the forgotten width

Probably the world does not know any limits, just as life never sets any boundaries. Probably it all comes down to our incapacities. Probably it's all due to the clear horizon which cleanly cuts the view, or adjoins the view.

Look at us indulging ourselves in the scenes and mobility before the line ends, believing what we see, accepting the sight upon the polarized unseen unknown, neglecting its possible presence, or else maintaining fear and caution for it.


(Photo taken by Ardani Yusuf Prawira, at one pier in Waigeo Island, West Papua, December 2009)

archaetypal waves

In searching of the Divinity, some would rather be lining up amongst a certain degree of festivity: music, colors, scents, and fellowships. We might not find the tranquility as seeked, but surely similarities are ascertained, manifest within the kinds. We might not be wholly aware, or in any way associated, with what we believe in, but together with the throng we feel to have conducted the act of worshipping, commited the part of acknowledging, even if it is being carried out collectively.

After all, isn't it, for some, a mere searching for the feeling of security? To steer clear of seclusion?

(Photo taken in between the Royal Palace and the Tonle Sap, Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, January 2010)

on proceeding into the storm

Perhaps strength in itself does not become morality, especially if what we seek is not the kind where we win or lose, neither some kind of surrounding protective wall that will repel the outside forces. Perhaps we are after the strength to be able to absorb the floating powers, to stand up to it. The strength to quietly endure what life has in the store - unfairness, misfortune, sadness, mistakes, misunderstandings.


(Photo taken in Yenwaupnor Island, West Papua, December 2009)

the motionless movement

Watching the sea and faraway lands right after the morning prayer was truly enlightening and profound. I was (and always have been) on motion, and watched the motionless passing by. It made me dwell in the memory of the people and the world I had passed by during my movements, either enforced by the fangs of time or due to the dream of constructing and deconstructing.

When we move, we are in a way destructured by our movement towards a certain direction; we are both here and at the same time not here as we are already in the process of going elsewhere. To stop destructuring ourselves, we have to stop moving altogether. Either we move and we are no longer whole, or we are whole and we cannot move.

Consequently we journey to the different corners and pause, seeking the motionless movements in the world. If such exist.

(Photo taken on board KM Labobar, while crossing the Banda Sea, December 2009)

yang tak juga berakhir

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Kau tanggalkan semua
tak lupa secangkir usapan ego
yang terus kau tenggak
"Peradaban ini lucu, lihat wajah ketakutannya,"
dan kau memilih untuk berparodi,
biar mereka menjenggut karena merasa,
hanya untuk berakhir mendapati bayangnya
Namun beranikah kau menyelami bawah matamu?
Tak lekang sebentuk kecerdasan
dengan sadar meminumi beban,
karena beban berarti pengorbanan
Sayangnya tak ada keselamatan
dari ketidakmurnian
Lalu kau meringkuk; kalah, katamu,
lalu bermain mengadakan
dan meniadakan.


- Kebajikan tak kunjung menuai akhir, begitu pula mala, dan kau gariskan pada kebrutalan. Hanya kau dan Tuhan yang tahu.