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Poetry

Monsoon Fable

By Jack Malik
Translated from Malay by Thira Mohamad
Jack Malik evokes a monsoon-soaked landscape in this short prose poem.
Palm trees and other foliage against heavy, dark gray clouds
Ramesh Kunnappully, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Listen to Jack Malik read "Monsoon Fable" in the original Malay
 
 

gray nets. sand clots. bottles as litanies, adrift. drowned voices. here silence is apparent-most. the answer arrives in a spectrum-guised shard. coral-corpse eavesdrop. seven seas heave foam, beckoning home. wind departs. raving nira waves. vacant sea. sugar-hued shores consecrate at daybreak. sembah guru. healing waters. freshwater. rose water, thousand-bloom. customs of old. enter relief. revived as riddles. skies entwine in shadow-play. frog cries saturate. life inundates. crane stares blacken. death curdles. ancestral winds whirl, titih-churned. source and cause converge. silvered horizon weighs heavy in gestation. kolae boat lulls, silenced. here, where roots spring. uprooting. blood-blossoms. slithering flooding surging forth. glint-shaped. eternal, on the surface. the ephemeral elongates, in essence.

© Jack Malik. Translation © 2021 Thira Mohamad. All rights reserved.

English Malay (Original)

gray nets. sand clots. bottles as litanies, adrift. drowned voices. here silence is apparent-most. the answer arrives in a spectrum-guised shard. coral-corpse eavesdrop. seven seas heave foam, beckoning home. wind departs. raving nira waves. vacant sea. sugar-hued shores consecrate at daybreak. sembah guru. healing waters. freshwater. rose water, thousand-bloom. customs of old. enter relief. revived as riddles. skies entwine in shadow-play. frog cries saturate. life inundates. crane stares blacken. death curdles. ancestral winds whirl, titih-churned. source and cause converge. silvered horizon weighs heavy in gestation. kolae boat lulls, silenced. here, where roots spring. uprooting. blood-blossoms. slithering flooding surging forth. glint-shaped. eternal, on the surface. the ephemeral elongates, in essence.

Dongeng Musim Tengkujuh

pukat kelabu. beku pasir. botol-botol adalah doa hanyut. suara tenggelam. di sini diam timbul paling. jawapan datang dalam bentuk serpih bianglala. jenazah karang mendengar. buih laut tujuh gelombang adalah panggilan pulang. angin hilang. ombak nira menggila. laut tiada. pantai warna gula lebih sakral waktu subuh rebah. sembah guru. air penawar. air tawar. air bunga seribu bunga. adat seperti dulukala. pulih datang. sembuh segar adalah soalan. langit bermain wayang. basah raung katak. hidup makin lebat. renung bangau garing. maut kian pekat. titih angin pusaka. jejak cari jumpa. temu sebab dan kerana. berat galuh ufuk bertambah sarat. senyap kolek terus keras. di sini tempat usul berasal. tumpah akar. darah tumbuh. menjalar mengalir menerpa panjang. dalam bentuk kerlip. luar rupa abadi. kesementaraan adalah sesuatu yang agak lama sebenarnya.

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