Author: rike jokanan

It seems raining behind the hills.
Dark blue curtain
Hanging from heaven
Dances through her own rhythm.

Will it rain under the tree?
You asked.
Rain will pour down to the ground,
Tree is your canopy.
Will it flood on the pathway?
You asked.
Flood will turn to the river,
Pathway is your journey.
Will it be sunny?
You asked.
Sun shines with no holiday,
Sunday is when you think you are free.
Will you meet me?
You asked.
I am meeting you
Through the rain and flood
With the sun and cloud
Everyday
Without holiday.
You seem to worry about the rain.
The rain behind the hills?
Dark blue curtain
Hanging from heaven
Dances with your rhythm.
Keep walking,
You see.

—-

Humane

Learning, life, love, Poetic

Human, Beloved,
Bruised and scarred, laughter and cry.
Perfect? Humane not—

—

Nowhere to run from mistakes and errors. The best way is forgiving the self for making (too many) repeated irresponsible decisions and moving right on. Don’t add too many fatal moves; this life has its right to be happy, too.

Nowhere. It is just here and now. Tomorrow might be an elegy.

💝

this guy is a human being. there’s another one I adore even more than this guy simply because he is a human being – salaam

Anger

Anger, Beloved,
Burning you then your loved ones.
Blend it with poems.

—-

Some people look handsome when angry. Some others look ugly. The others don’t look angry at all. The beauty of poker face is on point in this situation. 🙃

Need to be ready with poker-face emotion as my trips are starting very soon. Long waiting, unruly queueing, late coming can come here and there. Poker face mode on will need activation randomly.

Ado do do!

painting in water colour is like holding anger. if too loose, it’s overflowing and ruining the shapes. if too tight, it explodes. but still i find it beautiful when different colours are blended as absorbed by the paper – don’t be angry, just kidding ☺️

Whirlpool

Learning, Poetic, Those People

Whirlpool, Beloved,
Rotates to flush the stagnant.
Brain? No exception.

—

Izakaya-san*: How are you, Rike-san?

Me: I’m well. How are you there? Hopefully Japan welcome more foreign visitors.

Izakaya-san: I’m great! Yes, starting this month we relax the policy. How is Asia?

Me: I beg your pardon.

Izakaya-san: How is Asia?

Me: Oh. South East Asia? Much better. Most countries open borders without test and quarantine.

Izakaya-san: Oooh! Asia is good, too. Good, good, good!

This head was whirled yet decided to sound normal this afternoon. God bless Izakaya-san and his people from his generation. 🤭

Salaam.

* Izakaya-san is a pseudo name I use to talk about unique Japanese that gives me some experience. It’s not because I dislike izakaya. I like izakaya so much that everything about Japanese unique reminds me of izakaya. Only Japan has izakaya.

Is Tonight A Good Night?

Show me your good night!

—-

when tired of healthful food for dinner 😁

dinner – seriously? I don’t forgive myself tonight!!! 😌

Tonight Is A Good Night

Learning, life, Poetic, This Person, Those People

Good night, Beloved,
They slow down even the trains.
But times, it moves right.

—-

One friend said “Some people show their sweet side when they need me, I just knew they laughed at me behind my back and said how stupid I’ve been for (she mentioned one big social contribution she made). Do you think I should stop being kind to people?”

Another friend said “No. why stop? There is karma so you’d better do good deed. Your good actions will be repaid with good reactions. Believe it.” This one is also very kind.

Another one said “This life doesn’t owe you anything. So how much ever you spend, it will not be paid back. You will not be repaid 10 points just because you donate 1 point. Look! How much have you lost, just like that? No one gives you 10 times the amount, right? What karma? Whose karma? You’d better do what’s the best for your benefits and without harming others.” She is the most critical.

The other friend said “it should be balanced. You do good things and don’t forget doing bad things.” 🤔 Gosh she is always the most confusing.

I said “I’m hungry. Let’s go dinner. Our brain needs to slow down.” Those three stopped arguing.

Night is always good for a chat with some friends whose heads contain different things whose heart is of one intension — to respect friendship.

Salaam. ♥️

two trains to/from opposite directions of the same line, Red Line

Finding the Coherence

There is no natural conflict on earth.
When there is conflict, it must have been because of wrong thinking model installed in the nerve system.

