Author: rike jokanan

Me, now here

Pink Roses

Learning, Poetic
Pink roses in a vase welcome seven cold guests, turning them to smiles.

—

an innocent staff put these roses in a vase to welcome us; she said the roses were grown in the dorm garden, which we found true; what a sweet gesture 💝 (Nagano, 2014) — we should have smiled more widely to her 😁 see you again this year

Pak Gita & dr. Ryu

Learning, Those People

Good morning, from where I am.

—

why I like this neurologist? super smart and will make people feel like his friends and help us learn/unlearn/relearn based on science 👍🏼 he said in this podcast “reading is not important to all, it is important to those curious about science” 👍🏼 he also believes life is about collaboration rather than competition 👍🏼 but his tongue is spicy and salty to those trying to weakly challenge his arguments 😁

Love Birds Tweet

Learning
Silence sits among storm, won’t sit in a temple. She’s been far away happy, leaving two love birds tweeting noisily.

—

Some people don’t want happy ending for everyone but themselves and won’t stop communicating their hostility in any other way even when they know they have won the game. Oh! Perhaps they never know what victory is, they misunderstand it with justification.

Salaam…

is it the note, the clef or the heart shape or the space the illustrator wants to emphasise? many will (mis)interpret based on their own experience or even assumption, exactly like a literature which is interpreted differently and the literary person smiles wide as she knows the more interpretations are awarded to a poem, the more successful the poet is — 😘😎

Ode to Day

Learning, Poetic, This Person
Dear, day.
Do you know that I never stop waiting for you?
When my watch ticks a second,
My heart drips a note,
My pulse vibrates softly,
I know I am closer to you.

Dear, day.
Do you know that every part of you blesses me?
When morning breaks,
Noon flares,
Dusk fades to night,
I know the next you is waiting
For me.

Day oh day
Many I can’t understand,
Much I can’t decipher,
Little I can see,
Very few I can give
Yet I still hope
To meet you again.

Dear, day.
How I am blessed with family,
Gifted with friends,
Sufficed with this self,
You are still the one
Sung by this heart.
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
All have been today
And never faded away.

I am blessed, day
With another you
In the best way.

And for you
I am grateful.

—

as dark as serene night
as shadowy as calm dusk
as bright as each and every morning
she is well protected under the shade of glorious sunflowers 💝
dear sunflower 💕
and the white drops of details
when all glass vases are prioritised for orchid roots, fondue pot be today’s best choice 💝
all must be got rid of in order for the flower arrangement to get a spacious and “clean” background — there is always thing to prioritise; if it is not you, don’t feel bad — it’s just like that everyday so just be blessed with becoming either 0 or 1 in this binary world 💕

Love Diaries in A Library

Learning, love, Poetic
This life is a library
Keeping all collections,
Reference to public,
Exclusive to a lover,
One lover.
The
Beloved—

Read,
Beloved
Any scrolls
In this library.

Read,
Lover
The diaries
In the secret dungeon.

Read,
Beloved
With naked eyes, or
With any glasses on the shelves.

Read,
Lover
Through letters and numbers,
Shapes and colours.

Read,
Beloved
This library is open
As long as you are awake.

Read,
Lover
Before you sleep
When I’ll be reading you through.

—

my earlier diaries are true stories through naked eyes; the later are colours, shapes, numbers, words in various styles and figures of speech needing some tricks and tips to sense layers of meanings and information — we are all writers, librarians and readers 💝

About the photo

Free Will

Learning, Poetic
Free will? What is that? This breath is what you blow in to me to love you.

—

Realising more and more that her life is free of free will; she needs causes and reasons to do anything she does even for her brain to think about what things to think of— there is a bond invisible and invincible.

She surrenders to the bond. 💝

Happy weekend.

Salaam.

two new buds not coming out of free will 🥰 there are reasons, there are causes

Corner

Learning, Poetic

In a bright corner she’s seen. The sun sends her light reflecting bright life.

—

this is more than enough to put me in a good mood after a long trip; she delivers a stem of buds after moved to a corner where sun greets her directly — thank you!

