Ultimatum Orangutan

by Khairani Barokka

Khairani Barokka's second poetry collection is an intricate exploration of colonialism and environmental injustice: her acute, interlaced language draws clear connections between colonial exploitation of fellow humans, landscapes, animals, and ecosystems. Amidst the horrifying damage that has resulted for peoples as interlinked with places, there is firm resistance. Resonant and deeply attentive, the lyricism of these poems is juxtaposed with the traumatic circumstances from which they emerge. Through these defiant, potent verses, the body—particularly the disabled body—is centred as an ecosystem in its own right. Barokka's poems are every bit as alarming, urgent and luminous as is necessary in the age of climate catastrophe as outgrowth of colonial violence.

Genres: Poetry, Disability

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2021

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barokka is an Indonesian poet and performance artist based in London. The topics of her second collection include chronic pain, the oppression of women, and the environmental crisis. While she’s distressed at the exploitation of nature, she sprinkles in humanist reminders of Indigenous peoples whose needs should also be valued. For instance, in the title poem, whose points of reference range from King Kong to palm oil plantations, she acknowledges that orangutans must be saved, but that people are also suffering in her native Indonesia. It’s a subtle plea for balanced consideration.

An early sequence about a visit to a Natural History Museum exemplifies the blend of themes. From her wheelchair, the poet ponders “the event” that killed the dinosaurs and human bias towards fellow vertebrates. Why can’t we appreciate a tiger for its own sake rather than its cultural and metaphorical associations? she asks in the following poem.

Medical realities aren’t as prominent as in some nominees – nowhere is it made clear what condition Okka has – but illness haunts certain lines: “my pills lie as armor with so many / glasses of water, upright and tensile / to save life against terrors by way / of circulatory relief” (from “on lying down, apocalyptic”). Concern about the environment also tips over into the apocalyptic in “situation report” and “pylons.”

“Fence and Repetition” sets out a palindrome of lines, and later on there are a golden shovel and an abecedarian, with tips of the hat to other poets. This more formal verse is in contrast with looser poems lacking capitalization or articles; in places the language even reads like pidgin. I found the phrasing unusual, forcing close attention to what’s actually going on. This wasn’t generally my cup of tea, but makes a striking entry on this year’s shortlist, and was a good chance to add my first Indonesian writer to my internal library.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck, as part of my Barbellion Prize 2021 shortlist reading.

[ikram · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I read Khairani Barokka's works. After devouring Indigenous Species, I have known that Ultimatum Orangutan would be another great book that I'd love. My prediction was right, I enjoyed every poetries.

Ultimatum Orangutan is more raw, honest, and brutal than Indigenous Species. Khairani Barokka didn't want to stay silent on the matters that are important, yet only small crowds are loud about it. She weave her words beautifully, crafted it as a knife that'll stab her readers right on their hearts. How many times do we glazed over the struggle of Indonesian indigenous people? How many times do we tell ourselves "it is what it is" as we tore down our rainforest in the name of "development"? How comfortable we are living in the city, thinking climate injustice is a faraway issue?

My favorite is in which i hypnotise a tiger . Tiger is one of the most represented cultural icon, yet it is also one of the endangered species in the world. This poetry feels like a love letter from Khairani Barokka to the last remaining tigers in the world. It's one of the poetries that made me cry.

I personally want to thank Transit Santa for recommending this book on their current theme; Among the Elements. If you are Indonesian, you should check their store out!

[Safara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silently crying is something that I've done since the beginning of this poetry collection. I've seen this book since my local independent bookstore, Transit Santa, recommended this. Ya Allah I don't know how Kak Okka write this book because it is so deep. I imagine that this book only covers about nature environment but to my surprise, it also talks about harrasment and inequal access for women, especially indigeneous women.

Fortunately, this book is also available in digital form on Scribd. Please do read this important book because... It is good.

[Rosamund · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a complex collection, challenging in both the ideas in the poems and the range of style and form Okka uses. Powerful and exciting.

