Günel Imanova writes under the pen name of Günel Mövlud. Born in 1981 in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on the Armenian border, she was forced to leave Karabakh with her parents at age of 12, due to the political conflict.
She has translated Victor Pelevin’s “Amon Ra”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Hundred Years of Solitude” and Stendhal’s “The Red and the Black”. She studied theater arts at Baku University and has worked as a journalist for local newspapers on Azerbaijani social issues. Her first book of poems “Darkness and Us” was published in 2004. Most recently, the books “5 xl “and “Response to the Late Afternoon” appeared.
Günel’s joining a movement to end anti-Armenian propaganda in Azerbaijan elicited the attention of authorities and religious activists. She is currently based between Georgia and Germany, where she lives with her husband and child and is a journalist for the Baku chapter of Radio Liberty and MeydanTV.
A Serpent on My Pillow
Hello Mr. poet!
This solitude met my mild side again.
Another Autumn, another cold, another me
Again my place is next to a stove
There are a lot of truths and a
Lot of lies left to tell you
A haven’t slept for a year
I fear there is a snake on my pillow
I found a grey hair on my head,
Did not pluck it…I’ll let it multiply
What did I accomplish by
staying young in my thirties?
Now it is my hairs’ turn to age
Let’s have a drink some time
Let’s see what is coming out of your tears
Inside of me the most innocent angels are dying
The most beautiful women are getting old.
/ translated by Adnan Hajizadeh /