Newlywed from the Coast
I come dressed as a groom from the coast
in a procession as in days long past
accompanied by trumpets, drums, gongs, and carbide lampsat the lead masked acrobats turn somersaults,
a wild boar, a tiger, a mouse-deer, a monkey
as roman candles burst and color the skyI come in the origins of being in love
as before when we mutually owned the morning,
when together we harvested catfish roewhich later we dried and then fried
when twilight crept into the lines
of your poems which are now only a whisperand do you know what I hated the most?
it was when we both went to school
and everyone called us “sea folks”,people who were deemed to be exceedingly coarse
uncivilized folk with a fishy smell
the very smell of the same snappers they relishedI come intent to establish a household
to bend the bridal bough, create a diary of joy
and hope for children to be born of your shoresyet, like the lighthouse whose base is all that remains
and the fishermen who’ve lost their vessels and nets
have we still a chance to make love with the wavesmeanwhile, sheets of receipts
have transformed our sperm into mosses
whose names no one even knows …
Penganten Pesisir
Aku datang dalam seragam penganten pesisir
seperti arak-arakan masa silam
jidor, kenong, terbang, lampu karbit mengiringdi depan para pesilat bertopeng monyet,
celeng, macan dan juga kancil berjumpalitan
mercon sreng sesekali mewarnai langitaku datang dalam muasal bercinta
seperti dulu ketika kita sama-sama punya pagi
sama-sama mengumpulkan telur-telur sembilanglalu dikeringkan kemudian digoreng
ketika senja menyelinap di jajaran
macapat-macapatmu yang kini tinggal bisikdan tahukah kau yang paling aku benci?
adalah ketika kita sama-sama ke sekolah
dan sama-sama disebut: “Orang Laut,”orang yang dianggap sangat kosro
kurang adat dan keringatannya pun seamis
lendir kakap yang sebenarnya sangat mereka sukaiaku datang dalam itikad berumah tangga
melengkungkan janur, membikin primbon bahagia
dan mengharapkan lahirnya bocah-bocah pantaimutapi, seperti juga mercu suar yang kini tinggal letak
dan para nelayan kehilangan jaring dan perahu
adakah masih sempat kita lakukan persetubuhan ombaksementara itu, kertas-kertas kwitansi
telah mengubah sperma-sperma kita menjadi
lumut-lumut yang entah siapa panggilannya …Gresik, 1993
English translation by Deborah Cole
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