Jim sat at my table again. But not for long. We had only chatted for fifteen minutes when he, looking serious, told me to look at the front door and said, that’s the girl with glasses that looked for you. For a minute or two, my eyes were glued to the front door. I … Continue reading
I lent my ear whenever she lamented over the incident or even her fate. I didn’t voice my opinions on the matter because I knew she just needed me to listen and besides, she didn’t ask me to. However, on the following night, while smoking and drinking beer on the balcony, after she got … Continue reading
We chatted for quite a long time. The band tirelessly performed song after song in their repertoire. Jim sang along once in a while, the naked woman on his right arm backing him up, and I just whistled. When the band was playing a softer song, Gary Moore’s As the Years Go Passing by, … Continue reading
I tried to suppress my fear and began to think. This man had the power to break me. I shouldn’t do anything he asked. I shouldn’t look at him when I talked. I shouldn’t even respond to anything he said. Averting my eyes from him, I said, “Get out.” He laughed. The kind of … Continue reading
I read the email with tremendous disappointment. I’d been the victim of the situation. I didn’t want to be the victim any more. Why could I not stay home whenever I wanted? It was my home, the home I had lived in since I was born. I replied the email five or six days … Continue reading
I ran away from home for a year. I moved from one hotel to another. I was damaged. Broken. Tell me the worst thing that has ever befallen you. Tell me its effects on you. They’re nothing. What I felt was ten times, twenty times, harder. I wasn’t human any more. I was worthless. … Continue reading
In her latest prompt, Mindlovemisery asked her readers to try something different, step out of their comfort zones, and write about it. I thought about what I would do and went to Bandung. Bandung is one of my favorite places in Indonesia. It’s only 125 kilometers away from Jakarta. I had visited it a … Continue reading
They say if you want to be rich, work hard. If you want to be rich, work smart. If you want to be rich, make good friends. If you want to be rich, never give up. I say if you want to be rich, travel. And write poetry. Continue reading
During the lunch, I felt that Asshole didn’t look at me the way a man sees his lover’s daughter. He looked at me as another beautiful woman. Had my mother not been there, he may have hit on me. It was that obvious. He just dissembled it with smiles and his polite questioning. I … Continue reading
“Writing life at its best is a lonely life.” –Ernest Hemingway It was late afternoon. The weather was hot and humid. The sky was intensely blue as though sucking all the sadness on earth. I was in a taxi, on the way to a cafe in Cikini Raya Street. I was going to meet … Continue reading
Puisi-puisi Elia Bintang 