Jakarta: Night

Rating:	★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Sitor Situmorang

At the corner of Kebon Sirih
And Thamrin
I stopped. And looked up
At the neon lights
Blinking on rooftops.
Metropolis!

I freeze under the streetlights
The traffic lights
I think, I am
This is Jakarta
Not Hong Kong
Or Lake Toba

I left that
on a boat
one clear morning
long ago

Now
It's late
Time to go home.

you won't ever see it

blue water like cheap mints. sun hot as a wok. the soft hair on your thighs, wilting, for more protection, from the hand running over them. it's hot hot hot out here. no need for the heat heat heat on your ipod. what are you trying to block out? the peace and quiet you're looking for is down there. under the water rippling like a giant, earth-sized potato chip. just stick your head in. you'll even stop thinking about me. see the life dead corals make. the flowers of. the bare trees of. the pussy folds of. the arrows of fish stopping, darting back, there, towards you, and away, like pasopati before kresna gave arjuna his bhagavadgita lesson. the chapter you always skip over. come back here. stop thinking. nothing's done when you're too busy thinking. put on your floats. the orange is so people can see you. so they don't forget. there are other people in this world. the goggles are for seeing things clearer than you can. the snorkel is so you can breathe when you normally can't. everything's here so you can be here now.

angry management

you can't post when you're angry.

or can you?

sometimes anger is good management.

the things you want to do

become

the things you have to do

become

the things you're doing

now.

anger

Digital Video Festival

Rating:	★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Jimi Multhazam

We're back
To the future
West of Jakarta!
Make a U-ee
Before Fatahillah
To Glodok Raya!
The National Film Centre
The Kingdom of Movie Heaven
Hollywood, Bollywood
Cannes, Tehran
Let's go crazy!

Digital Video Festival

We don't wanna wait in line
No extra butter
On our overpriced popcorns
Gimme that five thousand note, girl
And I'll show you
Happy!
Let's go
Home!
To the piles of pirated discs
And freedom to go
Crazy!

Digital Video Festival

Disco Emergency

Rating:	★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Jimi Multhazam

Double discman. AA battery
Active speakers. Modern life
Green mixing desk. Second hand
Lighting rig. 17th of August
We dance

Disco Disco
Emergency! Disco

Mozilla and CD-Rs
Cramped kos 3x4
School corridor late at night
Art openings we're late for
We dance

Disco Disco
Emergency! Disco

No house music hey na na na na
Nothing breaks beat fa fa fa
Jolts of the eccentrics
Fun of your antics
We dance

Disco Disco
Emergency! Disco!

i need crutches for my ego

this is it.

this is the old artery of the city.

or the artery of the old city.

whichever way you look at it

it's clogged.

used books like bricks.

old storefronts for new businesses.

booming.

like, really booming.

or is it really?

magnificence of supply

doesn't always mean

super-duper demand.

what am i talking about?

kwitang, at 4.37 pm.

interfaith dialogue

in action:

gunung agung - wali songo - gunung mulia

a 'torn dollar bills bought' makeshift stall -

(really, just a man sitting next to a sign

made of corrugated iron

his bum bag hanging on its back)

a man on crutches walking slowly

very slowly

i could't bear to watch -

me.

sometimes i don't know why i live in this place

sometimes i think:

i have ruined my life.

but then i get an afternoon like this

the sky was blue

thin cigarette smokes

of clouds in the corner

bright sun

like a halogen lamp

turned on too early

and nothing

that could make me sad.

i walked past the man on crutches

he was old

maybe he's a 'character'

from around here

or maybe i'm just thinking that

because i didn't want anything to make me sad.

or because i was too happy

i was only thinking happy thoughts

of me in this big city

and finding my place in it.

i walked into bpk gunung mulia

upstairs into the sunday school section

and grabbed all the little house

books i could find.

ten of them.

there are eleven in the series.

'one is still in the printers,' the cashier said.

'oh, okay.'

10 out of 11 ain't bad.

i should count myself lucky.

i walked down the blue-carpeted stairs

stains of man on the silver railings

perfect fingerprints

sweat

and i saw the sign

70% off

great combination of numbers and letters

the greatest idea of man

and of course i went

and found

the last one

the last copy

marked down

yellowing on the margin

the eleventh of the 11

books i wanted.

i am lucky.

i am happy.

i am.

i walked out.

the sun was still shining

the sky was still blue

more clouds, more like cotton candy

but hey,

you can't have everything.

i walked down the street

looking for a taxi

and i saw

the old man on crutches

stopping

gathering strength

50 metres from where i saw him last.

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