About Indonesian poetry

Written by Rahma Yulita | Read in Indonesian

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “poetry”? For some, it might be famous poets like Chairil Anwar, Sapardi Djoko Damono, or even Rupi Kaur. Others might think of works such as "Aku" by Chairil Anwar which still occasionally returns to the spotlight in this modern life.

Rarely will people think about what poetry is, because nowadays, poetry seems to be placed in a box that can only be enjoyed almost exclusively.

Poetry is a part of literary work which is generally created to express the writer's feelings, be it anxiety, sadness, or happiness. That is why poetry comes in beautiful, imaginative words.

Unlike other literary works, poetry is created to attract readers with language that is bound by rhyme, rhythm and a particular arrangement of each line and stanza which gives it a nuance.

As time goes by, the popularity of poetry fades away. Around 2014-2017, though, poetry regained traction when books by foreign writers such as Lang Leav, Rupi Kaur, Charles Bukowski and Michael Faudet became a hot topic.

Poetry writing also began to change. More poems take the form of quotes or just short words. This trend was confirmed by Rakasya, a poet and founder of the poetry community Dasein Community.

“In my opinion, most poets today are akin to quote writers. Non-fiction but in the form of quotes. They need to be put in a different group from poets such as Aan Mansyur, Sapardi Djoko Damono and others," Rakasya told TFR.

Rakasya said that he only entered the world of writing around 2016 with his first book "A Letter To A Stranger". His desire to write emerged after he read the works of the poet Charles Bukowski.

"Charles Bukowski’s poems inspired me to write and they can represent my worries too. I then had an aspiration to write a book and wanted to be like that. At first, it was just for fun and over time, it became a career, then I couldn't stop."

The position of poetry as entertainment is starting to be marginalised

After making up his mind to become a poet, Rakasya inevitably faced challenges, which are perhaps also felt by other poets out there.

First of all, poets are very different from novelists or short story writers. Compared with novels, the popularity of poetry is nothing to talk about, as it has an even more niche audience.

"But the problem is that interest in poetry as a form of literature is quite low," Rakasya explained.

How could it be, when poetry was once one of the most acclaimed forms of literary works? So much so that poetry was once an important element in the entertainment industry, which we can see in the film "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta" (2002) where the main characters, Rangga and Cinta, are both poets and poet connoisseurs.

Rakasya cited technological developments as one of the causes of the shift in poetry as a form of entertainment. In the past, when gadgets didn't offer much entertainment, book stores and the works in them were very popular.

"Back then, entertainment was mostly music, radio, and one alternative form of entertainment was books. At that time, books were popular and Indonesia's literacy level was quite high, because books were part of everyday and social life. Now that entertainment is getting more varied, poetry books in particular have become very tertiary, pushed aside from the entertainment section," he said.

If so, can interest in poetry be restored? Can! But it certainly won’t be easy because poetry activists need to start educating the public about poetry from scratch.

This is one of the reasons that prompted Rakasya to establish the Dasein Community. Apart from restoring the interest in poetry as well as educating and gathering people who are interested in poetry, the community also aims to find a market.

The more people spread information or poetry works from the community, the more people will be influenced and interested in it. The Dasein Community also exists to spread poetry to a wider audience.

Commercialisation remains a major problem

Apart from the aforementioned shift, poetry today also faces the problem of commercialisation. Just like novel writers, poets also rely on books— how many copies are sold.

The problem is that commercialisation is difficult because interest in poetry is quite low. This makes it necessary to find ways to commercialise poetry in a more modern way. “Not only through a book; it also has to be [commercialised] through other objects. How to make poetry writing a career that can produce works beyond books," he said.

This is especially considering that technological advances have opened wider avenues for people who want to start a career as a writer. Of course, one needs to remember that in the end, fans will only be moved with quality

When a writer has their own branding, the market will automatically come. This will later influence the commercialisation of their work. They can work on this by building branding on social media to reach a wider audience, then publishing their work.

Besides establishing a community, Rakasya also founded Dasein Publishing which specifically publishes poetry works.

Rakasya explained, “Now we have six writers who are ready to publish their works. The process is still ongoing and later there will be some kind of event for the book launch and so on."

He started by publicising this opportunity on social media, inviting those who wanted to write a book to send or create a manuscript to Dasein Publishing. Not only experienced writers, Rakasya said he also helps novice writers.

Poetry writing is not an impossible career to pursue, even though the market is very limited. For this reason, participation from people in the industry is needed to ensure that poetry becomes something sustainable.

"If preserved, there is a possibility that poetry will reproduce so that it will not go extinct. It’s the same everywhere; and poetry can indeed be likened to an endangered species, its existence is in jeopardy," he concluded.