Taste

Learning, love, Poetic
How many tastes can she experience in joy? 5 or 7?

—

Realising that the best taste is not any of those 5 or 7; the best taste is only 1: to love. 😊

Days of love be like…

well done beef
sate kambing (lamb skewer)
ayam geprek (smashed chicken)
nasi rames (combined dish riced)
gado-gado (vegetables in peanut sauce)
lumpia sayur (vegetable spring rolls)
pisang goreng (fried banana)
the baked and cherry
the baked and blueberry
mango 💝 and pumpkin seeds

Friday

Learning, Poetic
Friday, this bright light blinks to the eyes not stopping staring at the heart.

—

Masjid Istiqlal — after more than 10 years
shollu ‘alannabiy 💝
waiting for a friend who said “let’s meet up in Istiqlal Mosque, Thursday night welcoming Friday would be a good night to pray for beautiful 2023” 💝

Magical Rain

Learning
Water slides down the green swiping dryness. Rain sprays the earth with 
magic.

—

all that is not yet explained by science appears like magic to me — the biggest magic to me is love that has brought me to clearer vision about people and everything around them 💕

When traffic is magically clear in Greater Jakarta, arriving (too) early is part of blessings. Good morning…! Good morning, early birds!

Don’t Skip The Waiting

Learning
The seed doesn’t sleep. It pushes up out of soil bringing new green life.

—

Receiving an email from an airline (in the middle of a meeting) that I missed its morning flight today, I felt like getting a slap on the face yet right away felt lucky to be assisted by our company’s travel department to fly in the only-flight-with-available-seat this evening. I was put as a “stand-by” (#2 not #1) as all authorized flights were fully booked. Thank you!!! 🤩

No rush? Luckily I did pack clothes in vacuum bags earlier and other needed supplies ready to pack, people were happy when meetings were postponed to the next day, this person always takes a bath in the morning. But…. The hair had to compromise – not ready to shine as daily shampoo is sometimes skipped when the hair bearer is working from home. It doesn’t matter, good day is not always perfect.

1st in my trip history and won’t want to repeat it at any situation. Bismillah! 💕

Thanks much for all the blessings!

Lessons learnt: click the correct colour codes in iCal, set alarm 24 hours before a flight, don’t arrange many calls before a flight, just remember, just don’t forget, just don’t forget, always thank for all the help from any possible support and don’t skip daily shampoo! 🙂

waiting lounge is for waiting, not to rush so wait patiently and don’t forget any planned trip! 🥰
when stomach waits too long and can’t wait any longer 😊
some people just love to skip the waiting, I will never 🙏🏼

Your Eyes

Learning
Your eyes,
The windows with which stories inside are peeped and the stories outside are perceived.

Your eyes
Scanning, skimming all that spread in the universe with just one blink.

Your eyes
Without glasses are beacons guiding me to which route taken. No doubt, no bargain.

Your eyes
That are missed. Are they as bright as before? Might be brighter with the life across my universe…

—

see things through bird’s eyes 💕

Home Missed

Learning
There’s home that’s missed lingering around the heart. Let it in with joy.

—

slightly boring, yes — back home is the happiest 💝 i miss the kitchen, the orchids, the bikes, the books, the canvas, the paper and all that I can do in that tiny space
oooh and time to bring my luggage to its repair center 😘

Reflector

Learning, Poetic
Reflection kills her night.
The tower dramatically sways,
Dancing with the street light,
Gleaming with the moonbeam.

She grabs a cloth
To wipe her mirror.

Oye, her little heart.
You need a janitor.

—

one Petronas tower reflected perfectly through a skyscraper’s glass in a dim evening 🪞 dramatic yet poetic and romantic 😎

Old Friends

Learning, Map It!, Poetic

There is memory shared around a round table at a starry night.

—

so blessed to meet friends — they said “Chinese food for dinner ok lah, Rijk, no pork lah no pork!” ok lah, everyone…. 😘 thank you! 🙏🏼