Salim Babullaoghly (Azerbaijan)

Salim Babullaoghly - is a well-known representative of Azerbaijani poetry and the most published Azerbaijani poet, translator and essayist in the world.

Born on December 10, 1972 and graduated from Baku State University, Faculty of Library Science in 1995. For many years he worked as a journalist, editor in various literary publications and television. Founder of the magazine World Literature. He is also a member of the Writers’ Union of Azerbaijan and the Bishkek Pen. Salim’s poetry collections include titles: Lonely (1996), Nobody Writes to the Colonel (2008), Sentence without First Letter (2021), Conversations with My Son (2022); essay collections Literary Conversations (2011), Literary Dreams (2015) and other books.  He has edited over 200 books and translated poems of Eminescu, Pasternak, T.S. Eliot, Borges, Milosz, Trantrömer, Brodsky and others. Salim compiled and was one of the translators of the Georgian anthology of prose and poetry. His poetry collection Explanation of the Snow is published in Georgian by the Caucasian House (2009). 

He has received the International Rasul Rza Award (Azerbaijan, 2015), the Ivo Andric Medal (Serbian Royal Academy, 2019), the Nizami Ganjavi Medal (Azerbaijan, 2021), The Personalitate Gold Medal (Kishineu, 2023) and other awards.

He is a graduate of the European Poet of Freedom (Poland / Gdansk, 2018) competition.

His works have been translated into many languages.

The Evening Notes

* * *

Have you ever seen children standing in front of you without any reason,
and saying: - Look, I`m dying? (I don`t mean when they`re playing at war).

They lie down, they close their eyes...

And then, after a while open their eyes smiling, stand up smiling...

* * *

A doormat hang, on a wire waving.

A grape`s leaf making a bow to rose,

A willow tree shuffling her hairs,

An apple blossom saying farewell to ant.

A portion of grassland saying “no!” to butterflies.

The fleas are to be anxious inside the ashery.

A chamomile swaying here and there.

A straw rolling on a stump.

A love letter crumpled bustling between rails -

But it’s actually the wind, blowing,

and you’re keeping silence,

unwilling to tell a lie any more...

Translated and edited by Dr. Kamran Nazirli