Best Sumatra Poems
Through the forests of Sumatra
Through the dark and sweaty jungle
Proud and fearless pads the tiger
Pads through bamboo, palm, liana
Powerfully swims across the water
Webbed feet pounding ‘gainst the current,
Unaware of near extinction
Forest dwindling, disappearing
Shrinking by illegal logging
Teak for tables, chairs and profit.
Will our tiger last the decade ?
To our children, ancient history ?
Ancient history, myth and mystery
With the sun-bear and the hornbill ?
Spring to action like the tiger
Planting trees and education
Guardians all of unique creatures
We can save the Sumatran tiger.
Categories:
sumatra, animal, education, environment, tiger,
Form:
Blank verse
Limerick cochetés: Our great uhr-Father from Africa
Our great uhr-Father from Africa
Hallowed be Thy fame in high Valhalla
The Asian walk-about
Down backbone coccyx snout
Who didst Thou mate in Peninsula Malaya
To produce orangutan Malaysia
Did our great uhr-cousin Gorilla
Chimpanzee when in doubt
Precede Thy walk-about
Swinging from tree to tree to Australia
To judge by great life in Southeast Asia
Smoke-filled lungs from HAZE in Sumatra
Death penalty for tout
With drugs- Hell for khalwat*
Is there doubt who preceded whom from Africa
• khalwat: (a Muslim – all Malays - religious law)
According to which, no Malay may marry a non-Muslim nor be found in close proximity giving rise to suspicion of promiscuousness, law enforceable by religious courts whose officials are empowered to spy on offenders and report their activities to the relevant authorities
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2015
Categories:
sumatra, africa, allegory, conflict, discrimination,
Form:
Limerick
MAP OF EUROPE - OBJECTUM SEXUAL *
O coastline with cool expanse of blue Atlantic
Your curves and indentations drive me frantic.
Sometimes thrust out peninsularly;
Sometimes studied docilely and scholarly;
Land stretching from White sea and Iberia
To Black Sea and Siberia.
O Europe, my virgin obsession geographical
Is verging on possession sexual.
Other continents are jealous - Africa is so island-poor, so peninsula-penniless,
And of rivers, capes and bays it has many less:
It would give a pretty penny to have just one Iberia, Jutland, or Scandinavia
To excite its smooth coast and other geographic behavior.
Australians would love islands with romantic names Capri Lesbos Rum Eig Frisian
Or an archipelago-infested sea like the Aegean.
South Americans cry themselves to sleep at night because they lack
Such Nordic coastal features as Trondheim or Skaggerak
Beijing would give all the tea in China because she must
Satisfy her desire for an Italian-shaped peninsula, a bootless lust.
Of course Asia feels no envy, for it has kukri-shaped Kamchatka
And the only large island in the world, Sumatra,
Which rhymes with the best singer in the world, Sinatra.
This Map of Europe is something I just have to possess.
My life is incomplete without its caress.
If I didn’t have it, my world would be a mess.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
NOTES
1 * “Objectum Sexual” is defined on GOOGLE as erotic
love towards an object of any sort.
2 N. B. This poem is purely fiction
Categories:
sumatra, funnysea, sea,
Form:
Couplet
Oh! Once was a sunny day,
People were so happy and gay… but not for so long.
The sea… was calm in the morning,
So most were in their boats… but return, they did not.
But once noon arrived,
The animals and sea, strange they did act: retreating from the sea.
Alas! The poor fish leapt:
The ocean had retreated without them… then did the men sense it.
Some took their vehicles and drove off at high speed,
But others lingered… running to the sea to catch their fish.
(These were mostly fishing villages… for them, this was just luck.)
And now, things changed…
As they saw the wave curl above their heads – way bigger than before.
And now frightened, they ran…
But the ocean pulled harder than gravity.
They screamed, but only gulls echoed.
But now, the wave was unstoppable,
Crashing over high buildings… into the land.
It roared as it came,
Dragging… all animals, humans, and debris of construction… into the sea.
Oh! Into the sea it went,
Dragging all our families, friends, and loved ones,
Forever not to be seen, they were dragged…
Into the sea.
