Hüso was entirely

different from the rest of us.

A natural, born-leader;

To put it most concisely!

His ways were all unique, yes!

(We did not then take note that

His name officially was

Nothing else but Hüseyin,

Not the abbreviation.

Some say even Obama

Has it as a middle-name).

He was putting on some airs

No other boy could assume

In the quarter, at the time.

Which example should I cite

Among the tens we witnessed?

*****

From discarded movie-rolls

cut-out-pieces he would take;

Nicely fit it in his famous toy,

A magnifier, that is;

To enjoy watching in delight;

And let his friends do the same

in return for a palmful

of sunflower-seeds.

Getting tired of the scenes,

He’d resort to comics

Published in the daily-prints

Carve them also, place there

As if they were film-strips,

To be seen as enlarged.

*****

He would tinker with all junk:

Hand-guns he’d chip from soft wood;

Hollow, cable-contoured toy-trucks

To be dragged along so,

By the protruding shaft-like

External-steering-wheels!

Arrows- bows and slingshots.

Full of skill were his hands.

Some of the products he prepared

He would call his “inventions”!

*****

He’d require the ice-cream

Within tippy lengthy cones

from itinerant sellers;

Pierce it at the bottom-point

And suck in like biberon;

Refusing the flat-ended

commonly-used ice-cream-cones.

After all, a different

Peculiar boy he should be!

And so, act accordingly.

*****

Solid-rumors went about

Claiming Hüso did peddle

In some other quarters

Selling cookies, lemonade

Pocketing some banknotes,

let alone the small coins!

Though from a poor household

As an individual,

He surely had his money.

*****

I clearly remember:

A dirtied morsel was

Picked by his sacred hand

from the mid of street

And put aside solemnly,

His face all awe-stricken,

(Blessed food is the bread:

God-provided nourishment).

He commented as follows:

— "It is a sin to let crumbs

Get mouldy in disgrace.

A good Muslim is bread!

It would cry, abandoned!”

Good role-model as he was;

To give us the onlookers

A didactic contrast ;

He now feigned to scrutinize

the overlarge cucumber

He’d been gnawing with eager.

—“As for this big cornichon,

Infidel it’s, I would guess!”

He pretended to discard

The unpeeled green chunk;

Yet could not bring himself to

sacrifice his hors d'oeuvre.

Was it really his inference?

Or else learned he from elders?

*****

A "Piss race" he organized.

Must have somewhere

heard the phrase.

Gathering us all around,

The match got implemented;

And he placed first of course!

Thanks to the two referees

("Appointed" by his wish).

{All of us took the idiom

In the literal sense, then!

Along the course of growth

Afore reaching certain age

An abstract thought or metaphor

Is simply not possible

To be grasped, digested.

It just would not work that way

as Piaget affirms  so}

*****

Playing on the front-road

If somebody here new

Somehow came to join the gang

Soon he’d pick up his full name

to issue a short command:

- "Go now and do lynch the fellow

Whose name is so-and-so!"

The poor boy would first scream

Then escape at full speed

Before getting amnestied.

(A forgivness  had always

Sealed such mass-violence,

Good-hearted in essence

are ringleaders like Hüso!).

Hüso must have captured this

Sophisticated word from

cowboy-movies he had seen

At outdoors theaters.

He wouldn't buy a ticket

To go and see a movie.

Lingering for long time

at the threshold of the gate

While staying outdoors;

(Off-limits in legal form)

He’d just insist steadily

Until the stern, moustached man

Who cuts tickets and ushers

Movie-goers to the chairs

Gets distracted by something

and the control loosens up.

At the auspicious moment

Our hero plunges

Like a famous goal-keeper

of Brazilian football-fields

(Today I am more inclined

to another theory:

Le moustachu means it

To appear so negligent;

puts on a false impression

of getting fooled by Hüso).

Along the course of lookout,

(Patient, stubborn abiding)

Hüso carefully picks up

All the dialogues pronounced

by actors and actresses

Omitting the involved sight.

But once he is inside there,

Visual stuff does combine

With previous voices

To reveal coherently,

All the themes and the sub-themes.

