JAKARTA: “A bay belongs to waves, and waves belong to boats; boats belong to twilight, and twilight is the right of the heart.”
The verse is part of a poem written and read by philosophy lecturer Rocky Gerung to open “Puisi Bumi” (Earth Poems), a poetry-reading event organised by the Balinese Forum Against Reclamation (ForBali) on Wednesday.
The reading — attended by academics, artists, writers, musicians and students — was aimed at raising public awareness about the planned reclamation of Benoa Bay in Nusa Dua, Bali.
Rocky said he participated in the event to voice his support for environmental communities that have been marching on Bali and Jakarta’s streets to urge the government to abandon the project.
“My poem voices my resistance against the reclamation of the bay. It simply tells that a bay is a curve that our Earth possesses. If it’s filled up with soil, it will lose its curves,” Rocky said after his reading in Kemang.
“Our earth has the right to have these curves, like a woman who wants to have a beautiful body or a man who wishes to have a six pack,” he added figuratively.
His and other artists’ works read out at the event were part of “cultural fight” to shift the public’s attention to environmental issues, particularly those concerning Benoa Bay.