Room of Fictional Writing Examples (Written by Emhaf)
1. REMINISCING ABOUT WEDNESDAYS AS LONGINGS IN HIDING
a small house on a green hill
among the waves of the hills
a meadow that has been mowed
too fine, to the point of appearing bare
there... in the centre of it...
the house was called Wednesday.
Wednesday is a little hideaway
when a familiar message comes in
on the green ball
In an instant it's "deleted for me"
You and billions of people must understand
Wednesday of all days
one meeting among many
Wednesday for each of them
a journey for a thread of laughter
followed by a green stick that stands
between the seat and the steering wheel
a glimpse of it has become a longing
next Wednesday
as green as lips that reap stories
giving breath to other Wednesdays
like a child who sees a row of swings
has been fully played and he still waits
Wednesday has changed the month
he shadows one encounter to another
the flashing green fabric
accompanied by the harmonised voice of Dian Sastrowardoyo
he met the third inhabitant of another Wednesday
Wednesday that should have ended in the afternoon
suddenly stepped by afternoon
initially filled with question marks
instead, it was decorated with two winks
that turned green
he continued his words
writing longing for the umpteenth time
I want Wednesday to replace other days
so that there is no day without Wednesday
because Wednesday has become green
accommodating the longings
even though it's only temporary
by sunset he must be gone
he said, "it will be noisy if left alone."
Semarang, 1 October 2023
Muhammad Hamdan Mukafi (Emhaf)
2. FOR NAYA...Do you remember the angel who peed on us?
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
To Naya...
Did you ever ask me why I like to roll up this paper before I give it to you?
Didn't you want an unusual letter?
Do you remember the angel who peed on us?
When you're bored with the clouds, yet you often give them names. Even when you didn't want your name mentioned. Naya... Naya... a word that is not actually your name. Nadya Cempaka... who removed the letter "d" from your name? Then, you would say the name of a man. Yes, the man whose name resembles that of an angel - the angel who likes to piss on us, right?
Mika-----------el... you know that name well, don't you?
Don't you find that rain is a mixture of evaporation that has been saturated as grey clouds. Wanting them to hurry up and become the sky's cry. But, don't you know, that the drops that fell from the sky had also been mixed with Angel Michael's urine. He lazily begged God to build a toilet above the clouds. He said, "What would happen if a human plane passed by and hit the toilet?"
I thought, Angel Mikael is more humane than humans themselves. Well, that was before I realised that there was a pungent odour in some of the raindrops that flowed into my nostrils. And... and... salty on my tongue. What kind of rain is this?
***
The night before I switched off my bedroom light. It was early enough to hurry up and get under the covers. The rooster had already crowed. It is more diligent in waking up than the masses of humans, or rather lazier because humans will only fall asleep when they wake up. In between the crackling of the rooster's beak and the crowing your text message comes through.
Hahahahaha...
Your story Mas... but I don't think it's real yet! I've only read one page...
I replied briefly. My eyes were too tired to stare at my phone for too long. My eyelids were like they had been crushed by several grams of weight, too heavy and blackened.
Go ahead...
Zzzzzzzzz
I wait about ten seconds and switch off the light. I turn off my mobile phone, except for the alarm that will wake me up at dawn.
***
I voice-call him but there's no answer. He deliberately left me with only a line of z's. It was when I read the story from the last two pages of his letter that I lost my sleep. I felt like I was above the clouds, looking at the sky palace. He took the name Malaqudz, a familiar word. I'd heard it many times, perhaps only in eloquent recitations over the loudspeakers of the mosque before maghrib or dawn. He was too clever to make me think of his poems that drew on the longings and sorrows of Islam, something I had long questioned. Ah... never mind...
"PLEASE MIKAEL!"
Drizzle fell across the country. A humid wind blew - slowly. What felt hot was covered by white clouds that began to grey. There was no lightning that day. There was no thunder. Beams of sunlight were still allowed by the clouds to penetrate through the gaps. The creatures looked up to the sky again. Mikael shadowed the creatures' eyeballs again.
___
... That's when Mikael realised our presence, Naya! When we were asleep in my dorm room after watching a film that we deliberately left out of the proceedings... when we opened our eyes to find it drizzling, what do you think Mikael was seeing behind our eyes?
___
His eyes were wide open. He was walking in a hurry. The flat-winged angels were amazed, but also familiar with his behaviour. The whispers of the flat-winged angels blew in the wind. Some of the flat-winged angels swarmed. Their wings rubbed together. A small fire sparked. The sparks produced small electric currents. Lightning flashed on the white clouds.
