Our father who art in heaven, let’s not move closer, you and I, I’ve lost you on the white horizons. Or is it that the black forest has blinded me. I’m only happy when birds sing on branches and deep in the valley, a Kliwon market hums for me. I know I can only hearContinue reading “The Distance Between You & Me”
Author Archives: mikaeljohani
Gott ist Tot
No gods in these swamps. A crow sharpens his beak on a black branch And the sun stops above the corpse of a priest stabbed inside his own temple. The gods are dead. A snake slings onto the lips of a well, and drinks from the mouth of a whore smiling at her own reflection.Continue reading “Gott ist Tot”
One Afternoon Before the War
for Hans & Joosye Ah! I see what you’ve got in your hands an afternoon in the world of LAN a sealed blue radio (The night returns for an encore inside a tomb.) Pray for finesse, on the branch of the arborio strip it, sing it, fake it come, wing it, into the river! NoteContinue reading “One Afternoon Before the War”
Keluhan Li Po
KELUHAN TANGGA KUMALA (versi David Hinton) Malam panjang di tangga kumala, embun putih menembus kaus kaki tipis. Mengurai tirai kristal, melihat ke balik untaian permata menatap bulan musim gugur. KELUHAN TANGGA PERMATA (versi Ezra Pound) Tangga kumala putih berembun Malam begitu larut, kaus kakiku basah kuyup Kugerai tirai kristal Kutatap bulan di malam cerah musimContinue reading “Keluhan Li Po”
THE ART OF FICTION NO. 69 LO!
The Paris Review man came carrying an Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, the WS-320M. That’s the one that’s also a USB dongle, you press the Release button on its back and the battery will detach like a used launch rocket from a spaceship and reveal the rectangular USB plug with the two square holes on itContinue reading “THE ART OF FICTION NO. 69 LO!”
It’s Cool Under the Highway
Under the T-shaped Sosrobahu pillars Grey now brown like the skin Of people taking shelter under it. A worker in his YMCA helmet his Girlfriend sits cross-legged Under a giant Samsung DigitAll Temptation poster. AllDigit Temptation! Two workers sleep cross Arms under heads for pillows Their white helmets Like two bleached tortoise shells Covering theirContinue reading “It’s Cool Under the Highway”
Notes Found at the National Museum
Ink stand ink stand Silver Plate Silver miniature of a temple A miniature of a church 60 17 106 48 East Longitude Then and Now: Jakarta An oval table A stick-on table Write down what the Holy Spirit does: Spiritus Sancti
Raumanen Launch
Start: Jun 21, ’06 4:00p End: Jun 21, ’06 6:00p Location: QB Sunda Your SMP Bahasa Indonesia teacher might’ve told you about it. Your SMA teacher might’ve wept over it. Your university lecturer might’ve asked you to go to PDS HB Jassin to find the only copy of it left and write a paper aboutContinue reading “Raumanen Launch”
Them Analyses
Experienced researchers provide additional analysis “etic” in nature make use of established theoretical frameworks for interpreting anthropological sociological social- psychological data & tell the story from the point of view of the contemporary consumers to provide a smorgasbord of additional insights “emic” in nature. the words are theirs, the poetry mine
samsons & delilahs
“You could get at least three versions of Samsons on the one bus trip: one accompanied by a guitar badly tuned one on a ukulele custom-made for the short fingers of a girl-beggar and one the best came from grains of rice poured into a plastic water bottle shaken.” samson & delilah
Divagyrations 