By Dorothea Rosa Herliany
Translated by Mona Zahra Attamimi.

 

who knows where i am. whirling

inside a labyrinth. it is the longest journey

without a map. and this darkness is utterly

perfect.  i grope my way through an alley flanked by a river

and a ravine.

 

there’s a scream, it sounds like a song. it may have

come from my mouth.  i hear a moan, it sounds like

a hum. it may have come from my mouth.

 

but this land of alienation is utterly

perfect: your body that is scattered with worms, 

i shall ignore - until i have completed this blissful

coitus and also, before i have completed stabbing

you in the heart, ripping out your cock and grating

you with every kind of pain.    

1992

 

Click here to listen to Dorothea Rosa Herliany performing this poem in Indonesian on Lyrikline.org.