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Poems and Thoughts by Frank Maurer

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Turkey

Egyptian Lady opus 13

Most lovely Egyptian Lady;
The moment I placed eyes upon you,
I knew that you were special.
This does not occur often--
My being taken often by the female form alone.
You brought back so much of my past.
I resolved from our encounter
That I must have moments
To discuss together our lives:
Why are you here to reveal your Turkish to me,
When you said "Ben seni seviorum". (I you love.)
How beautiful such words
To one who has lost his love.
I reach out to you for
Some manner of interaction.

Swimming the Bosphorus opus 89

She was vivacious and full of adventure:
This was Betsy Harrell, the wife of Bryant, my new boss in Turkey,
(Now to be called Türkiye, as an act of Turkish Parliament).
He was Dean of the School of Science, at Robert College, now Bogazici Universitesi.
I met them in Nantucket, while carrying out my Cornell field work.
I graduated from grad school and was seeking a job--
Times were tough finding work at that time,
I was hired and off to Istanbul, Turkey, for a life's adventure!

At once, Betsy challenged me to a swim across the Bosphorus!
In Turkish it is named the Bogazici (Bo az e chi) 'The Neck',
Connecting the Black Sea with the Marmara, having swift currents between.
Of course I said yes and arrangements were made.
Bedros, the vibrant Armenian University carpenter from Bebek,
Manned the rowboat to accompany us.
We pushed off in Bebek and managed the currents as we were swept south.
As we crossed, a Russian ship loomed to the north above us.
Our efforts increased as we swam eastward towards Anatolia.
It loomed past us to the west and we made strokes onward.
Soon the traditional wooden houses came into focus shoreward.
And then our destination, now far to the south, the historic palace
Where Florence Nightingale had managed a Crimean War hospital
And then our hauling out in good health on the rocky shore.
Tired, but in good spirits, we rowed back with Bedros
And on to many Turkish adventures thereafter.

Turkiye, Celebrating 100 Years Today opus 208

Having lived in Turkey (now renamed Turkiye), for several years, teaching biology,
I am aware that today, 29 October, Turkiye will be 100 years old.
Kamil Mustafa Atta Turk carved out his new country,
Following bitter fighting, including the exclusion of the Armenians.
Atta Turk's mindset was always 'black and white'--
One was either a Turk in the new country or not.
He changed the Hijri Arabic calendar, jumping 600 years
To the Gregorian calendar.
He changed the Turkish language, written in Arabic, to Latin lettering.
He changed all surnames, requiring only Turkish names.
He banned the fez, naming a brimmed cap
Which he intended to interfere with the bowing practice of prayer.

Turkiye has undergone many changes over its hundred years,
But Atta Turk is still very present and cared for in his created country.

The Tusk opus 212

When I was a young boy in Newton, Massachusetts,
My neighbors on one side were an elderly Armenian couple.
Harry Adalian and his wife, Lucy, spent their early lives in Turkiye.
One of his stories, 
Was how a Turkish soldier had swung his sword
Reaching to his left ear,
And sliced off the edge of his ear--
I did not know then, but he had been a part of the Armenian Genocide.

Harry came often to visit, 'consulting' on various family projects,
Like when we dug our little fish/turtle pond--
A summer project for me and my younger brother, John,
Which we dug in two days!
Harry suggested to my father that it should be named "The Little Sip",
Contrasting to an ocean, "The Big Drink".

At any rate, I was later told that Harry was dying,
And I was asked to come visit to say goodbye.
We talked together--I was precocious and had many adult friends.
Harry then pointed to a long, spiralling tusk in the corner.
He said it was a narwhal tusk, brought back by Admiral Byrd
And had been presented to Mayor Curley of Boston,
Who then passed it on to Harry, a prominent local rug dealer.
Harry then said, "I want to give this to you,
Since you are a budding young naturalist,"

The tusk travelled with me as a prize and loved possession
Around the world from MA to OH to NY to Turkiye to Africa to Sweden,
And then returned to California, where it stayed.
One day on my farm in Davis, California,
I walked by my door, where the tusk always stood
And it was gone--my heart literally sank.
I was then much older--80--and this was to be passed on to my two sons.
I had invited only two or so people to come into my house,
As I had been ill for a while,
So its disappearance was mysterious, but suspicious.
I had not realized how much I had cared for that tusk;
Its beauty, its history with dear Harry, and indeed,
Its very own history, coming from so far away.
I wait for its return--perhaps its new owner will grow tired
And realize it truly belongs to its rightful owner.
I have a few years, perhaps, to wait and anticipate its return.

