Rieke reads British Sufi's poem

JAKARTA: Admitting she knows barely anything about Sufi poetry, actress Rieke Diah Pitaloka provided her own interpretation about the poem she read at the British Council's Poetry Reading during a breaking of the fast gathering.

With only minor glitches Rieke read British Sufi Martin Ling's The Garden last weekend, translated into Indonesian by Abdul Hadi W.M.

To me, The Garden is about the greatness of God illustrated through things in a garden. We can experience God through the things that we see, sometimes through beauty, other times through silence," she said.

Rieke, who is a poetess herself, said that it was difficult to read and to understand Sufi poetry as it was usually themed around things beyond human control.

"Nevertheless, they are interesting to explore, and the difficulty becomes a challenge for me," she said.

British Ambassador to Indonesia Richard Gozney, poet Hamid Jabbar, lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, and AIDS activist Baby Jim Aditya also read some poems in the event.--JP