Poetry is a form of literature that has existed for many years before us. It is more than mere written words on a single page. It is a form of a poet’s soul and a voice for those left unsaid. Every year, on April 28th, Indonesia celebrates National Poetry Day, a date chosen to honor and celebrate the life of one of the nation’s most esteemed poets, Chairil Anwar.
On this joyous National Poetry Day, we do not only celebrate the legacies of those who came before us but also the voices of the living and breathing in the present among us today. From our very own Gemasians, we proudly present a collection of carefully curated poems. May their words inspire and speak to you.
Words Echoes from Our 80’s House
by S. F. H
I
Morning doubts, more things thought, my morning got ruined
It was ruined by a dream to fit into a pretty cropped denim
That I could acquire for the price of thirty,
very cheap for a preloved jacket, stylish, but I’ve got nothing in my pocket
Nowadays, we have nothing in our pockets
It used to be filled with currency, full and everywhere
A whole chicken, eaten, for a family of seven, we were happy then
And we still are, though it is half of a chicken now for seven
Still, I dream of a denim that will finely hug my bum, not my sister’s
A top fitted to my curves, not some distant relative’s curves
A piece of black pashmina in the blackest black, not the pale one tamed by the sun
Too often, I found myself in a too-big top, labeled ‘oversized’ to moralize the wearing of the foreign trash
II
I was passing through the threshold of our family home
So big, yet broken, so much, it is worth nothing, I swear it used to mean everything
The tiny stove from the kitchen set toy bought in 2013,
Still here somewhere, under the cupboard that has existed ever since my mother was a teen
The hardened foam of the sofa, grey in a state of near decay
I still sit there some days, reading my time away in front of a big bookshelf
Outdated, with collection last updated when I was in the 9th grade
It is a mix of dust, adventures, and young adult fiction, so different from the literature I read in the present
I try to make peace with what I have, people call it minimalism
A romanticized term to dull out the state of our rustic home
What a privilege it would be to say that it’s our choice, but it never was
A forced simplicity thrown into the face of a heart that longs for a life’s grandeur
Mentari, Ombak dan Cahayanya
by Raha
Riuh ombakmu nampaknya tak kunjung surut memenuhi diri
Kupikir, dampaknya tak akan seluluhlantak ini
Ternyata gelombangnya tak ada dua
Meluluhlantakkan tempat mentariku terbit hingga ia kesulitan mendapat derangnya.
Aku bingung, terbuat dari apakah ombakmu?
Laut manakah yang kau semangi?
Rasanya kisah kita hanya hitungan hari
Namun, semayam rasanya tampak akan abadi.
Atau mungkin seharusnya memang tak terjadi?
Sejak awal harusnya ombakmu tak menyambangi kediaman mentariku yang tenang
sendiri
Jika pada akhirnya kau hanya merendam kubangan luka yang menganga di sudut kiri.
Apa kau merasa yang sama?
Rindu dan luka,
Redaman rasa yang harus kau tekan sekuat tenaga.
Atau kau nikmat dengan cahaya yang menuntun mu pulang?
Hingga mentariku kau anggap sementara hanya untuk menampung buncahan ombakmu
yang kelananya tak miliki arah.
Adil kah menurutmu jika hanya aku yang merana?
Sementara kau memuja kembalinya cercahan cahaya asalmu datang
Dan aku sendirian, meredup, terendam sisa ombak mu yang tak kunjung surut
Mencari ke sana kemari derang yang semula bersemayam, sebelum kau datang.
Kilat perunggu yang semula kita puja bersama
Selama satu hari atau dua
Kini hanya memancarkan kilatan yang menyayat jiwa
Entah bagaimana denganmu, yang mungkin telah nyaman bersemayam cahaya.
Ah, namun, siapakah aku jika dibanding cahayamu semula?
Temaram
by Raha
Aku ingat bagaimana kilau matanya ditelan temaram
Segalanya terlihat buram
Hingga terhuyung jatuh, gagal melawan terpa angin masam
Terduduk diatas luka lebam yang tak kunjung reda
Matanya liar mencari tempat untuk jiwanya bersandar
Tak ada yang tampak kuat untuk ia pegang erat
Bahkan tiap helai tali yang ia temui terasa rapuh dalam genggaman
Tempat bersandarnya hanya memberi bayang rasa nyaman
Hanya dirinya sendiri yang dapat memeluknya erat
Yang bahkan semesta pun tak mampu melakukannya
Hingga bisikan lembut menyapanya suatu pagi
Mencium hangat tiap lebam tubuhnya
Layaknya tangan halus yang meraih sisi paling rapuhnya
Dan mengusap sayang sisi paling sakitnya
Terasa seperti tameng pelindung dari segala kejam iblis dunia
Belukar percaya mulai melingkar
“Tolong jangan biarkan aku sendiri lagi,” ucapnya
Bagian paling mati rasa nya bersiap untuk sebuah kepergian
Kapal roket menunggu di sudut luluhlantaknya
Ia ingat bagaimana temaramnya mencari secercah sinar
Kini, telah ia temukan,
Akan ia dekap hingga sampai pada tempat jiwanya bersemayam.
Belanga
by Raha
akankah belukar yang tak kunjung disambangi ini membuahkan manis pada akhirnya?
tanya terus terbendung hingga tak mampu lagi terungkapkan bagaimana aku hidup tanpa
warna
belanga besar berkarat yang airnya surut karena hangus api bertahun lalu tak kunjung
mendapati hujan yang mengimbangi
“carilah di sana pasti akan kau dapati” dimana lagi? jurang mana lagi yang akhirnya harus
aku selami hanya untuk akhirnya ku temukan yang tak menambah lebar memar
“ah, mungkin karena kau saja yang terlalu menutup diri.” ya, mungkin memang aku yang
membiarkannya surut hingga tak lagi terasa meski pantat belanga itu sudah hitam habis
dikikis api redam sisa yang lalu.
