POETRY BOOKS IN ENGLISH AND OTHER LANGUAGES / İNGİLİZCE VE DİĞER DİLLERDE ŞİİR KİTAPLARI 1. Gezgin, U.B. (2017). Yağmur Sonrası/ After Rain / После дождя / Diğer Dillerdeki Gezgin Şiirleri: Rusça, İngilizce, Tayca, Azerbaycanca, Vietnamca, İspanyolca ve Japonca [Gezgin’s Poetry in Other Languages: Russian, English, Thai, Azerbaijani, Vietnamese, Spanish and Japanese]. 2. Gezgin, U.B. (2017). You, I and Our Son - Poems of Peace, Longing and Love from Vietnam 3. Gezgin, U.B. (2017). For Those Who Will Sail Across The Oceans: An Explorer’s Vietnam Poems. 4. Gezgin, U. B. (2007). On a Tablet – English Poems by Ulas Basar Gezgin. Lulu.