*In remembrance of the tsunami, occurred in 12/26/2004, due to an earthquake in Java/Sumatra area. It deeply affected those islands and many more in Indonesia, and the coastal belt of Sri Lanka. It is considered as the most disastrous of all the natural disasters that affected Sri Lanka. This is written as a public voice, for as far as I know, I didn’t lose any of them to the tsunami.
Categories:
sumatra, natural disasters, nature,
Form:
Do you recall the song "Send In The Clowns" by Sinatra?
I reckon folks even heard it who reside in faraway Sumatra.
Long gone is famed Emmett Kelly who portrayed "Weary Willie",
And the great Red Skelton whose hilarious skits were so silly!
Alas, their likes will never be seen again in spacious circus tents,
Since movies and television have supplanted such events.
But hold on! There is still a horde of clowns who entertain us!
The Congressional Clowns (many of whom are superfluous)!
Categories:
sumatra, humorous,
Form:
Rhyme
An Indonesian flag is a Polish flag upside down.
The capital of Jakarta is a long way from Warsaw town.
On the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo,
sauerkraut and kielbasa is something they don’t know.
Has the average Indonesian ever heard of Thaddeus Kosciusko?
Does anybody know a good Indonesian joke?
People tell Polish jokes until they choke.
There is little to compare between these two countries.
Poland and Indonesia bear very few similarities.
Categories:
sumatra, people,
Form:
Rhyme
Waiting time
Loiters long;
Tentative tact
~~~~~~~~~
Unfinished
Block booking;
Time seeps away
~~~~~~~~~
Hazy complaints
Ashy sky blurring;
Smoky air blots
~~~~~~~~~
Drowsy notes
Morning haze floods;
Cranky moods
~~~~~~~~~
Burning smog
Hazy indiscretions;
Madness percolates
~~~~~~~~~
Sad and sorry
Same old story;
Sooty somehow
~~~~~~~~~
Cash and carry
Wind-blown haze;
Free Gift galore
~~~~~~~~~
Smog chokes
Haze-filled lungs;
People suffering
~~~~~~~~~
Sumatra burns
Hazy concessions;
Groggy tensions
~~~~~~~~~
Finger-pointing:
Tai-Chi blunders;
Culprits make money!
~~~~~~~~~
Plunder
Blunder;
Thunder
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
24 October 2015
Singapore
Categories:
sumatra, change,
Form:
Haiku
Borneo Pygmy Elephants are listed as, endangered
and they were isolated, about 300 thousand years ago
from their cousins, on mainland Asia and Sumatra
and they are known as, the smallest Asian Elephant
They have shrinking forests, with human settlements
and there’s a lot of logging, with a conveyor belt running
There are palm oil plantations, creating a lot of sediment
and a lot of agriculture, destroying their natural environment
Categories:
sumatra, animal, beautiful, earth, education,
Form:
Rhyme
OLE BLUE EYES
Many like Frank Sinatra
Even native Malays in Sumatra
Whether his words are sung or spoken
Everyone knows that voice from Hoboken
Categories:
sumatra, people
Form:
Clerihew
Extinct Tiger Speaks
Sumatran Tigers are rare, in fact, extinct
I just returned from Sumatra Indonesia with my pet
A tiger so sweet I named it Peter
Since it went extinct I got it cheap
First order of business was to make it speak
And gave it many treats to play with me
I growled at it for many days and weeks
In hopes it would repeat my roars
One day it looked at me
Questioned why I growled and roared
“Is something wrong with you
And with your mind and voice?”
It spoke in perfect English
Peter! You speak!
The tiger of course was sore
My name is not Peter
Don’t say that any more
Call me Gregory or Greg for short
I went extinct long before you were born
Respect the dead and bring me hot pastrami on bread
I asked my tiger how it is he can talk
And if he’s dead…Why hot pastrami on bread?
He explained
“I might be rare… I might be dead… I might even be a tiger.”