Why?

Because everything is coherent in the universe.

How scientific but disappointing!
Her life craves for drama
Like her brain craving for sugar.

Fix the point of view
Or the distance of view
Or the angle of view
Or whatever to see things clearly
To save my own life
For comfort?
For sanity?
For (false) equilibrium?
For clarity!

The journey restarts.
No regret.

—-

Harmonize!

Jun. 7, 2022 / 5:20am

Dandelion

Achene’s a message
Sent to wish more joy and bliss.
Sad no more, dear earth.

—

Each day new day. It is equivalent with Javanese wisdom “mati sajroning urip” which literally means “dead within life”. It is a very deep wisdom teaching Javanese human beings to let the old self to transform to the new one. It is simply acknowledging that some problems are let go and self is moving on with better understanding about what life is truly is.

If life challenge is considered a seed, it will free the human being, fly away to fall on Mother Earth’s lap somewhere and be part of green woven blanket beautifying and cooling.

Life is just like that.

Salaam.

Bright Day

Bright day, Beloved,
Brought by bright colours or thoughts
About tomorrow—

—-

Stuck is just stuck! What colours she should put on the day, only Heaven knows. It doesn’t get better, it just gets full and dirty. Maybe tonight Hermes will come to her dreams, bringing a message about what colours she should splash and stroke on the canvas to become a decent outcome….

…. Or Mercury will communicate about what and what on where, when and how. What about who and whom? Ahhhh! Ignore those gossiping and discouraging.

Well…. Welcome, Monday. Please be nice to me. 🤓

May all beings be happy.

♥️

weekend is primarily about washing, painting & drawing, singing random stupid lyrics and planning the Monday brightness 😎

hey, tell me if there is any message for me 🪶

Javanese Coriander

To those loving pho (Vietnamese noodles) esp. Ho Chi Minh City style this herb is not something new. This herb gives unique strong flavor of herb in the pho broth. Some people say it is a replacement of cilantro (coriander leaves) but to me this herb can only replace cilantro in South East Asian food —at least in my limited knowledge and culinary experience. This herb is not the best in Western food which is mostly tasteless oops I mean bland…. Sorry, I don’t mean to. People won’t like their pancake or even sandwich with culantro. 😎

I bought it every time I traveled to Vietnam before pandemic and found it in a plant store around Ang Mo Kio yesterday. Good for the view. Good for noodle bowl. Good for the mood. 💚

Vietnamese call it ngo gai, Western call it culantro, we Javanese call it ketumbar Jawa (Javanese coriander) – perennially grown everywhere behind our grandparents’ home 💝

where our ancestors started their humble legend, among lush greenery ❣️ culantro, pepper, vanilla orchid, herbs, etc, and so on can be found there

Tickling My Ego

Sometimes I’m somebody
At a conference room
Where win-win
Isn’t always a solution.
Powerful—
Decisive—

Sometimes I’m anybody
When long lost friends
Suddenly say hi and cry
“Would you please help? Would you help?”
Unconditional—
Used—

Sometimes I’m everybody
When I blindly devote myself,
When I wholeheartedly do everything needed,
When I run around everywhere to find you.
Preoccupied—
Stand-alone—

Sometimes I’m nobody
When I feel my heart beats,
My breath slows down with calmness,
When I know nobody is with me.
Blissful—
Submissive—

Thanks, my body.
You’re a complete gift to me.

I dedicate the above free verse to Emily Dickinson who has touched my life with many of her poems especially “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”

🐣

Salaam.

this poem was introduced by Ibu Siti Parwati Soemarto, our lecturer who always challenged her students to bravely see who we truly are – 28 years ago! damn I’m an old nobody! how bitterly fair life is! Terima kasih, Ibu Soemarto. 💝

Sand Dune

Sand dune, Beloved,
Built, ruined, built, ruined. No mercy—
Bowing to the wind.

—-

What does sand dune tell me? Nature wonder? Movement of sand? Direction and power of wind?

Or, about these dreams? Beautiful. Precious. Well planned. At the same time they’re aborted by some reality, dishonoured by those underestimating and sabotaged by lack of confidence.

