Global Voices
TAK ADA YANG TAK MUNGKIN by ~godit
Channel 00
Excuse me I’m busy
killing myself
The flowers are in the yard,
so is the petrol
Let the holy man
keep praying
on coloured television,
Ta-ta.
Chanel 00
Permisi,
saya sedang bunuh diri sebentar.
Bung dan bensin di halaman.
Teruslah mengaji,
dalam televisi berwarna itu,
dada.
-Afrizal Malna
from: Secrets Need Words: Indonesian Poetry, 1966-1998. Ed. and trans. Harry Aveling. Center for International Studies, Ohio University. 2001.
The Jakarta Post notes today the passing of W.S. Rendra.
Friday, August 7, 2009 3:07 AM
WS Rendra dies at 74
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 08/06/2009 11:04 PM | National
” WS Rendra, a famous poet and artist, died Thursday in Depok, West Java. He was 74.
Rendra’s daughter Clara Shinta said her father passed away around 8.30 p.m. at her home in Pesona Kayangan Depok, kompas.com reported.
He had been treated at several hospitals recently for coronary heart disease.”
POEM
The wet twilight calms the burning forest.
Vampire bats descend
from the dark grey sky.
Smell of munitions in the air.
Smell of corpses. And horseshit.
A pack of wild dogs
eat hundreds and thousands of human bodies
the dead and the half dead.
And among the scorched trees of the forest
puddles of blood form into a pool.
Wide and calm. Ginger in colour.
Twenty angels come down from heaven
to purify those in their death throes
but on earth
are ambushed by the giant vampires
and raped.
A vital breeze which travels gently on
moves away the ringlet curls of the corpses
makes circles on the lake of blood
and impassions the lust of angels and bats.
Yes, my brothers,
I know this is a view which satisfies you
for you have worked so intently
to create it.
In the 1970s Rendra was imprisoned without trial and his books banned by the Soeharto government.
My wife’s uncle, who lived in Banjarmasin, Kalimantan, was close friends with Rendra.
Hearing the news of his passing she told me of the several occasions when she performed her songs for him at his large house in Depok where poets, musicians, and playwrights lived and worked together.
She remembers attending his poetry readings.
From:
In pursuit of the Good Life Susan Abeyasekere, The New Internationalist, November 1980, Issue 093
“In his satire The Struggle of the Naga Tribe, controversial Indonesian poet and playwright W.S. Rendra suggests this conversation between the ‘Queen of Astinapuram’ (a caricature of Madame Suharto, the president’s wife) and her prime minister, both of whom are suffering from ‘diseases of affluence’ – high blood pressure and piles:
Queen: Our nation must not be leftbehind in developing modern medical science.
Prime Minister: No need to worry, Your Majesty. Happily there are many foreign companies who want to invest here and build pharmaceutical factories.
Queen: Their requests must be given priority – providing, ofcourse, they show sufficient understanding
Prime Minister: Their ‘understanding’ is quite large. They are going to keep aside 10 per cent of the capital forunforeseen matters, the use of which will be entirely up to Your Majesty, and will be directly deposited in Your Majesty’s bank account in Hong Kong.
Queen: Excellent!
Prime Minister: Moreover, the Wijaya Kusuma Hospital Project is ready to begin. Queen: Have my latest suggestions been implemented yet?
Prime Minister: Yes, Your Majesty. Every cell and room will be air-conditioned and all the toilets will be of porcelain, and every patient, in line with advanced societies, will be taught to use toilet paper. In every room there will be a telephone.
Queen: Are the laboratories good?
Prime Minister: Excellent! Don’t worry, it will be the most modern hospital in all Southeast Asia. It will be able to cater for plastic surgery, will have enough heart pump machines, lots of medicines, the largest blood storage facilities, and also artificial lung machines … Everything as it should be!”
…The conversation conveys much about the. current elite in Jakarta: its dependence on outside investment, its corruption and its one-eyed worship of Western consumerism in a society lacking the basic necessities for the mass of its people.”
More on W.S. Rendra HERE.
Because the world has entered the final age
the best are unwilling to remain in it for long.
Their duties completed, they quickly depart this earth
Aiming for the heavens.
They fear to be corrupted by the poisons of the Age of Kali.
-Purwa Senghara Pupuh XXXIII, verses 46-47
Photo: Situ Gintung Dita Alangkara, Associated Press, March 30, 2009.
What we is ask is just a dike
No monuments or football stadiums
Or coloured fountains
Send us lime and cement
-Taufiq Ismail
Jakarta, 2008
Jakarta
I am a swamp
By heat turned to stone
on the white wall
Everything has a meaning,
man and malaria
Jakarta
Diriku rawa
Panas membatu
di putih dinding
Semua punya arti,
manusia dan malaria
-Sitor Situmorang
