Ismim Putera

The Japanese say people has three faces:
The first face,
we show to the world,
The second face,
...

Where to run,
In this sea of space?
The tide of time is rolling,
My boat is old and torn apart,
...

Step your feet into a new path tonight-
Under Al-Kibla the guiding star,
Pack your soul into a new heart tonight-
Even if the light is faded and far;
...

Rice
by Ismim Putera

I often watched my mother,
...

You can pray to my God
He'll be in here, tonight—
The temple welcomes any spirit
dead or alive, or dying—
...

Faster and faster,
The sky is shedding its tears,
I hear the songs of cry and laughter
As the water is finally here!
...

A Lump in Her Lungs
—for my grandmother

Grandmother's tea
...

you wanted to be naked in the river
but the water bit your elbow like a man
all night you shelled your desire
making the water as tangy as pomegranate
...

As the moon sank
stars from my eyes rose
I heard a dark ripple
of an inky blackness
...

Devour
the sweetness of sleep
and sourness of awakening
both
...

The angel leapt into the river
and didn't surface for air
he had more skin than feathers
at dusk celestial dreams wavered in the water
...

I am the goddess in this temple
you come to this isolated
corner to worship
my ethereal body
...