It doesn’t matter. I’m a human being whose journey’s as tiny as a scarab, a lizard or a viper’s in the Sahara. What can they do but bowing to the wind? Not only standing, but also showing a gesture and posture of respect.

…. and so please give me good sensors to detect the presence of wind and agility to adapt the formation of dunes.

Salaam. 🚴🏻‍♀️

sand dunes – one more homework 🥺

Here – Jun. 3, 2022 / 19:51

Smooth Not Smoothy

These ears, Beloved,
A pair of love birds in love.
Treble and bass on—

—

Finding a sanctuary in a breezy evening.

Salaam 😇

a home with smooth jazz is heaven on earth – and silky smooth touch of cold hell of doing some Japanese class homework

Flowing

Learning, Poetic, This Person

The flowing rivers
Full with floats and mud blocking—
My idea stuck.

—

It takes space to bring creativity back like river needs cleaning and dredging to make it flow again.

Picasso, help meeeeee!

May all beings be happy.

thinking about colours can be a traffic jam like a canvas standing in the middle of toilet, bedroom, storage and where I stand 🤹🏼‍♀️

Voice

Learning, love, Poetic

The voice floats away,
Traveled to where dreams reside.
A gentle smile blooms.

—-

Lyrics are often more appealing than the musical composition in the song. They either compliment the composition or ruin it, at least to these ears.

Musical composition without good lyrics is good sleep without snoring. 😴😝

this song is full of beautiful everything 🥰 happiness, sadness, hope and despair, flowing music and sweet diction – 君だけわかってよわかってよ

Trust & Accept

Learning, life, Poetic, Those People

Laughter, Beloved
Takes trust before exploding.
Accepting what is—

—-

I had a conversation with one friend about acceptance and trust.

This friend is one of my favorite as she is the struggling among us but the one with the biggest acceptance and trust to the life process. She’s been in all tests of life that might have made her a tough lady. Or probably she was just born that way and so she can pass all tests.

She said that trust is very important, only trust to the processes of life can make her accept whatever is presented by life. It has turned her into this current posture and gesture – tough yet kind.

Talking to an honest yet witty friend is a privilege, listening to her funny stories is like unwrapping hidden wisdom. How would a human being be that tough yet kind? She reminds me of my mother and some people around me.

friends laugh at each other, but touch each other’s heart the most

Yet I never want to be like them as being like them means dealing with roughest surface of life. I’m sufficiently thankful being me.

Thank you so much for giving me good friends as present. I will love them without being them. ♥️

Hey! But sometimes my ears feel like exploding with the length of the call. For full jokes, call at weekends only please….. 😚

Amazing Day

Learning, Poetic, This Person

No day but today
The remembrance about you
Lives through melody.

—-

Amazing day is when my teacher said that my guitar playing is getting better. 💃🏽

There will be one day perfectly amazing when Coldplay’s Amazing Day is smoothly played along by me. Soon, soon!

Thank you, Sunday. Welcome, Monday.

goal guitar cover of Amazing Day – a must happen!!!

or this! 👏🏼

😱

Home, A Journey

Learning, Poetic, This Person

Have you heard of the word home?
I often think of what it is
And where it is.

My friends all say it.
That it is where shelter is,
That it is where family is,
That it is where safety is,
That it is where heart is,
That it is this earth that spins,
Blah blah blah,
That it is this,
That it is that.

What is a home?

I’m not as intelligent as they are.
I can only tell what’s not a home.
Sometimes my apartment isn’t a home.
Sometimes my childhood home isn’t a home.
Sometimes I don’t feel safe staying in this safest place.
Sometimes my heart is flying across the ocean while I’m sitting in the sofa.
This earth is traveling to where I don’t know.
Sometimes I just don’t believe what my friends say about home.
I’m sorry for being not so intelligent as all of you are.

I will keep identifying what’s not home
Until I’m home.

—

home, where roses greet me in the morning 🌹

What’s Behind Beauty

Learning, life, Poetic, This Person

They live in the mud.
Flowers wanted. Story not, 
Real beauty that’s missed—

—

Dark and bright, two limits that often corrupt my perception of facts and so affect many plans. In fact both bring different strengths supplementally support my life.

What is it about? Oh, it is just about that night ride is cool and serene, morning ride is colourful and fresh.

