Safe Space

This space is safe. Scrawl till you crawl, but wear a sarong. Haven't got one? Ish, don a kopiah then!

Black Hole Alert!

(This space is unsafe. Skip it or you'll disappear like gargle water down a sinkhole!)

Lemah Lembut

Dulu orang Cina bungkus kaki anak dara mereka,
Orang Afrika dan Borneo cucuk hidung dan telinga,
Gelangkan tengkuk dan entah melakukan apa lagi
Kepada tubuh badan mereka demi kepercayaan,

Sekarang ramai pakai kasut yang nipis,
Yang mendedah lebih banyak kulit puan
Daripada kulit kasut,
Mudah rosak, yang cengkam jari kaki,
Sehingga herot, yang mempunyai tapak tumit
yang tinggi dan kurus,
yang menganjak pusat graviti
beberapa cm ke atas dan
menjejas kestabilan imbangan kaki.

Apa nama produk akhir proses turun temurun
dan sejagat ini?

Wanita lemah lembut.

Pulau Besar Selatan

Budaya tak menulis: Kalu tidak, Australia hari ini bernama Pulau Besar Selatan

Ada pengkaji menegaskan bahawa orang luar pertama mendarat di tanah besar yang kini bergelar Australia adalah orang Melayu, bukan Belanda dan kemudian Inggeris.

Pengkaji kata terdapat sisa tunggul tiang rumah dan pokok kelapa yang mencerminkan budaya orang Melayu di Wilayah Utara, Australia.

Tapi kerana moyang kita tidak mengamalkan budaya menulis, mereka tidak meninggalkan sebarang dokumen, peta, surat tuntutan, apatah lagi bangunan atau perkampungan tetap.

Persoalan sekarang: Apakah kita terus mengulangi kesilapan moyang kita dengan budaya tidak menulis mengenai pengalaman kita?

One Blogger's Rationale

The theme of this blog is literary expression. The basis for it is a philosophical conundrum: does the tree in the forest fall if there is no one to witness and report - describe - it?

To do that you use words. You need words to name objects and events, to "make" them exist or happen.

Does the universe exist, did history happen, if there is no word to say so? Do you exist without a name? Without a name, an identity, who are you? Can you think without words? Without thinking, where will you be?

Word the World

There are two parallel realities here - the thing, and the word. Are they sequential or simultaneous worlds? If sequential, which precedes? Does the thing happen first and then the word follows? Or does the "word" causes things to happen? Obviously, the word can be taken to represent Intelligence which connotes Intention, Power and Effulgence. The Word then is a synechdoche of All-encompassing Intelligence.

To keep the analysis within a reasonable length, in keeping with the dimensions of this blog, I'm forced to take ontological leaps and shortcuts here.

So, in the foregoing sense, one can say, Word as Almighty Intelligence, precedes the universe and history. At the same time, the Word fires and keeps tabs on universal proceedings and reports back on them through its chief agents, human beings.

So there you have it in a nutshell - a dual parallel world of Word and Thing, but with Word upping the ante by being both antecedent and precedent to the Thing jeepneying along on the path of time.

That just about wraps it all up: the Word is a Thing wrap.

Hence this blog. The importance of the word is the raison detre for the creation of this blog. Writing this blog defines my life path, direction and purpose. By building it, I'm exercising my identity and feeding my soul. Filling up this blog is like putting things into a bundle to take on my journey along my life path to my final destination. Think of Dick Whittington with his stick and bundle walking on the road to London to seek his fortune. That's one children's story with a hidden adult meaning for you.

I am the word, and the word is me.

Suddenly, the possibly derogatory expression, blogging your life away, suggesting degeneration, has a ring of purpose and echo of direction to it.

Walk the Word

But of course you must have other interests, responsibilities - a life outside of blogging - to write about. Hence my add on list of other interests, not mentioning normal family and other social responsibilites.

Buta Celik

Tiada yg lebih buta daripada mereka yg tak nampak.

Role Call

Everyone is assigned a role,
Saint, sinner;
Perpetrator, victim;
Rescuer, rescued;
Therefore, beyond fate,
Lift not a finger to save your soul,
Let alone mundane matters.

Noktah Mati

Noktah mengakhiri ayat,
Mati mengakhiri hayat,
Tapi dari ayat ke ayat,
Dari hayat fana ke hayat
Baqa, ada kesinambungan.

Alam Wajah Kewujudan

Kita kenali manusia melalui wajah,
Kita kenali kewujudan melalui alam,
Mulai dari alam baik-baik belaka,
Tapi resah, tersilap, tergoda,
Timbul persoalan, merantau, meniti,
Mengaharungi kelopak kehidupan
Akhir sampai Puncak Makrifat.

Your Thoughts Never Die

You can stop to think,
But you cannot stop thinking,
Even when you are asleep, or dead;
Awake, you think to process the mundane,
Asleep, you think to dream the insane,
Dead, your soul, pure consciousness,
Rises from the blushes,
To rummage memories,
Individual and collective,
Review historic files
From the Cosmic Archive;
Soar over scapes as an eagle's eye,
Hover in the clover as a dragonfly,
Slide down a chute as an otter,
To a sunlit spot underwater,
Grow as a sapling, gracefully
Into an old Tualang tree.

Far-flung are the reaches,
Limitless are the riches,
Greater is the sum
Of Thoughts Incorporated,
Whether awake, asleep,
Or Transformatted.