[Qonita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baru puisi pertama udah mau mewek TT. Aku hampir nggak pernah nangis karena puisi, soalnya biasanya kurang panjang untuk membangun narasi yang sampai mengoyak-ngoyak, bukan sekedar miris. Tapi Ultimatum Orangutan segitu nendang karena banyak hal. Senada dengan Indigenous Species yang diterbitkan sebelumnya, di sini Khairani Barokka menyoroti isu lingkungan, perdagangan hewan ilegal, dan perebutan habitat dengan gamblang. Diramu dengan kemarahan, kesedihan, gerah dan gelisah, UO bukan cuma kumpulan puisi, tapi juga katarsis yang meradang. Walaupun ditulis dalam bahasa Inggris, puisi-puisi di sini terasa sangat dekat dan telak, sampai aku sebagai pembaca tak ayal ikut patah hati berkali-kali.

Yang juga menyesakkan, ada yang polos dan kanak-kanak dalam sosok-sosok yang berbicara sambil berjongkok di hadapan pohon, sungai, serangga, atau hewan yang diawetkan. Kontras antara kepolosan dan tragedi perusakan alam ini rasanya makin meremukkan hati.
Salah satu favoritku adalah "in which i hypnotise a tiger". Di puisi ini kak Okka menghipnotis harimau agar tidak menjadi dirinya yang menjinjing serenteng duka hanya karena menjadi harimau; hipnotis untuk tidak dimutilasi, tidak dijadikan pakaian, tidak digantung, tidak membusu, tidak punah, tidak terlupakan. Sedih, karena yang diimpikan adalah saat harimau membuka mata, ia akan bebas dari malapetaka. Nyatanya, banyak harimau-harimau di dunia bangun kembali setiap hari dalam mimpi buruk.

Tentunya puisi tadi tidak sia-sia. Buku ini adalah pesan berantai dari penulis bahwa ada yang salah dengan manusia. Walaupun kalimat mungkin bisa memudar di kepala, perasaan yang diremas olehnya melekat dan mentransformasi. Kali ini buku ini sampai kepadaku yang hanya bisa menulis resensi. Semoga kali lain buku ini bisa sampai ke orang yang lebih punya suara dan kuasa untuk berbuat atau berhenti berbuat.

[Charlott · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When I speak to people about palm oil plantations
as devastations of Papuans, Dayak, Padang, et al,
invariably, the words 'palm oil' make them think
of orangutans. We need to save them. I've found
myself thinking 'Orangutans, and so many peoples
as well', but this phrase does not fit well on campaigns
against palm oil; and whenever I see a billboard
with an orangutan on it campaigning against palm oil,
I say 'Yes', I say 'Is this what it takes', and always
I say 'And so many peoples as well.'"
- excerpt from the poem Ultimatum Orangutan by Khairani Barokka

With the exception of one week, I have read one poetry every week this year - and Khairani Barokka's collection is so far my clear favourite. The book which was also shortlisted for The Barbellion Prize (a book prize for books by disabled authors) is incredibly written and shows so powerfully how we cannot thing enviorenmentalism without dissecting legacies of colonialism, how disability is always an underlying topic.

"any mind that carries singular current resistance, without many
mass current and past resistance in mind - colonial, linear time
- is a ________________"

[sekar banjaran aji · Rating 5 out of 5]

OKKA is everything that you are not. She didn't warn you in the beginning because she already explodes in the title by making this book ULTIMATUM.
She wants you to know that her words are powerful without any exclamation mark because the fact is already exhilarating that this world has so many problems. She talks a lot that beautiful because not all poets can do it. Criticize the climate justice, decolonize the ideas of earthworm, indigenous struggles on developmentalism trauma, private division of land as a mass of colonist, the resistance of 'the 'we', broken bloody city, elder vulnerability, and even the Nyi Roro Kidul. How poetic those facts in the context that we never visit those ideas because we are too busy fight for ourselves?
I can feel it because I came from Indonesia that the privilege makes me enjoy this book so much. I don't know if some white guy from the north can understand this book quickly. But again, it is not the author's problem; that's their problem.

[Kaytalist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully heartbreaking

[Library of Dreaming (Bookstagram) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of these poems but I must confess most of them were completely confusing to me and went over my head.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall really appreciated the themes explored here, but the poetry itself was often too close to prose for my taste.

[Katelyn Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully captures the grief of witnessing our planet's climate change from colonial capitalist structures. Her words dissembles boarders, uniting bodies and earth