In the dark I hear more; when it’s bright., I see more.

Hey! Riding morning makes skin darker! Damn right! 😿

Salaam.

the blooming happiness along my normal route of fun this morning

some can see their reflection on the water, some not 💝

Senses

Learning, love, Poetic

What’s real, Beloved?
Sensible? What’s sense? Those five?
Or six? What if more?

—-

find me behind the trees, under the green grass, between the lush leaves, anywhere where your shadow is lying down on which you are standing ♥️

Bike, Not Walk

They said,”If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.”

Me: Ride your bike whichever speed or distance, don’t bother. Just enjoy the ride. And safety first. They may go fast or far but they might not reach safely, I do. 😁

Safe biking! Whoohoo! 🚴🏻‍♀️

good time

Good time, Beloved,
Sitting silently, centred.
Grazing on the time—

—-

Life is never bored of reciting how grand a name when zoomed in and how tiny its reality when zoomed out. Oh! It is the other way around, tiny when zoomed in and grand when zoomed out.

don’t disturb, she’s enjoying her good time as if she’s real – is she?

What is your name, dear? Deer!

what is an animal as sturdy and cold as metal? this! is it real?

Are you a buck or a stag? You don’t look like one. Or, you look like both?

Sheltered

The dark shelters you
From the dark behind the light.
Blinking starry eyes—

—-

Vision sits silently through blinking light, on and off showing clarity of direction.

Thanks for everything.

Salaam. 🙏🏼

you see through the right eye – no, no, not always right

Go Jazz

Learning, love, Poetic

Go jazz, Beloved
Improvise on your own path
Where hidden seeds grow.

—-

Jazz is like secret love, confusing and almost unknown at the first catch but wrapped in harmony through time… and space? Seems space never takes my side. 😎

Jazz each day up!

⭐️

Java Jazz is on – wish I were it 🎷🎺

To The North Star

Forward, Beloved,
To the North Star. Ride the wind.
Ignore the thunders.

—

⭐️

Lower Seletar Reservoir – thousands of mosquitoes but breezy and serene to see bright stars

Yellow

How are you, Yellow?
Happiness, warmth, sunshine, or
Other perfect fits.

—-

Nature never fails to convince me that all are beautiful given appropriate angles. Not all love winter but with the yellow crocus growing in the middle of white snow, who will say no?

Yellow isn’t my favourite colour but the yellow crocus is one of those I’m wanting to see with naked eyes to witness Mother Earth’s generosity even in its coldest period.

May time lets me explore more places on earth.

🐣

yellow crocus, brightness coming out of the icy blanket

imperfect drawing but making my day relaxed and bright

SIN – May 25, 2022 / 21:57

Coming Out of The Dark

Did you see the light
Or the dark? Or both? Or none?
Now you see the light.

the light behind the cloud yesterday. magnificent

Light above light. Layers of light. Spectrum of light. What is light? Is it the radiation? Is it the brightness? Is it the wavelength? Is it the source? Or what?

It is what’s defined but at the same time what is not definable. It is what is seen but at the same time what is not visible.

May all beings be happy.

my sister lent her cassette to me and this song was ever favorite – cassette? what a history, so dark yet beautiful, giving me some enlightenment 😎

Here – May 25, 2022 / 20:15

Taken for Granted

Learning, life, Map It!, Poetic

For granted I take
The green, the blue and the red
Until they turn grey.

—-

Sometimes I’m thankful that I’m not given opportunity to have children. I can’t imagine what playfulness and nature exploration they will have in their future with very minimum real nature around. I’m thankful. 🥰

Sometimes I’m broken-hearted that I’m not given opportunity to have children. I can’t agree on how some people raise their children. I egotistically imagine how well I would raise them to be human-respecting and nature-loving generation in the family tree. I’m selfish. 😐

Meanwhile I’m always feeling lucky to be me, born when and where nature was willing to introduce her excessive bounties, grew up when and where human interaction was real and warm, working when and where human right and environment protection is a paramount topic. I’m blessed. 🥰

♥️

just realised there is a fully shaven greenery farther across the road 🙃

zoomed in – oh…. maybe not long after this the greenery around me will turn to patches of garden and playground among grey concrete 🙃

How Was The Day