Gentle Women in Indonesia ♀
A News Poem
Gentle Women, Adult Female Persons, and Housewives in Indonesia ♀
In Indonesian “wanita” is defined as an adult female person / so is “perempuan” and “inong” / “céwék” and “ibu” mean woman / “bu” is translated dame, gentle woman, lady, / ma’am, madam, mother, as well as woman / and I wonder how women are treated in Indonesia / by the author of the dictionary including / these example sentences:
“Just bite the bullet / and have a Cobb salad with the woman”
“Nikmatilah saat yang buruk / dan juga salad Cobb dengan ibu”
I imagine shouting and wonder / what a Cobb salad and a bullet taste like in Indonesia
“A woman fell from a ship into the sea.”
“Seorang perempuan jatuh ke laut dari sebuah kapal”
a story comes about why she was on the ship / and how she fell / loss of life followed by a string of words and losses
“A woman whose husband is dead is called a widow”
“Seorang wanita, yang suaminya meninggal, disebut janda”
and “The woman had just lost her only daughter”
“Satu-satunya anak perempuan wanita itu baru saja meninggal”
Then I imagine a man saying this sentence using “woman” / but she doesn’t really seem to be there in Indonesian
“How dare you touch my woman!”
“Beraninya kau menyentuh istriku!”
he is trying to posses this woman / who has lost so much and control / three Indonesian housewives arrested for posting a video / advocating for lesbian rights / And a mother of sons responds
“When a woman gives it to you straight / don’t give her a line like you don’t remember”
“Saat wanita berterus terang, / jangan ucapkan kalimat misalnya kau tak ingat apa-apa”
I relax when these words are spoken / maybe women are taking back the power / that was always ours here and there / around the world.
(Written in Response to Three Indonesian Women Jailed For Advocating for Gay Rights.)
Indonesian housewives arrested over election video: Police
Originally published at http://www.poetry24.co.uk on March 8, 2019 (International Women’s Day).
