The Blades of Marriage

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