The Egyptian Vulture opus 297

My first university teaching job was in Turkiye (then Turkey).
At Robert College (now Bogazici Universitesi) in Bebek,
On the Bosphorus, north of Istanbul.
The Science Building was quite new and my classes were on the first floor.
I had a laboratory of my own in the 'attic'.
There was a large enclosed, depressed area
Along the whole building on the south side.
During my entire life, even now at 82 in Davis, California,
I have always lived with and studied tortoises.
In Turkiye I worked with two species of Testudo--
T, graeca and T. hermani, observing them in the large depression.
Specifically, my studies included electrophoresis of blood types,
As well as diurnal behavioural movements of the two species.
To be terse, T. hermani's activities began earlier and lasted longer
Than those of its sympatric fellow species, T. graeca.
Thus, their daily movements divided their feeding times, reducing competition!
The appearance of the two is fairly similar.

I collected specimens both on the European
And on the eastern Anatolian territories.
As I moved through the wilder area of Anatolia,
I noticed that a number of the tortoise carapaces (upper shell),
Had large, healed cracks across much of the curved surfaces.
Upon queries and studying, I learned the cause was the Egyptian Vulture.
Tortoise flesh was one of their sources of protein.
I never actually saw this occurring, but the evidence was plentiful;
The vulture simply found a tortoise, flew up in the air,
Grasping the reptile's body with its talons and dropping it from a height
Which, perhaps after several attempts, cracked the shell enough
That the bird could pry it open and consume the protected body!
(In Africa, this vulture would 'fling' rocks with its beak
At ostrich eggs to break them open.)

I began to wonder what phenomenon
Caused the weaker, curved carapace to be cracked
And not the flat plastron, covering the tortoise underside.
North of Bebek, Ahmet the Conqueror had constructed the Rumeli Hisar
From which, paired with a fortress on the eastern side of the Bosphorus,
He could control, using cannons, the movements on the waterway.
(From here he later moved his boats on rollers over the hill,
Ending inside the protected, chained Golden Horn of old Constantinople,
Surprised the Greeks, and conquered the city!)
At any rate, I used that Hisar (fortress) with my students,
To drop preserved, dead tortoise bodies from the high parapets,
Observing how they would fall and land,
Imitating the hunting behaviour of the Egyptian Vulture.
As suspected, the aerodynamics of the curved carapace
Caused the tortoise body to rotate in the air and collide with the ground,
Making vulnerable, the weaker upper tortoise carapace.
From this experience and from so many more,
Turkiye taught me abundantly the enigmas of life.

To Lady Sultan opus 322

Dear Madam Sultan efendim1.
The first moment I saw you
And conversed with you while you worked,
You struck me as something I have seen before--
I spent many years in Turkiye2
And your ambiance of that place passed through me.
Your voice flowed into my ear
As the Bosphorus3 current flows by Asia.
Your deep colored eyes looked upon me
As the golden çay4 I so often imbibed
While negotiating in the shelter of many bazaars.
Your general morphology reminded me
Of the splendor of Uludağ5 of Bursa6.
And your radiating aura enveloped me
As the blue hava7 which covers my beloved East.

(Written during the moments of the Spring forward time change.)

1. efendim -- madam or sir.
2. Turkiye -- new name for Turkey.
3. Bosphorus -- strait through Istanbul area between Europe and Asia.
4. Çay -- tea.
5. Uludağ (soft 'g') -- mountain near Bursa.
6. Bursa -- city in Turkiye.
7. Hava -- sky or 'heaven'.

Condemned to a Possible Death Sentence? opus 335

I was listening today to Public Radio featuring
A narrative about a woman who was
Wrongfully convicted unjustly to a death sentence
For a crime she did not commit.
After 17 years of solitary confinement,
And pro bono help from volunteer attorneys,
She was absolved of the crime and released
To a new world of a lost family and a totally new start.

I was also condemned to isolation and possible death,
While I was living in Turkiye on my new teaching job.
Suddenly, I was coughing up blood and feeling very weak.
I had been travelling, and had to make it back to Turkiye.
Tuberculosis, probably from my childhood,
Reared its head and condemned me to several months of isolation
And several overlapping medications to stabilize my condition.
I was condemned and isolated in my little apartment,
Where my coworkers were wary of visiting because of the disease.
Just as the condemned woman kept herself busy,
I practiced several arts to occupy my mind and remain somewhat sane.