The puzzle gets completed.

Some cognitive jimnastics

Processed by his quick brain.

*****

Super-assertive, he was!

—"Which is more thin and fluent?

River-sand or tap-water?”

He set up the debate thus.

Picking up the sand to win

He began to form a pile

of fine construction-sand

and perfom demonstrations

backing up his opinion

(some jugglery included).

*****

He grounded many crows,

Those on some branches

of fruit-trees around.

The skill he verified

With his home-made slingshots

Was indeed formidable.

(Municipal tellers then

Used to pay some “good money”

In exchange for crow-heads

In agrarian small towns.

Fact of Social History!

“Hazardous” birds were crows).

A Romani (gypsy) boy

Got promoted by Hüso

to the post of chief-hangman

To sort out the crow-heads.

(The child had felt so “honored”

That he fulfilled all orders

Coming from his king’s mouth

With an outmost fervor!)

*****

Hüso one day got his knee

Caught by sheer accident

By the edge of a trowel,

An instrument being held

In the Hands of Shorty,

Son of the brick-layer

(And the whitewasher, also).

Narrowing dark looks on the child

He spoke menacingly:

—“It is your luck I think

That I do not know

The location of the jail.

I would have made officials

Squeeze you right in there!

I guarantee I would have”

Thought a moment and snapped:

—“Strolling around town,

I did come across prisoners,

Men with close-cropped hairs

Looking out of windows

Equipped with thick iron rods.

Nevertheless, well, err,

How to get there I can not

Figure out right away!”

*****

A good climber he was:

Real good at pilfering

Fruits from branches

Of various tall trees.

Acrobatics he did, too

On some very suitable

Evergreen trees: Pines.

He would attach both his feet

Through a fork-like growth

Up there in the high “skies”

Just oscillate upside down

For long seconds, yes he would.

An incredible courage

Besides skills and talents!

*****

One day after bath

While "banned" from the outdoors;

Out of our balcony

I looked up and saw Hüso

Dressed in real trousers!

“Gee!” I couln’t help saying!

I myself was always

Walking around in panties

Sawn by my granny.

Out of  of loud-colored

Softy tissued calico,

With an elastic waist-band.

No pockets whatsoever.

Not a single button or

No zippers or velcro!

What a shamful contrast

Between us, two peer-boys!

I did not say anything

But no need was for words.

My humility, I guess

Felt like printed

All over the atmosphere!

He was reading my own mind,

Gloating over his real

Nice-and-manly trouseres.

On the right frontal side

There was even a tiny

Special cut; meant for what?

A handsome pocket-watch, of course!

If only not “filled” yet

*****

(If one comes to think of it;

In some western countries,

Actual trousers

Constitute  a kind of, well,

Initiation or a rite

of passage to puberty!

Übergangriten in German

As defined by Van Gennep

“Breeching” says the literature.

In Turkish society

The leap is just affected

Without ceremony,

Is let go of, unnoticed.

Different are the emphasis

In various cultures, yes).

*****

We were about to carry

The houshold  far away

To the capital city.

Destination Ankara!

I did not show my pride

Lest others got envious

If he ever had been in

my position, I am sure

He would have proclaimed it

At the top of his thick voice!

*****

The day before the truck came

To load the furniture,

Mommy forbade outdoors!

After all, in the house

All the muscles were needed!

(Wrapping up tiny items).

He must have thought arrogance

took over my character:

Not stooping to play

with lowly acquaintence,

City-dweller from now on!

Indignant was my hero,

Hüso was entirely

different from the rest of us.

A natural, born-leader;

To put it most concisely!

His ways were all unique, yes!

(We did not then take note that

His name officially was

Nothing else but Hüseyin,

Not the abbreviation.

Some say even Obama

Has it as a middle-name).

He was putting on some airs

No other boy could assume

In the quarter, at the time.

Which example should I cite

Among the tens we witnessed?

*****

From discarded movie-rolls

cut-out-pieces he would take;

Nicely fit it in his famous toy,

A magnifier, that is;

To enjoy watching in delight;

And let his friends do the same

in return for a palmful

of sunflower-seeds.