Mahabohsia

Dari kampung ke kaki lima kota, gadis
Belasan tahun naik teksi, gi
Shopping kompleks, habis
RM30 jumlah emak, penggores
Getah, kutip dari 2 pagi.

Dari kampung ke kampus, siswi
Awal duapuluhan kapit beg, Delphi
Kamar, kuliah, kantin, komsis E,
Keluar handset Nokia 6000C, beli
Duit emak, pekebun kecil, beri.

Pabila ditanya tutor,
Diinterbiu oleh NTV3,
Diminta pendapat isu semasa,
Tiada bunyi apa-apa,
Boh tau, boh kata,
Rupanya dalam senyap
Simpan rahsia, ada kuasa,
Itulah dia mahabohsia.

Tak suka, takut bertanya,
Dok di bangku, nyata
Nampak macam zombie
Cuba melindung identiti,
Balik tiang hidung sendiri.
Bila habis kuliah, baru
Nampak bernyawa kembali.

Fakawi

Fakawi's Unforgettable Cycling, Kayaking,
That's the tagline for my blog
Where I deposit promissory notes
Expressing my interests and pursuits.

One of which is long postponed,
Circumambulation of Africa,
From the Sahara to the Kalahari,
Where I hope to meet my nemesis,
The legendary lost tribe of Fakawi,
Whose name lends its mystique,
To my otherwise prosaic site,
Fakawi's Unforgettable Cycling, Kayaking,
Whose acronym is not my doing,
But may yet be my undoing.

Pegawai Melayu Di New York

Seorang pegawai tinggi dalam hairaki UMNO sekarang (latest, dah bekas) pernah berada di New York awal 80an buat master's.

Pada satu hari minggu pertama di sana, sambil menyesuaikan diri dalam kerumitan budaya dan bahasa yang amat bercanggah dengan b-d-b ibunda, beliau beratur di sebuah kedai Italian menjual pizza.

Bila tiba giliran, seorang kakitangan, Yang 195 CM Tinggi, bertanya: "Here, or to go?"

Yang 165 CM Rendah menjawab: "Go where?"

Buruh Indon Di KL

Just Another Ordinary Day In The Life Of Buton, Same Like Yesterday

Seorang buruh yang baru tiba dari Buton, Sulawesi, sedang melayan pelanggan beratur di gerai makan Fakulti Pendidikan, Universiti Malaya, KL. Sampai gilirannya, seorang pelanggan mengajukan sebilah pisau roti kepada Buton dan berbisik:

"Berikan semua nasi dan lauk pauk itu cepat, kalau tidak aku cederakan kau!"

Tanpa sebarang perubahan wajah, Buton pandang lurus kepada Pengancam dan dengan entah mana satu daripada 300 loghat Sulawesi, menjawab:

"Makaan ... bungkuus."

Ancaman tidak memberi apa-apa kesan, Pengancam balik jadi Pelanggan.

Nobody noticed the ruffle in the smooth surface of existence, not even Buton.

Next.

"Makaan, bungkuus."

Smsing Whisperer

Scene: Smsing through airwaves/radio/cyberspace/infrared signal?

Characters: ZR is the lynchpin. All other characters are in communication with ZR but are unknown to one another. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely poetic and to truth, coincidentally coincidental.

ZR: Pampering, after achieving, is a good strategy,
But, if indulged in, will turn you into a softie,
Physically, mentally and spiritually;
Neither a slob, nor flabby be,
Better be hard, mean and lean,
Sinewy, synapsy, soul squeaky clean;
So put on the running shoes,
Put word to verse, pen to use,
See the weather in a bead of water,
The world in a clump of sand
Then sit back and wonder,
Is not the First Source close at hand.


To be able to smooth out the bumps and potholes of life,
Essence of existence
To have a purpose in life, one must love;
To love, one must have discipline.

Nee: ??? Apa tu? Salah hantar ke?

Ruby: You send me 38 smses.
I'll only reply to the 38th.
Then you can have teh tarik.
With me. Nothing comes cheap, lor!
Not my time, but as in my name.

Rus: I'm on the road from Kemaman to Kapar.
Catch up with you later, Papa.

Roby: Deeply stimulating words,
Mostly saintly, but some are absurd.

Pady: I couldn't agree with you more!
Your ideas flow, your words score.

ZR: Today I was goaded,
The provos to be loaded
With ammo to surge forward.


Pady: Who provoked you, pray tell?

Zr: My agent provocateur
Is always generic,
Never specific,
Whatya fink?

Hani: Haha, very funny!

ZR: Trust you, Hani!
You only one to see the sunny.
One was moved to tears;
Another was unmoved;
Number 4 nodded approval;
Five will reset her time table;
Six set to rearrange her priorities;
Seven wanted to know more possibilities;
Eight changed the subject,
Nine didn't bother to contact,
Not even to yell - go to hell.

Anis: Changed the subject ...
That's me, right?
Were I really like that?

Zr: Nolah, you were driving on your way someplace,
Mana ada konsentrasi nak sembang deep-deep.
I know you are not a superficial gal
Incapable of wading into a subject deeper than your ankle.
Or talk like Tarzan -
Briefer than his jungle brief.
Or Eve with her fig leaf,
Now I know how Jane must have grieved.

Anis: Mm.

ZR: Today a new art form is born
But between art and you
My heart is torn
For you were not there
To tamper the tempest
To pamper before the Pampers
To sooth the pain in the gain
To hear the cry in the netherness
To witness that Art R Us.