museletter #5

mentally I'm in turkey

Sam Nelson
April 15, 2024

I’m not in turkey right now but I would like to be. come along with me while I make believe that I am.

rug brothers (please help me come up with a better title)

my mother has an eidetic memory for faces.
she can pass a stranger in a corridor
and know from a glance that they worked
at this store in that place
half a lifetime ago.

I walked with her last tuesday
through rows of shophouses
down the street where every shop sold carpets,
when she noticed the same face twice.

twin brothers running two carpet shops
a few paces apart.

one loitered by his storefront
pacing the pavement
beckoning rich housewives inside
gesticulating in wild arabesques
weaving his own tapestries in the air
as he told the tales of his wares
the sheep sheared
the silk unraveled from cocoons
dyed blue from indigo, yellow from larkspur
brown from walnuts, red from madder roots.

across the street his mirror
sat on a stool in the centre of the floor
reigning over his riches
herizs hanging from the walls
kilims rolled into columns
sisals stacked in haphazard piles
swathes of fabric draped over every surface
each the work of years of lives
families come together to tie those knots
write their biographies between the wefts.

do they ever swap posts
to see the streetlights from a different angle?

do they take the same bus home?

I wrote this poem just now and am not yet happy with it, but am sending out anyway in an effort to keep these emails to a schedule. I much prefer writing within a form (constraints spark creativity). I think the painting is alright though. I started out by borrowing motifs from actual carpets but then gave up and painted colours and shapes as my fancies dictated.

the story is true. it’s unusual to see adult twins together. usually they end up in different places.

my adventures in not-turkey

in which I pretend I’m in turkey from the comfort of singapore

started my day with some cilbir (turkish breakfast eggs) which were incredible. I haven’t stopped thinking about them since. will likely make them again tomorrow. also they were so easy to make, you should try it

went to kampong gelam, singapore’s muslim quarter. saw colourful shophouses under a rare blue sky of equal saturation

these shophouses were less colourful but still good. singapore has a crazy number of beauty salons. you can get your brows microbladed on every corner

bought some trousers there. here is me wearing them and cosplaying as a tall person

went to a sufi music concert. at least one of the guys there was from turkey. one guy was french but they let him hang with them anyway because he’s really good at drums

a basket mural above a basket shop. how apt

most of the shops along arab street sell some combination of carpets, textiles, perfumes, and these lamps

the shrek on my croc met donkey

we’re leaving the middle east now but I also saw some tuvan throat singing last night and they were incredible! during my free lunch periods in high school I used to go into empty classrooms and sit under the tables with the lights off and play throat singing music. I scared some teachers like that

my favourite turkish tunes

I went through a huge turkish pop music phase a while back where I played it around the house 24/7 for entire week. my parents were starting to learn the words.

Gidenlerden - Mustafa Sandal
this song makes me feel like I’m walking on a beach on the turkish coast with sand between my toes and a cone from a touristy ice cream shop in my hand
Of Of - Gülşen
this one is my dad’s favourite. a banger
Sunset - Caroline Polachek
this one is not actually turkish (sorry) but it’s soooo good. I hope you can forgive my transgression

books

this week I’ve been reading the latest issue of the paris review. I got a subscription for christmas and now every three months they send me a book of short stories and poems and art and stuff. kind of like my emails except better and not free.

I also started reading the party upstairs by lee conell but stopped because it was boring.

also did some actual research and skimmed these books on carpets

you can reply directly to this email! please do so if you have any inclination

I said last week I was thinking of starting a ‘letters to the editor’ segment, but most of your replies were just showering me with praise. while this was very nice (please keep them coming I thrive off validation), restating them here would be rather self-aggrandising. but thank you so much :)

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