Getting tired of the scenes,

He’d resort to comics

Published in the daily-prints

Carve them also, place there

As if they were film-strips,

To be seen as enlarged.

*****

He would tinker with all junk:

Hand-guns he’d chip from soft wood;

Hollow, cable-contoured toy-trucks

To be dragged along so,

By the protruding shaft-like

External-steering-wheels!

Arrows- bows and slingshots.

Full of skill were his hands.

Some of the products he prepared

He would call his “inventions”!

*****

He’d require the ice-cream

Within tippy lengthy cones

from itinerant sellers;

Pierce it at the bottom-point

And suck in like biberon;

Refusing the flat-ended

commonly-used ice-cream-cones.

After all, a different

Peculiar boy he should be!

And so, act accordingly.

*****

Solid-rumors went about

Claiming Hüso did peddle

In some other quarters

Selling cookies, lemonade

Pocketing some banknotes,

let alone the small coins!

Though from a poor household

As an individual,

He surely had his money.

*****

I clearly remember:

A dirtied morsel was

Picked by his sacred hand

from the mid of street

And put aside solemnly,

His face all awe-stricken,

(Blessed food is the bread:

God-provided nourishment).

He commented as follows:

— "It is a sin to let crumbs

Get mouldy in disgrace.

A good Muslim is bread!

It would cry, abandoned!”

Good role-model as he was;

To give us the onlookers

A didactic contrast ;

He now feigned to scrutinize

the overlarge cucumber

He’d been gnawing with eager.

—“As for this big cornichon,

Infidel it’s, I would guess!”

He pretended to discard

The unpeeled green chunk;

Yet could not bring himself to

sacrifice his hors d'oeuvre.

Was it really his inference?

Or else learned he from elders?

*****

A "Piss race" he organized.

Must have somewhere

heard the phrase.

Gathering us all around,

The match got implemented;

And he placed first of course!

Thanks to the two referees

("Appointed" by his wish).

{All of us took the idiom

In the literal sense, then!

Along the course of growth

Afore reaching certain age

An abstract thought or metaphor

Is simply not possible

To be grasped, digested.

It just would not work that way

as Piaget affirms  so}

*****

Playing on the front-road

If somebody here new

Somehow came to join the gang

Soon he’d pick up his full name

to issue a short command:

- "Go now and do lynch the fellow

Whose name is so-and-so!"

The poor boy would first scream

Then escape at full speed

Before getting amnestied.

(A forgivness  had always

Sealed such mass-violence,

Good-hearted in essence

are ringleaders like Hüso!).

Hüso must have captured this

Sophisticated word from

cowboy-movies he had seen

At outdoors theaters.

He wouldn't buy a ticket

To go and see a movie.

Lingering for long time

at the threshold of the gate

While staying outdoors;

(Off-limits in legal form)

He’d just insist steadily

Until the stern, moustached man

Who cuts tickets and ushers

Movie-goers to the chairs

Gets distracted by something

and the control loosens up.

At the auspicious moment

Our hero plunges

Like a famous goal-keeper

of Brazilian football-fields

(Today I am more inclined

to another theory:

Le moustachu means it

To appear so negligent;

puts on a false impression

of getting fooled by Hüso).

Along the course of lookout,

(Patient, stubborn abiding)

Hüso carefully picks up

All the dialogues pronounced

by actors and actresses

Omitting the involved sight.

But once he is inside there,

Visual stuff does combine

With previous voices

To reveal coherently,

All the themes and the sub-themes.

The puzzle gets completed.

Some cognitive jimnastics

Processed by his quick brain.

*****

Super-assertive, he was!

—"Which is more thin and fluent?

River-sand or tap-water?”

He set up the debate thus.

Picking up the sand to win

He began to form a pile

of fine construction-sand

and perfom demonstrations

backing up his opinion

(some jugglery included).

*****

He grounded many crows,

Those on some branches

of fruit-trees around.

The skill he verified

With his home-made slingshots

Was indeed formidable.