Several other flat-winged angels followed Mikael's lead. They ran after him. Mikael's feet were like ten flat-winged angels' feet when put together lengthwise.
___
Naya... where do you think Mikael ran off to?
___
On the roof of my flat. She widened her eyes. Can you believe that's how I felt? My eyes sting from the deliberate rubbing of his eyes. What about your eyes? Do you feel the same?
He was about to descend from the sky, but flat-winged angels blocked his way. With hundreds of pairs of wings, creating a kind of fortress. The long hands of the flat-winged angels were joined together. They blocked Mikael's body by forming a web of hands. Mikael turned his head in all directions. His face never changed. The glint in his eyes evoked no fear, always a coolness, but a coolness so painful. The flat-winged angels were in pain. This is because the beating of Mikael's wings created a mighty wind. The wind shook the webs of the flat-winged angels' hands.
The clouds turned dark. The clouds scattered in all directions. It wasn't over there. Mikael with his firm steps. There was no anger. He still stood with a soothing smile. All the flat-winged angels who saw his smile smiled back. However, Mikael was still stomping under the blanket of a soothing smile. His stomp rumbled the sky. Thunder crashed from sky to sky. Clouds scattered. The rain drizzled down in flurries in all directions. Its wings were still flapping, softly but whipping up winds that tore apart the layers of the sky
The plants on earth swayed. The creatures that tried to take shelter with the greenish blanket, ran away. They tried to find other shade. Under the buildings. Underneath solid walled houses. Also in rickety huts. Everyone was chanting various prayers to the Lord of Heaven for safety. But who is the Lord of Heaven?
___
Three days - three nights, we chose not to move from my boarding room. Fortunately, there was still a box of instant noodles, eggs, tempeh, and a kilo of rice. Luckily, we can eat by cooking ourselves, Naya... but look Naya... in Kulonprogo!!!! In Bantul!!! In Wonosari!!!
___
"MIKAEL... WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS OF PRAYERS GATHERED AT THE FOOT OF MY ARSY. THE PALACE OF MALAKUDZ WAS VISITED BY MANY ANGELS CARRYING LETTERS OF REPENTANCE!!!"
"Ya Rahman... I am only giving you the bounty of rain and a more soothing breeze!!! Did my actions trouble you Ya Rahman?"
"OH... NO-NO. WELL, WHETHER ANYONE PRAYS OR NOT. SOME REPENT OR NOT. ANYWAY, I'LL JUST TAKE IT EASY!!!"
"Then... it's okay for me to continue, isn't it, Rahman?"
"IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE YOU CAN!!! BUT..."
"But? But what is it, Rahman?"
"GIVE THEM A BREAK... PITY YOUR TROOPS WHO ARE GUARDING THE SUN!!! THEY ARE RELAXING RIGHT???"
"Yes Rahman... I'll organise a better schedule!!!"
___
That's when, Naya... we decided to go out. The heavy rain turned to drizzle. I opened the motorbike that I'd been sitting on for three days. You were taking a shower Naya. You know Naya... I was trying to see how the sky was doing. Is this drizzle really not a trick of nature? I saw thin grey clouds being swept away by the wind. The stars are starting to appear in the sky Naya... I lift my face to the sky. I open my mouth, hoping that the cold greeting of the small drizzle that night is a prelude to us spending more time talking on the streets. But Naya, a very salty flavour caught my tongue's senses. A more pungent odour of urine, like ten men peeing standing together under a tree.
___
"Lord Archangel Mikael? Is it our turn again?" the flat-winged angel - with a yellow colour on the flakes of his wings - shouted in the sunlight.
"Yes... in a little while... let me finish my three-day date first!!!"
Krekkrekrkekkreeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Mikael walked towards the flat-winged angels with flakes of sunlight and gave them a smile. Mikael folded his wings. The angels who saw Mikael's smile smiled back. Then they flew. Up into the sky. Towards the sun. To take its light.
***
I read my name. Is this the letter you wrote to me? Is it really for me? I watched you go by. So far away that I no longer see your shadow. Drizzle at the crossroads of dusk to night. The scattered sunlight has turned into a line of water that falls slowly from the sky. Wet my eyelids. The water from the sky is megisinya. I don't know... is it tears or sky water that has filled up my eyelids, so that it spills over and soaks my cheeks?
Who are you? I'm familiar with the way you write. I'm familiar with your stories. But, I forgot, what exactly is this story?
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