Nik Setiadarma

crumbles of time

Blog

  • no, for a body that does not

    no, for a body that does not

    “What Human Emotion Am I? You’re Anger.” A chuckle. Sianne Ngai once wrote a question: “Is there an ‘adequate’ or ‘sufficient’ response to racist expression?” The “I” was shrugging. A performance of idk-yet-somehow-do-know. This is the “I” who feel without rather than within. The “I” asked itself why history is impossible to be written without… Read more

  • Ilham Rukiah

    Ilham Rukiah

    Saya menulis bagian pendek ini ketika saya sedang melakukan studi kecil-kecilan tentang penyair perempuan “Angkatan ’45” dan berpikir tentang laku puitik penyair perempuan. Hasil akhir studi itu adalah tulisan di situs Tengara tentang sajak-sajak Siti Nuraini yang sejauh ini tersebar di berbagai antologi puisi. Namun, ketika saya berpikir tentang Nuraini, saya sekaligus melihat kembali beberapa… Read more

  • Closure Enough

    Closure Enough

    Paintings may allure loneliness. But how dare one is to confront? Mina Loy’s Insel begins with a moment of encountering a friendship (or not, I’m still unsure) with an artist. Narrated by Mrs. Jones, a middle-age woman who worked as a Paris representative of a New York art dealer, the novel is opened with a… Read more

  • Rhythm Out of Death

    Rhythm Out of Death

    Kim Hye Soon’s Autobiography of Death, translated by Don Mee Choi, is an act of commuting to-and-fro two worlds beyond their own border: lifedeath without space, nor virgule and slash. “Death is something that storms in from of the outside. The universe inside is bigger. It’s deep. Soon you float up inside it,” says the… Read more

  • Genggam Palu Kecil Itu

    Genggam Palu Kecil Itu

    Entah sudah berapa lama kepala saya selalu berkutat dengan teknik dan cara menulis esai/ulasan/kritik, atau apapun itu yang dapat dikategorikan dalam payung perbacotan non-fiksi. Mungkin karena saya tidak bisa menulis fiksi, akhirnya saya mencoba untuk membicarakan fiksi sedikit lebih serius a.k.a. mencari cara bagaimana mencampur aduk selera pribadi, penilaian artistik, dan pengamatan konteks, lalu menuliskannya.… Read more

  • phase two; ready

    phase two; ready

    I went to the Netherlands with a broken heart. Anxiety of traveling. The unfinished grief from visa shenanigans. Long distance relationships with my loved ones. My best friend K in Amsterdam gave me a room to weep and a corner in the kitchen to watch her baby child and occasionally zone out. At night, I… Read more