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My childhood was in a house with a smooth terrace made as a longing of a smooth place in Trabzon where all the streets were uphills and downhills. I stared at the moon on that terrace on the 20th of 1969 hoping to see the first man on the moon. It was not a surprising thing to emulate Charlie Chaplin on that same terrace since all the grandfathers were wearing hats and using canes. I read the poems on the pages of the calendars. I wrote my first poem to an empty hanger inside the closet and asked “are you cold?”. I used to collect fabrics from my father’s tailor shop believing that they were the countries on the map and I was strong enough to carry the world in my pockets. I went in and out of every phone booth I saw, but never found the magical phone booth that gave Superman the strength of flying. I also loved the capes of the trapeze artists… I believed since they don’t have any wings, the secret of flying laid within the capes so I tied curtains around my neck and went outside. It was the rough wind of my mother’s voice that lead me back to home!

I first saw Istanbul when I was seven and the first place my father took me was the Archeological Museum. When I got back to Trabzon, I put my mother’s entire jewelry in a drawer and went outside to play “museum game” with my friends. That play also did not last long as being Superman!

I loved one TV program and never missed an episode. While watching the program I used to put a bucket of water between the TV and myself and put my head in and out of water constantly. That’s why I believed I was the diver just behind Captain Cousteau, the one swimming the closest to him. But instead I constantly found myself in front of the Child Psychiatrist!

I released thousands of paper ships from rain drops to oceans, from creeks to lakes and then I retired from it. That’s why my first tittle was “Retired Captain of Paper Ships”.

I liked being the goalkeeper in soccer just because it is the only position in which you don’t turn your back to your teammates. Maybe I was no Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi or Superman, but nobody seemed to find it strange when I flew as a goalkeeper.

During the university years I walked a few steps behind the poets and writers on the streets of Cağaloğlu just to pick up the words fallen from their conversations. I sailed to Maiden’s Tower and declare it as the “Republic of Poetry”. I told about my dreams but I got fired from this place where I arranged poetry nights, art exhibitions and concerts. Since then I am the fallen president of the Poetry Republic.

The most important award in my life was Cemal Süreya’s quote for me: “The kid has flown with one of his poems…”

Flying!...

I believe I will never receive any bigger award than this.