![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/museum.jpg\" "\\"museum\\"")
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The world\u2019s oldest love poem, written on a 4,000-year-old clay tablet known as \u201c\u0130stanbul #2461,\u201d currently has its home at the \u0130stanbul Archaeological Museums.<\/p>\n
Penned for a Sumerian king in the 21st century B.C., the poem will be the central piece of an international poetry gathering in \u0130stanbul this week. Poets from around the world are gathering in the city for a one-night celebration to honor the poem\u2019s delicate and spiritual words as \u0130stanbul\u2019s art scene continues gaining global prominence.<\/p>\n
Entitled \u201cThe Call to Poetry,\u201d the April 5 event is headlined by poets Fred Simpson and Dan Boylan from New Zealand and the US, respectively. They will be joined by Turkish Cypriot poets with support from members of the \u0130stanbul-based ex-pat community theater company, The Square Peg Theatre Troupe, the event\u2019s organizers said in a written statement this week.<\/p>\n
A selection of verse from Cairo\u2019s Tahrir Square will also be featured in the event, where \u0130stanbul-based journalist David Trilling will serve as the master of ceremonies. The gathering will be held at a venue called Bar-ish, off Taksim Square, from 8 p.m.-9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
A figure from Los Angeles\u2019 underground poetry scene, Boylan has been influenced by Turkish poetry for years. As a teenager, Boylan met American poet Allen Ginsberg, who told him to \u201cfollow your inner moonlight.\u201d This led him to Sufi mystic Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi\u2019s \u201cMesnevi.\u201d Boylan, who is also a filmmaker, counts Naz\u0131m Hikmet\u2019s poem about a walnut tree in G\u00fclhane Park among the most impressive pieces he has read in Turkish.<\/p>\n
Relying on archetypes and humor, Boylan has revived poetry reading in famed comedy clubs on Hollywood\u2019s Sunset Boulevard.<\/p>\n
At \u201cThe Call to Poetry,\u201d he will premiere a work about Satan, soon to be published in a collection of verse and featured in a documentary, which he said could also feature the \u0130stanbul event.<\/p>\n
Simpson is also visiting to mark the release of his book of poetry, \u201cLucky Me!\u201d Featured in literary journals and magazines across Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, Simpson is recognized for evoking memory as a form of catharsis and detachment. A doctor by training, Simpson says he is excited by \u0130stanbul\u2019s rich poetic traditions. \u201cCelebrating the essence of life through a gathering of poetry in a city that straddles time and culture with ease and grace \u2026 you live for moments like these,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
via \u0130stanbul to host celebration of world\u2019s oldest love poem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The world\u2019s oldest love poem, written on a 4,000-year-old clay tablet known as \u201c\u0130stanbul #2461,\u201d currently has its home at the \u0130stanbul Archaeological Museums. Penned for a Sumerian king in the 21st century B.C., the poem will be the central piece of an international poetry gathering in \u0130stanbul this week. Poets from around the world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":52744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2939],"tags":[8116,8115,8113,8114],"class_list":["post-52742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultureart","tag-boylan","tag-nazim-hikmet","tag-poem","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}