Did it occur to you, the people who sold me to you
Gave you an exotic animal or creature
It does not explain everything
But you did not buy a teacher
I simply want my sandwich now
Later we can dance and sing
And forget about such complicated things
Just think of me as Greg
Your purchased pal from Indonesia
Created 7/22/14 for Animals Alive! Contest
Categories:
sumatra, adventure, animal, confusion, education,
Form:
Free verse
down along 42nd and cypress street
the allegorical prostitutes say their not street
hookers but just a symbol of sex.
just like the walking sign post
stop, merge left, bump,
narrow road ahead.
cracked pavement and raindrops,
concaved inward and downward
awake the cornerstreet prophet and
pattern out a little mercy for the junkies
spinning double helix faith.
such a beautiful gray angelican.
the cigarette littered sidewalk somehow
seems to resurrect its stone geist
with dreams of a sandlewood
gossamer in its head.
but he must know just like all
the others to the east, hawthorn st
and alder st, birch st and ash st.
he must remember that things dont
change for the good much at this
time of year.
the gentrified saints have all
moved north, to sit in hipster
bistros and drink organic
sumatra fair trade coffee.
down along 42nd and cypress st
little was said and less understood.
mostly train horns and mumbling,
mostly sleeping nocturnal birds
with a few leaf clogged storm drains.
Categories:
sumatra, cowboy-western,
Form:
What a gorgeous tiger I said to Sparky when he showed me his pix.
She was a beauty for sure, he said. I had choices of tigers I was seeing.
Being so close to them, were you feeling you were in a bit of a fix?
No, he told me. I used a long lens to capture this gorgeous being.
Which jungle were you visiting? I queried, truly wanting to know.
I was in Sumatra, a large island in Indonesia, pretty from shore to shore.
I asked if this tiger was energetic, tired, fast, young or slow.
I did not get that close he told me, because she is an avid carnivore.
Categories:
sumatra, 1st grade, 2nd grade,
Form:
Rhyme
Listen now
Morning arrives;
Mystic voice
~~~~~~~~~
Dawn speaks
Fond sighs;
Haze loiters
~~~~~~~~~
Sun-block hazy
Fuzzy logic;
Sumatra fires
~~~~~~~~~
Ashy contrast
Smoky smelly;
Foreign stench permeates
~~~~~~~~~
Hazy shades
Photoshop contrast;
Smoky air
~~~~~~~~~
Deeper meaning
Beyond stuff;
Profiteering woes
~~~~~~~~~
Nero's antics
Witty wise;
Hazy surprise
~~~~~~~~~
Crash and burn
No returns;
Hazy churns
~~~~~~~~~
Cheer now jeers
Haste seeds near;
Crazy haze
~~~~~~~~~
Conflict
Contrast;
Compound
~~~~~~~~~
Breathe deep
Haze streaks;
Dry smoky cough
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
08 October 2015
Singapore
Categories:
sumatra, angst,
Form:
Haiku
Flat-Headed Cats are listed as, endangered
and are found in, Sumatra, Borneo and on the Malayan Peninsula
They inhabit, lowland forests, swampy areas, lakes and streams
and they exhibit more wetland skills than their cousin, the Fishing Cat
They are one of four cats, that cannot retract their claws
and their threats are, depletion of fish stocks due to human over fishing
rapid loss of habitat, because encroaching humans are developing
oil palm plantations, logging, poisoning and toxic water pollution
Categories:
sumatra, animal, beautiful, earth, education,
Form:
Rhyme
Sumatran Rhinos are listed as, critically endangered
and are now classified as, “functionally extinct”
as they are only seen in zoos, for their genes to be preserved
but the death of two subspecies, makes them so distinct
Sumatran Rhinos used to live, on Borneo and Sumatra islands
and are the smallest, of the living Asian Rhinos
These Rhinos have two horns, very unique to these hinterlands
and their long hair relates them to, the ancient Woolly Rhino
Poaching of Rhino horns, are sold on the black market
for medicine and ornaments, that makes them a big target
and the biggest markets, are in China and Vietnam
as the greed of money, is a worldwide human scam
Categories:
sumatra, animal, beautiful, earth, education,
Form:
Rhyme