Navigable Ink

by Jennifer MacKenzie

Indonesian writer and activist Pramoedya Ananta Toer spent most of his adult life in jail, imprisoned first by colonial powers and later by Indonesian governments. In 1993 Jennifer Mackenzie received a copy of Toer’s manuscript Arus Balik and the author’s blessing to translate it into English. This was at a time when the author’s now celebrated work was banned in Indonesia and he was under house arrest in Jakarta.
Jennifer Mackenzie’s own Navigable Ink is a rare poetic exploration of Toer’s tragic, visionary and ultimately triumphant life. With skill, knowledge and sensitivity Mackenzie captures the beauty of Indonesia and Toer’s fight to preserve its integrity and essence. Throughout our world, his concerns for the environment, gender equality, free speech, non-discrimination and freedom are now more crucial than ever.
Navigable Ink is a work of poetry that is at once activist, lyrical and heart-wrenching. You don’t just read these poems – you feel them.
‘Each injustice has to be fought against, even if it’s only in one’s heart – and I did fight.’ Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2020

Reviews

[Regina Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A exquisite, moving book of poems; Navigable Ink is a must read, but don't read it just once but twice, even thrice. My favourite poem of Navigable Ink, is below:

Girl From The Coast

She was a child
young, golden, playing on the
shore, hauling heavy fishing nets

plucked as a practice wife for an
aristocrat
how could such a weakling be a warrior
a hero from old stories?
bathed in fragrant water
cocooned in light blue silk
feet in Japanese straw sandals

remembering toes clogged in mud
at the river mouth, its bitter smell,
the strong odour of prawns
she once pounded to a powder
every day at this time

thrown out, when they were
done with her

the invaders came
she woke up old
faded clothing as neat as she could make it tiny hands and feet wrinkled, arthritic

a bent back dwarfed daily by a large basket
taken out of habit to the dawn market
fewer and fewer sales

always somebody stealing her life

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such an unusual book of poetry, I hardly know how to begin...

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I have reviewed four books by the great Indonesian author and activist Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925-2006). Well, this book of poetry derives from the Melbourne-based poet Jennifer Mackenzie's contact with Pramoedya, when in 1993 he sent her a copy of his MS Arus Balik (Cross Currents) for translation. (The book was eventually published in 1995, but not yet in an English translation). This collection of poems were created out of episodes from the novel. This is the blurb:

Indonesian writer and activist Pramoedya Ananta Toer spent most of his adult life in jail, imprisoned first by colonial powers and later by Indonesian governments. In 1993 Jennifer Mackenzie received a copy of Toer’s manuscript Arus Balik and the author’s blessing to translate it into English. This was at a time when the author’s now celebrated work was banned in Indonesia and he was under house arrest in Jakarta.

Jennifer Mackenzie’s own Navigable Ink is a rare poetic exploration of Toer’s tragic, visionary and ultimately triumphant life. With skill, knowledge and sensitivity Mackenzie captures the beauty of Indonesia and Toer’s fight to preserve its integrity and essence. Throughout our world, his concerns for the environment, gender equality, free speech, non-discrimination and freedom are now more crucial than ever.

Navigable Ink is a work of poetry that is at once activist, lyrical and heart-wrenching. You don’t just read these poems – you feel them.

‘Each injustice has to be fought against, even if it’s only in one’s heart – and I did fight.’ Pramoedya Ananta Toer

'Village meeting' refers, I think, to the arrival of colonial aggressors:

I.

In the dark forest one light in the meeting hall
a village losing out to tribute
shivering lamp rays stain a chill breeze

in this wind we feel in our very bones
incendiary words will flow
coursing through the irrigation
channels we ourselves constructed
the courts will hear them
the dewa [god] too
from us, for our labour
a divine insurgency

raised arms punching the light
resist, revel, agitate! (p.16)

The second stanza shows the fate of those who were troublemakers... but the irony of this, is that it was Indonesians themselves who caused Pramoedya the most grief.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/04/06/n...