I had learned about the intentional language, Esperanto,
While travelling through Bulgaria.
I purchased a 12-Step 'Teach Yourself Esperanto' and 'went to town'.
After a few weeks, I ordered various literature materials
And started reading. The language is so learner-compatible,
That I read half a page, before resorting to a dictionary!

My 'cello was my musical companion, upon which I practiced
Each day to the point of evening exhaustion!
During this time, I also started composing
A flute and 'cello 12-Tone System duet.
At that time I wrote a couple of scientific articles,
Along with many letters to colleagues and friends.

Without these diversions, I would have been totally lost.
As with confinement, isolation of any kind must be contended with.
The gregarious behavior of humans is a very powerful need
And must always be pursued in all conditions.
To be completely isolated, is to gradually destroy all humanity in a person.

Water, Water Everywhere, but For How Long? opus 448

When I returned to California once again in 1978,
The purpose was quite different in that I was to be a small farmer.
The way I looked at my environment was indeed also quite different.
I already knew that this state had at most very few months of rain
And that agriculture depended mostly on its many aquifers.
These waters had remained eternally deep under the Earth's surface,
Until about the early 1900's when the first deep-water wells invaded below.
I also knew that California had no regulations
On well construction and the numbers thereof.
Thus, it struck me deeply during my first forays into ag land,
Witnessing field after field being watered with a torrent of sprinklers.
My first thoughts went deep down to the unseen aquifers below,
Wondering how long this kingdom of agriculture would survive.

Thankfully, 10 years ago, to most, the invisible
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was passed,
Which started to regulate the amount of water taken out
To match that which comes in.
Lands taken out of agriculture are now harboring
Native species of plant and animal, as well as buffering flooding.
More recently, added to this was the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program,
A support plan for the transition toward a smaller irrigated footprint.

The great question is, of course, are these efforts far too late,
Or will those in charge be able to make definitive decisions--
Or will food demands, economy, and political party mantras
Overwhelm reason and empirical evidence guiding outcomes,
Driving our way of life, as we know it, to simply collapse, unnecessarily?
I have witnessed the loss of historical forests in eastern Turkiye
As well as loss of the water table in now parched lands of India.

Pyramid Meditation opus 475

Two followers of the Maharishi of India and 'creator' of
Transcendental Meditation,
Stopped for a day in Istanbul, Turkiye, and shared their craft with us.
I was given a 'mantra' which began my voyage into alpha wave 'production'.
Even hospitalized in Turkiye, I meditated to the point
I 'experienced' levitation from my bed.

Later, on my African home leave, once again, in 1975, I stopped in Guatemala,
Wishing to seek out the ancient Mayan pyramids of the area.
Walking on the trail to the great structures at Tikal,
I noticed large holes in the barrier fences along the trail.
After visiting and experiencing the pyramids in daylight,
I fantasized a night visit to experience a moonlight pyramid meditation.
As planned, I returned after dark, utilized the holes along the way
And quietly climbed the long train of narrow steps to one of the stone
structure's apex.
The steps were formed narrowly, to obligate a climber to remain sideways,
Preventing one from facing straight towards the gods.
Alpha waves flowed freely and plentifully during that brainwave experience!
My memory of that view, flooded with moonlight,
Lives vibrantly in my old, but very crisp past images.

A Thanksgiving Tidbit opus 486

For more than thirty years my little 37 acre farm
Has raised many poultry, including literally thousands of turkeys--
About 600 per year, totalling around 18,000 birds.
The first year or so we, of course, had to work out the 'bugs'.
In December, after Thanksgiving had been celebrated,
I had a few calls, giving me feedback concerning our birds.
In general, the reports were excellent--wonderful taste.
All our birds were ground raised, with mainly healthy grazing.
The one issue, if there really were one, was dry breast white meat.
That was an unexpected report from several customers.
Now I needed to figure out just what created this phenomenon.
The birds were raised quite perfectly to my mind.
I concluded that the 'problem' was not caused by our husbandry.
So, what on earth could yield this observation?
After some thought, I homed in on cooking methods.
With our birds being ground raised, the lack of huge amounts of fatteners
Created a delicious bird that was leaner than commercial turkeys.
Turkeys are most traditionally roasted with the breast up;
This method is convenient because on its back, the body sits stably in the pan.
Giving directions concerning a breast-down orientation resulted in a
perfect product;
All the breast meat was bathed in body juices during the whole cooking time.
In addition, we created a guide with weight and time rules,
Keeping in mind that a lean bird must be cooked slower and longer,
With a reduced temperature to retain more juices.
After two or three years, there were nothing but continual raves.

