From politics to a penchant for poetry

From politics to a penchant for poetry

Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta

Dalam Rimba Bayang-Bayang (In the Jungle of Shadows)
By Mochtar Pabottinggi
Kompas Book Publisher, Jakarta, 2003
xiv + 128pp

Mochtar Pabottinggi is best known as an astute political
scientist who carefully measures his public utterances. Some
would be surprised to learn that his poems were published as far
back as 1972 in Horison, now the country's sole remaining
literary magazine.

For Pabottinggi, as he writes in his introduction to this
collection of 29 of his poems written between 1971 and 2002,
writing poetry helps prevent him from going crazy in this mad,
mad world.

He needs the freedom to let his imagination roam before it
arrives at a fresher view of politesse and true virtue. For him,
poetical beauty has to blend with philosophical beauty.

Poems are written because the poet needs to convey what
disturbs his poetic feelings and stimulates his reason. A good
poem, therefore, is not just to be enjoyed; it must make the
reader have a better understanding of life in general. This is
not to say, of course, that form is not important, but mere
stress on form results in empty poems.

Poems devoid of meaning are mere embellishment that can be
discarded. Poems that speak to readers and penetrate deep into
their conscience are works that will defy the cruel scythe of
time, to borrow one of Shakespeare's metaphors.

Now, the question is: What distinguishes prose from poetry?
Both are esthetic expressions distinguishable only because of a
convention. The main point is that both a prose writer and a poet
are disturbed in their contact with a particular piece of reality
and want to share this experience with their readers. The poet or
the prose writer captures the essence of reality and presents it
again -- either in prose or poetic form -- so that the readers
can share this experience.

Of course, each genre, prose or poetry, has its own devices.
An overemphasis on them would only spoil the meaning as the
message will lie hidden, smothered by the form used.

With this understanding in mind, a reader will find
Pabottinggi's poems in this collection pristine expressions of
his own contact with the circumstances around him. His choice of
words shows that he prefers clarity in his poetic expressions.

Read these lines, for example:

It is the fragrance of spices that lured the knights from
Europe

To sail round the world. Washed ashore. Buried in the sea.
Heading for the Molluccas

But it was also imagination. It was the dream of a thousand-
year dream

Of the Odyssey.

Departing from the Peninsula of Iberia
From Spain, Portugal, Holland and Great Britain
The ocean-going sailors from the Northern Land
Re-translated the Odyssey
(Testimony for My Indonesia, translated by the reviewer.)

These are ordinary lines but, used in a measured manner, they
create an engaging rhythm. Isn't rhythm the essence of life? A
poem reflects life when it reflects its rhythm, and there is
regularity in irregularity.

These lines are not produced on the basis of certain poetic
conventions, but the way the sentences or parts of sentences are
written show the poet's high sense of rhythm. When you get the
rhythm, and are lulled by it, the message enters the subconscious
mind. This subliminal reception of the poem's message reinforces
your appreciation, knowingly or otherwise.

All through this collection, there are similar lines, showing
a pristine clarity of mind in expressions. Pabottinggi calls a
spade a spade, in a poetic context, and does not hide behind the
luxury of "dark" expressions or metaphors that are understandable
only to the poet.

One interesting aspect of some of Pabottingi's poems is his
use of some lines in English or German or Italian, either of his
own creation or quoted from a famous poet, such as Goethe or
Dante. Even to a reader that does not know any of these
languages, the inclusion of these lines in foreign languages may
reinforce the statements made in Indonesian that follow them.

This reviewer surmised that Pabottinggi must surely have
picked up lines that corroborate his Indonesian expressions.
Luckily, he provides his own translation of these lines, rather
than thinking the translation is not quite necessary. Similarly,
when a stray cat slinks on the stage during a drama performance,
the audience will think it is an inseparable part of the
performance and make their own interpretation of the cat's
presence in the context of the drama as a whole.

Likewise, the insertion of these lines in a foreign language
will let the imagination of the reader pick up certain
interpretations that will enhance their understanding of the
poems.

In exploring this collection, provided it is done without any
pretension and with an open mind, there will be a foray into
Pabottinggi's private and collective experiences of contemporary
Indonesia and the world. Of particular interest is his long epic
poem, several lines of which are given above, as it may be taken
as a poetic snapshot of Indonesia's history, from the time the
Dutch colonial sailors set foot in this country to the present.

Reading this epic poem -- 37 pages long -- is like examining a
poetic treatise on history. In Pabottinggi's creative hands,
ordinary words, so often laden down with meanings that draw from
the many cases of our lives, come alive, dancing in our esthetic
memory and touching the deepest part of our human conscience.