At the Intersection of Sarinah Plaza, Thamrin Street
“At the Intersection of Sarinah Plaza, Thamrin Street” is part of the collection Poems of Witness and Possibility: Inside Zones of Conflict. Read the introduction to the collection here.
At the street intersection we often pass through,
on that sunny day, suddenly grief falls heavier
than laughter.
Steps become more anxious and hurried.
In the usual chairs
where we sipped coffee,
you heard a deafening sound echoing into the distance,
and objects fell,
your body bounced
on the pavement,
scattered along the path of sorrow.
In the distance, a pair of bullets approached someone’s chest
who cried out God’s name
as a grenade tore into their body.
In the row of cars,
someone crawled underneath, firing shots,
delivering grief
to someone else
who shouted God’s name.
Their body went limp, their face bruised,
they died—lying still.
And death
is the path back home to heaven—or hell, isn’t it?
While we have hidden,
imprisoned within religion’s embrace.
Moh. Faiz Maulana is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Indonesia. He is also a lecturer in sociology at the University Nahdlatul Ulama of Indonesia, Jakarta. His book on gender anthropology is Konco Wingking dari Waktu ke Waktu (The Friend Who Follows Behind From Time to Time). He has also published several books of poetry: Black Umbrella, Learn to Bike, Today, You May Not Love Me Today, and At the Intersection of Sarinah Plaza, Thamrin Street. Follow him on Instagram @bahasatentangkita.