How to be Bailed Out with Half a Turkey opus 489

As I have said before, I raised ground-raised turkeys for three decades.
I always ordered my day-old poults through the mail.
(I believe Benjamin Franklin started this system to aid beginning farmers.)
One year I received my batch of 600 poults and started yet another year.
Part way through the season, the young birds seemed unusually large,
And indeed, by autumn, they were double the normal size.
I had inadvertently received some sort of super breed!
What on earth to do--much too large for most of my customers.
So, as usual, I fresh froze them but cut and wrapped
The exceptionally large ones in half!
Then I explained to each customer what had occurred
And 'sold them' on how unique a half turkey would appear,
Lying on a silver platter at the Thanksgiving repast!
It worked and I sold every one--and I was VERY thankful
There were no complaints, but I made certain with the breeder,
That would never happen again!

Don't be Screwed! opus 690

It is just now 2 AM (0200 Hours) and my lights are still on.
I fell asleep earlier and woke to ABBA songs.
Memories jumped from my time in Sweden as a researcher,
Back to Africa teaching, and then Turkiye before that--
And my time in Turkey (now Turkiye) 
Was a juxtaposition of the great city of Istanbul,
And my travels doing field work near the rural villages.
One of the facts that hit me, while working near those villages,
Was that many still had no electricity
And solar was not yet invented for the 'commoners'.
While meeting with a rural planner,
I was introduced to the concept that when electricity did reach a village,
The birthrate of that area began to diminish.
The light in a home shifted interest in the physical
To conversing, reading, game playing and hobbies. 
The change was quite dramatic in a short period of time!
Learning this fact in Turkiye, brought me back to the TVA of the US.
The creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Must have created the same phenomenon.
It took a Turkish researcher to focus me in on my own country!.
So, the joke and play on words was
'Screw in a light bulb and stop all the screwing around!'

The Rearranged Tearoom opus 724

As a child, my father frustratingly delayed buying a TV.
I had to go to Woody Kaplin's house to watch Howdy Doody!
It didn't occur to me at such a young age,
How 'organizing' TV was, once in one's life.
This became absolutely clear when I started working in Turkiye.
I often, after teaching, would frequent a tearoom to socialize.
There was no TV in Turkiye when I taught there in 1969.
All the tables and chairs were arranged randomly, as one would expect.
Actually, I never really even contemplated such arrangements.
I completed my teaching job there and moved on.
Many years later, about 2000, my old boss and his wife
Invited me and Nora, my wife, for a Turkish reunion.
We arrived and thoroughly enjoyed visiting old friends and haunts.
One mid-day we went to see a then quiet, old, familiar tearoom.
When I entered, I felt immediately something was strange--even wrong.
All the chairs around the tables were facing one way!
My gaze went in the direction of the chairs and one wall.
What was there, but a television set, sitting quietly on a shelf.
This was new for me in this country and a bit of a shock.
I could feel the loss of visitation, conversation, and gaming,
Feeling the starkness and dominance of this machine.
Coming from 'another world', I could understand,
But was saddened by what I knew was a loss of innocence.
All these devices are taking over the time and minds 
Of both our children and adults.

Meditations opus 736

A young couple stopped in Istanbul from India about 1972.
They had studied with the Maharishi,
Learning Transcendental Meditation.
They taught, giving us a mantra; each.

Meditation stayed with me, I reaching into it now and then.
The next real moment was in Egypt.
I was in the Great Pyramid with its long corridors of stone.
Being in a pyramid, I found a corner 
And produced my alpha waves
(Remember 'pyramid power' in the 70's?)
The moment of exultation was great,
Augmented by the largest of all pyramids.

Then a sojourn through Belize 
And its modest Maya pyramid structures.
Quietly returning to the area after dark,
I climbed the high, narrow steps of one to its summit.
I sat there with the moon, looking over the dense jungle,
And my mind, catalyzed by my mantras,
Sent alphas through me and the surrounding forest. 
I was at one, blending with encompassing Nature.

My alpha waves have given me balance through time.
How fortunate to have been on the path so long ago,
With those two tarrying teachers travelling home from India.
They have given me a levitation of my mind
And an aura which joins me with my world and my existence.