Issue 25 | Fall 2021

Before the Jazz Ends

Adhimas Prasetyo
Translated by Liswindio Apendicaesar

before the jazz ends, you imagine a piece of night slowing down. you try to walk down the twist and turn of this jazz alone. in the next few steps, you realize, the only destination is to be lost. you’re reminded of a long-hidden wound that resides within you.

here, you scavenge the scattered clinks of piano and then arrange them into the sound of drizzle in your chest. the broken drops of drizzle. you never know, the swing of the whining trumpet is your own voice.

before the jazz ends, suddenly you want to be a river, you want to head to everything briny. because jazz never teaches you how to cry. jazz is just a piece of dark, an old friend that faithfully waits for your return when you are stricken with suffering.

before the jazz ends, you find yourself stop counting the time, counting the remaining jazz. until finally you are used to being inside of the jazz. you don’t know what will be there next, all you remember is only life, just life.

About the Author

Adhimas Prasetyo is an Indonesian poet and illustrator. He was invited to the Bengkulu Writers Festival in 2019 for his poem, which won third place in the best poem category. In 2020, he published his first poetry collection Sepersekian Jaz dan Kota yang Murung (A Piece of Jazz and the Gloomy Town). His works have been featured in many Indonesian literary outlets.

About the Translator

Liswindio Apendicaesar is an Indonesian poet and translator and is a member of editorial board of Pawon Literary Bulletin. He also teaches English in Myanmar International School. His works have been featured in several international literary journals such as The Thing Itself, Oyez Review, Voice and Verse Poetry Hong Kong, etc. He joined InterSastra as a literary translator for the “Unrepressed” issue in 2019 and then CERITRANS project in 2021. He was also chosen to be one of ten Indonesian emerging writers by Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2021, and invited to be a speaker. His Indonesian translation of Enid Blyton’s child poetry collection Child Whispers was published in 2021.