Earthly Conditions

Birhan Keskin

A representative selection of acclaimed Turkish poet Birhan Keskin's work, Earthly Conditions explores the loss and longing of the human condition in the context of its separation from the non-human world. Keskin’s ability to shift voices between seemingly distinct subjectivities creates a rich texture and an ambiguity that sits at the heart of her poetry. This poetry is often autobiographical, but the “I” of these poems is merged with non-human voices—stones, penguins, oceans, trees, glaciers, among others—in a way that might be termed organic. Each poem in the book opens the door to introspection in an aching search for wholeness. Although Keskin has been a major voice in the Turkish literary scene since the 1980s, she does not publish often because, as she puts it, “writing too many poems is a betrayal of both words and trees.”

'I’m a gone and committed fan. These verses are dirty like the road of love.' – Eileen Myles