ABSTRACT
In 2013, I wrote a poem in Jakarta that seemed to propel itself onto the page. The idea I had in mind was to craft an accessible spoken word performance, involving subtitles and video art projections. What poured out onto the page encapsulated all the fury, dismay and deep sadness that wells up when I encounter news stories on Indonesia’s oceans, air or indigenous peoples. Stories of pollution and indiscriminate destruction; of short sightedness, irresponsibility and implicit disrespect; of circumstances which no human being should ever have to experience.
