#daniel owen

(Gif’s made by me)

So where are you taking me? London. Tommy has a little job for you. Give you a chance to say thanks. You’re a Peaky Blinder now, Danny.

Someone has disappeared. But someone has shattered too. The president is in the hospital. His hands and throat spout saws. But the house of representatives must be rebuilt. Like building a sun from banana leaves. Someone has disappeared. The earth pukes up their body. Soldiers’ boots spill from their mouth. Someone has disappeared. A corpse stink permeates the parliament building, the kitchen too. The president must be rebuilt. The cabinet must be rebuilt. But someone has disappeared. A politics made of saws covers their eyes. The earth pukes. No longer can it yield plants. Someone has shattered. The plants puke. No longer can they bear fruit. The forest burns itself down. Buildings burn themselves down. Someone burns, is burnt down. Someone is raped. The country is raped. Someone has disappeared, I kidnap myself. Parliament must be built. A student relinquishes their body before the dictator button. Someone has disappeared! Burnt corpse. A faith that stores corpses. Some language threatens your throat. A shattered faith. Children can’t drink milk, can’t go to school. Books too pricey. Paddy fields no longer bear fruit. Some volcano erupts. The people must be built. Demos must be built. Some torture site. Bones dug from your throat. The doors of parliament sawed open. Some sun, softly, built from banana leaves. Come here. Listen. This country is for you. Don’t look at me like that. I’m a corpse. A corpse of politics. I was kidnapped. Tortured. Don’t bury me like that, like burying this country. Don’t. Come here. Listen. This is my hand. Still warm. Like a bandage of politics to cover your eyes. Come here. Come. Still have another hundred years in this place, here, on this land. Translated from the Indonesian by Daniel Owen