Author Archives: mikaeljohani

i want to write prettybut i forget the whole thing is like musclesi have to trainso the red stays redand the white stays fatand not turn into redi worry about staying a half-beat behindand enunciate every syllable as if it was the lastis that what they call phrasing?i say to myself everyday:today i’m going toContinue reading “write petty”

Saya membaca majalah Tempo pagi ini, ya, saya membaca majalah Tempo pagi ini, yang bertajuk ‘Pergulatan Demokrasi Liberal, 1950-1959: Zaman Emas atau Hitam’, kemudian saya berpikir tentang suatu sore kira-kira 10 tahun lalu waktu saya menerima bingkisan dari ibu saya berisi kaset-kaset pidato Bung Karno yang katanya ia beli di emperan Monumen Proklamasi. Dari seorangContinue reading “Second-rate Life”

langit2 merpati berembun. anak2 menempel dagu di pagar bandara. surfers australia berkaos bintang. belum ada orang2 berwajah melanesia. kirain bakalan udah banyak. pengen boker tapi toilet naudzubillahimindzalik. nanti aja di hotel/losmen/rumah penduduk. dvd 3 hari untuk selamanya udah keluar belum? bima penuh kereta kuda. ‘parkir khusus benhur’. charlton heston is big. angin besar. tai kudaContinue reading “243 kartu pos bergambar (buat holiday)”

I dreamed that dead, and meditating,I lay upon a grave, or bed,(at least, some cold and close-built bower).In the cold heart, its final thoughtstood frozen, drawn immense and clear,stiff and idle as I was there;and we remained unchanged togetherfor a year, a minute, an hour.Suddenly there was a motion,as startling, there, to every senseas anContinue reading “The Cock*”

I dreamed that dead, and meditating,I lay upon a grave, or bed,(at least, some cold and close-built bower).In the cold heart, its final thoughtstood frozen, drawn immense and clear,stiff and idle as I was there;and we remained unchanged togetherfor a year, a minute, an hour.Suddenly there was a motion,as startling, there, to every senseas anContinue reading “The Cock*”

Taufik Savalas really dead?

“… the queer light on his hands, neither warm nor cold,of a temperature impossible to record in thermometers.” Elizabeth Bishop, ‘The Man-Moth’, from North & South (1946), in Elizabeth Bishop: The Complete Poems 1927-1979, p. 14. “Dingin tak tercatatpada termometer” Goenawan Mohamad, ‘Dingin Tak Tercatat’ (1971), in Goenawan Mohamad: Selected Poems/Puisi Pilihan, p. 32.

tahu nggak billie, aku tahu tulisanku di sini tidak bagus, bahkan aku tahu mungkin tulisanku di mana pun memang tidak ada yang bagus, tapi paling tidak di sini, aku tidak peduli. yang penting aku bisa berbicara denganmu. seperti berbicara dengan diriku sendiri. seperti tadi malam waktu aku lèk-lèkan tanpa disengaja dan besok paginya aku bangunContinue reading “Di sindang”