RUNNER UP: Ballad of an Indonesian Jackal

Hear / the beats of a colonial jackal

The language of “Ballad of an Indonesian Jackal” is riotous and rich. Its “colonial jackal” refrain propels us “tender long” into “a cylindrical codex/crawling with maggots,” “burlap bodies … snapped whip crack,” and “mother pearl tea.” It is a delicious mixture of tradition and experiment. 

—Liz Howard



Hear
   the beats of a colonial jackal,
   they pawn tanks
   banter with brass
   brokers of project papers.

Here
   my seat, next to a colonial jackal,
   estranged pawn panting tender long
   groping a keris exhumated
   shaped like mountain rages,
   bound by a cylindrical codex
   crawling with maggots.

Tender
   jaws of a colonial jackal,
   molars groan, gagged muzzle
   steel slicked with spittle,
   when the gong sways on reverb.

Hours
   past of a colonial jackal,
   burlap bodies laying attention
   snapped whip crack,
   fingers coffee-stained cloves
   chasing unmet targets, bite
   back the hand who fed us.

Sing
   the ballad of     colonized jackals,

We decree,

                     enough
   Pond    tang
   pant     ting
                     we
   band              thing
   two                lang
                     you

   tomb              bang
   sheer         nah


merry   day      kaw

mother    pearl         tea   wee

About the author

Julianna Putri Tan (she/her) is a Chinese-Indonesian creative writing and publishing student at Sheridan College in Mississauga. Her first poem "We Don't Play Play by the Banana Tree" was published in Issue #4 of the B222 Journal.

Photo credit: Paul Buceta