There’s No Meaning: A Repeating Poem

Translated By Daniel Owen
WORKSHOP 1: DIAGRAM OF A PORTRAIT
A visual poem under the section "Workshop 1: Diagram Of a Portrait"
WORKSHOP 2: EDITING DURATION
A visual poem under the section "Workshop 2: Editing Duration"
WORKSHOP 3: SEEING
A visual poem under the section "Workshop 3: Seeing"
WORKSHOP 4: STARING
A visual poem under the section "Workshop 4: Staring"
WORKSHOP 5: MY CAPTIVE

its voice’s echo comes back to make a sound wall
of its voice
standing in a circle
in front of a globe full of time traps
fingers that clutch a rat
and its trap out back making dinner
like a shadow that leaves its shape
shattering, laughing, war stories
vomited back from fear
a mirror that goes blind when it sees
the walls within it
and a strand of hair on the morning paper
water that crosses the bridge
over the river 
over its droplets
without prejudice in the face of dry leaves
that keep echoes of

the forest
Translated from Indonesian

Notes:

Read the original poem “Tidak Ada Artinya: Satu Puisi Berulang” in Indonesian here.

Copyright Credit: Afrizal Malna, "THERE'S NO MEANING: A REPEATING POEM (trans. Daniel Owen)" from Document Shredding Museum. Copyright © 2024 by Afrizal Malna. Reprinted by permission of World Poetry.
Source: Document Shredding Museum (World Poetry, 2024)