(Municipal tellers then

Used to pay some “good money”

In exchange for crow-heads

In agrarian small towns.

Fact of Social History!

“Hazardous” birds were crows).

A Romani (gypsy) boy

Got promoted by Hüso

to the post of chief-hangman

To sort out the crow-heads.

(The child had felt so “honored”

That he fulfilled all orders

Coming from his king’s mouth

With an outmost fervor!)

*****

Hüso one day got his knee

Caught by sheer accident

By the edge of a trowel,

An instrument being held

In the Hands of Shorty,

Son of the brick-layer

(And the whitewasher, also).

Narrowing dark looks on the child

He spoke menacingly:

—“It is your luck I think

That I do not know

The location of the jail.

I would have made officials

Squeeze you right in there!

I guarantee I would have”

Thought a moment and snapped:

—“Strolling around town,

I did come across prisoners,

Men with close-cropped hairs

Looking out of windows

Equipped with thick iron rods.

Nevertheless, well, err,

How to get there I can not

Figure out right away!”

*****

A good climber he was:

Real good at pilfering

Fruits from branches

Of various tall trees.

Acrobatics he did, too

On some very suitable

Evergreen trees: Pines.

He would attach both his feet

Through a fork-like growth

Up there in the high “skies”

Just oscillate upside down

For long seconds, yes he would.

An incredible courage

Besides skills and talents!

*****

One day after bath

While "banned" from the outdoors;

Out of our balcony

I looked up and saw Hüso

Dressed in real trousers!

“Gee!” I couln’t help saying!

I myself was always

Walking around in panties

Sawn by my granny.

Out of  of loud-colored

Softy tissued calico,

With an elastic waist-band.

No pockets whatsoever.

Not a single button or

No zippers or velcro!

What a shamful contrast

Between us, two peer-boys!

I did not say anything

But no need was for words.

My humility, I guess

Felt like printed

All over the atmosphere!

He was reading my own mind,

Gloating over his real

Nice-and-manly trouseres.

On the right frontal side

There was even a tiny

Special cut; meant for what?

A handsome pocket-watch, of course!

If only not “filled” yet

*****

(If one comes to think of it;

In some western countries,

Actual trousers

Constitute  a kind of, well,

Initiation or a rite

of passage to puberty!

Übergangriten in German

As defined by Van Gennep

“Breeching” says the literature.

In Turkish society

The leap is just affected

Without ceremony,

Is let go of, unnoticed.

Different are the emphasis

In various cultures, yes).

*****

We were about to carry

The houshold  far away

To the capital city.

Destination Ankara!

I did not show my pride

Lest others got envious

If he ever had been in

my position, I am sure

He would have proclaimed it

At the top of his thick voice!

*****

The day before the truck came

To load the furniture,

Mommy forbade outdoors!

After all, in the house

All the muscles were needed!

(Wrapping up tiny items).

He must have thought arrogance

took over my character:

Not stooping to play

with lowly acquaintence,

City-dweller from now on!

Indignant was my hero,

Whatever the grounds.

He had set up an ambush

At the back yard, I gather.

At the moment of mystic

prayer-call melody

Undulating all the way

From nearby minaret,

An apple-sized rough stone

Gliding over balcony,

Ended up plattering

My entire left-side-face!

Blood-flow smearings,

Tincture of iodine, cotton pads.

I could not then make out an

Expression of meaning.

Could not even feel anger

Or resentment of some sort.

Nothing but sheer amazement.

This dark scar on my chin

Originates from that time.

Jealous-feelings of a child!

 Whatever the grounds.

He had set up an ambush

At the back yard, I gather.

At the moment of mystic

prayer-call melody

Undulating all the way

From nearby minaret,

An apple-sized rough stone

Gliding over balcony,

Ended up plattering

My entire left-side-face!

Blood-flow smearings,

Tincture of iodine, cotton pads.

I could not then make out an

Expression of meaning.

Could not even feel anger

Or resentment of some sort.

Nothing but sheer amazement.

This dark scar on my chin

Originates from that time.

Jealous-feelings of a child!