?stanbul’s Tulip: Collected Poems (1997-2018), Poems by Korkut Onaran

From the ancient Anatolian myths to the intricate hallways of Topkap? Palace, from the story of a tea cup at a teahouse in Boulder, Colorado, to a deserted beach of Cadiz, Spain, poems in ?stanbul’s Tulip: Collected Poems (1997-2018) invite us to travel through ages, cities, moods, and intimate moments; all shaping and reshaping each other. They present a rich texture of overlaps and coexistences, where the line between now and then takes a break for a cup of tea by the sea shore.

Sample Poems by Korkut Onaran

“Nuanced and eternal, Korkut Onaran’s poems over two decades voyage in Spain, Greece and his native Turkey, and pivot from his home in Colorado. Onaran has a gift for immediacy and each line attempts to touch you as a reader. In this light, it makes sense that Onaran also writes on climate solutions – in touch with the pulse of our time.  You will be glad to dive into these poems. They bring much pleasure.” – Sarah Riggs 

“Korkut Onaran’s ?stanbul’s Tulip: Collected Poems (1997-2018) is a journey – an odyssey, one both literal and figurative. Onaran is an architect by profession, and it is his eye for form and detail that informs these 60 vivid poems.  Take up his invitation to explore the shores and the myths of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas – Ephesus, Knidos, Mykonos, Naxos, Crete, Cadiz, Cordoba, Bodrum, Gümü?lük, Datça, and of course, ?stanbul, where he bids us ponder its roads, doors, side-streets, rumors, secrets, and mysteries. But this is not a mere travelogue, and these are not simply ports-of-call. These poems – along with those written in the poet’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado – are woven into the larger fabric of the spiritual journey, the odyssey each one of us takes into the depths of the soul.” – J. R. Solonche