Two Poems
by Diana Kurniawan
Eid on Sunrise
The morning chant woke me
At six o’clock in the morning
When sunrise embraced Jakarta
I knew Eid celebration
Was upon us and the
Streets were filled early
Marketplace crowds came
As ketupat* were made and sold
covered with coconut leaves
In the afternoon all my
Muslim brothers and sisters
Prayed at the mosque
What I waited for was the
Celebration in the evening
When families gathered to dine
And Christians in Indonesia
Ate Rendang* with our families
As we all embraced Islam
Ketupat = rice cooked in weaved coconut leaves
Rendang = Slow cooked beef in spicy red curry sauce
Keepers of The Rooms
Grandmother said I had to ask permission
From the ghosts in every room
Each time I enter a place
The spirits need to be acknowledged
They are the keepers of the empty space
At every corner, I clap four times
To break the emptiness and the mundane
Grandmother also said there were ghosts
In every room protecting the emptiness
From heaven and hell and thoughts of loneliness
She said the Earth has the trees and their leaves growing
From just a seed although no one waters them
The seasons appear from nothing at all
Just as ghosts are keepers of the unknown
She said ghosts help people inside their rooms
They were the keepers of her company
When I was at school and no one was home
She never felt lonely, because of the keepers of the rooms
She spoke to them in normal tones as people would
She never whispered or cried, she told them her secrets
Until grandfather came, then she became silent
BIO: Diana Kurniawan is a poet and writer based in Berthoud, Colorado, United States. Her writing has been published with Twenty Bellows, Sortes Magazine, Ridgeline Review, South Broadway Ghost Society, Porch Literary Magazine, and others. She is a member of Lighthouse Writers Workshop and The University of Chicago Graham School, as well as a fiction reader for The Maine Review. You can reach her at IG @DianaKurniawanWrites, Twitter @Hereislovingyou and her website www.DianaKurniawan.com