I Write Again
I thought, why shouldn’t I write such letters?
Letters — Tuesday, February 8, 2011
When I read Ahmet Râsim’s (1865–1932) Şehir Mektupları (City Letters)(1912), a light went on. I thought, why shouldn’t I write letters like that? I’ve been wanting to write a lot of things for a long time, but I couldn’t get started, and if I did, I couldn’t finish them. Why? Because I was scrutinizing, I wanted to write at length, I didn’t have the heart to leave out any detail. But why not, like writing a letter, reporting the news, touching on topics here and there… That way I would write more and I wouldn’t miss anything.
Let this be the first letter. Incessantly bismillah!
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On Wednesday last week, February 2, 2011, it snowed here in such a way that it was unbelievable! Three or four days in advance, they didn’t even have a street crier shouting that it was coming. What’s coming, blizzard! As a matter of fact, the blizzard came with all its majesty! You should have been here that night and you should have opened your door and watched the scene. It doesn’t matter if it snowed this much or that much! You should have seen the view! I have no words to describe that magnificent, that marvelous, that breathtaking view to you! Only a poet can describe it. Perhaps Yahya Kemal Beyatlı (1884–1958) wrote his poem Kar Musikîleri (Snow Music) on such a night.
The next day, of course, we were all confined to our houses. Mountains of snow — that’s a bit of an exaggeration — in front of the house. Jokes aside, it snowed twenty-four to twenty-eight inches in two days. It took us three hours of work to clear the sidewalks in front of our house. Dear reader, this is how it is here. Every year in Madison we spend one or two days like this at home. And it is good, I am not complaining.
In fact, what good snow stories can be written if I look around a little more.
Anyway folks, that’s all for now. On the one hand, Udî Nevres Bey (1873–1937) is playing. I feel sad again and… Leave the rest, I’ll write again.
By the way, Orçun Üçer had commented on this article, let me include Üçer’s comment here for the record.
Orçun Üçer (February 20, 2012) I was surprised when I read the first paragraph of your article. It was as if I had written it. Last month, I downloaded “City Letters” from the library. To help me with the stories I was planning to collect in the “Old Time Stories” file… The first paragraph of your article had crossed my mind: I too was drowning in details (so that what I wrote would be complete), I too was looking for subjects to write about… Yes, I said to myself, why not write Istanbul Letters?… When I saw it in your article, I was surprised as if I was experiencing a metaphysical event… I was also happy: Good writers (like Ahmet Râsim) always open the door to good readers (as readers-writers). The power we need (as readers-writers) is available in good literature… :))))
