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 lamps
at the lead masked acrobats turn somersaults,

a wild boar, a tiger, a mouse-deer, a monkey

as roman candles burst and color the sky
I come in the origins of being in love

as before when we mutually owned the morning,

when together we harvested catfish roe
which later we dried and then fried

when twilight crept into the lines

of your poems which are now only a whisper
and 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 relished
I 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 shores
yet, 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 waves
meanwhile, 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 mengiring
di depan para pesilat bertopeng monyet,

celeng, macan dan juga kancil berjumpalitan

mercon sreng sesekali mewarnai langit
aku datang dalam muasal bercinta

seperti dulu ketika kita sama-sama punya pagi

sama-sama mengumpulkan telur-telur sembilang
lalu dikeringkan kemudian digoreng

ketika senja menyelinap di jajaran

macapat-macapatmu yang kini tinggal bisik
dan 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 sukai
aku datang dalam itikad berumah tangga

melengkungkan janur, membikin primbon bahagia

dan mengharapkan lahirnya bocah-bocah pantaimu
tapi, seperti juga mercu suar yang kini tinggal letak

dan para nelayan kehilangan jaring dan perahu

adakah masih sempat kita lakukan persetubuhan ombak
sementara itu, kertas-kertas kwitansi

telah mengubah sperma-sperma kita menjadi

lumut-lumut yang entah siapa panggilannya …
Gresik, 1993



English translation by Deborah Cole