I’m Painting
by heliotrope
Faith, hope, and purity
run through the very same veins
As you bleed, seize the beauty
Let your blood pour onto canvas
There’s no way to make it, but bleeding
Red String
by Fer.
Red string
Left me sting
Around my skin
Couldn’t feel a thing
Blood spills thin
My head spins
The devil wins
No more sins
DEVOTED DEVOTEE
by Fer.
a tinge of dust that shined
swimming under your spell
beyond your bitter mind–
I dwell
a touch so tender it kills
as we lay by the night’s chill
feeling the spirited thrill–
I’m ill
your poisonous lips
spoiled honey drips
forbidden words slips
my hurt heart dips
you see
the presence of a devotee
still lost in reverie
locked free
chained tight
forever trapped in midnight
wailing prayers with all its might
blinded by light
and numbed from frights
EAT PART OF ME
by. fer.
Echoed wept souls beneath wet soil
With bodies rotten, our flesh spoiled
And open wounds, while cries unheard
Above the screams of feelings stirred
Come down and crawl
Hear our calls
Shatter these walls
Let yourself fall
Pick my skin
Eat part of me
Swallow my spirit
Let my love enter thee
Set me free
Kisah Lalu
by elysianoceure
Ini kisah lalu,tuan
Tentang paras cantik puan
Dengan prosa dan diksi indah
Tuturan manis di kala arunika
Ah, hilang dunia sekejap
Ini kisah lalu, puan
Tentang raut indah tuan
Sapaan hangat yang tak jemu
Hingga senja menetap kian
Ah, hilang dunia sekejap
Ini kisah lalu, tuan dan puan
Kenangan semata jikalau ucap
“Made in Starvation”
by Laudi Kayluna Maisha (2023)
Dirty, tired, scrawny girl
Strutting
Left, right
Left, “does my arm look fat?”
Right, “please don’t fuck it up”
one in front of each other, now pose!
They applaud my bones, my hollowed face
But beneath the praise lies a bitter sting,
A warped ideal they’re worshipping;
The best will smile, their voices sweet,
“Good job”, they say, “you’ve trimmed the meat”
And the worst, their words pierce deep into tender hearts
“You’re too much, too round, too soft, too wide,”
From cushioned thrones, they cast their blame
While their own indulgence fans the flame
Not losing an inch, not walking the talk
Yet wielding power as if they’re, what? Gods?
The runaway bleaks as my legs tremble to the beats
Each step, each pose, stripping my flesh and soul
Until there is nothing left to control
And when I’ve won, when the weight is gone
They hung us up, pale mannequins drawn
Empty frames for their latest designs
Coat hangers on racks, strung up like lines
The applause fades, the lights turn dim
But no one mourns what is left of me
For in this world, beauty costs
A hollowed body and a silenced tear.
walk backwards into my arms
by dna
icicles hung from your hair,
in the tips of your eyelash a winter wonderland,
coldness, rather my heart aflare,
hoping, praying our souls to blend.
if this snow globe world of ours couldn’t satisfy your needs,
my importances, I wouldn’t heed,
for needing you isn’t an out,
outrageously, ’tis only a must.
(your) fingertips etched onto veins,
a hallmark towards the convent of bane,
though I’m an empty vase of pain,
my life’s still yours to attain.
invocation for woe
by dna
my faith in you is unfaltering
I’d be born again and again
with the same lodge of anger
in my throat
benediction on my tongue
that for once
devotion is willingness rather
the dread of necessity
for I refuse to mourn you.
Skin and Bones
by Natasha Basani Septiana Panjaitan (2022)
Your love weighs like air
Blowing deep into my skin, burning my bones
One word from your tongue is a large boulder to my castle
Leaving me to gather the scattered stones
Do you recall the blue in my glare?
I hope the threads of it lingers
Forever woven onto your strange figure
Because you’re a realist
And I’m a daydreaming fool with a heart bigger than her head
The project
by Natasha Basani Septiana Panjaitan (2022)
You tower over me like a teacher
But really, you’re just a high school loser
And I’m your chemistry project to create a monster
Then I craved blood, but you served temper
Threw the stone, but called me the bruiser
You use pitter pattering jokes as my hanger
So inside the school halls I wither
Ophelia
by Natasha Basani Septiana Panjaitan (2022)
I had Ophelia only when the sky is golden
A certain shade, a certain day
When touch was as far as the wind
She would want me to reckon
How I was just a stray
And Ophelia’s jokes were to lessen
What I had built with every prayer
the way I love the ocean
by Mysticeti
I gave my heart away years ago
fed it to the ravenous waves
that ran through my fingers
when I spent the day,
until the sun crawled down
doing the waltz with the sea
I let the salt get in my eye
I let my clothes sag and ruin
if it meant that I could feel the cool air
of the ocean calling to me
if it meant that I could swim away
when it’s just you against the tides
pushing and pulling,
kicking and reaching
you are a mermaid, you are a dolphin
you are a pirate, you are a diver
I liked love best when
I was able to forget myself
I gave my heart away years ago
and never got it back
cause the waves got too hungry
cause the time just isn’t right
cause I can’t ignore myself
the way I used to before
the ocean understands my parting,
it does not mourn my absence
what is one lover lost when
there are hundreds in their place?
the ocean holds my heart
whispers to me softly,
thank you for your love
I will hold it as you find
something better to live for
where your feet are steady
and your needs are met
but one day you will dream of me
and I will be as sweet
as the first time you
wove my sand through your feet
the ocean cradles my hands and says,
that is how I will love you
it has my heart still
