Against the executions in Indonesia

Nothing is Made New

for those killed by ‘firing squad’ in the name of justice in Indonesia
and a plea for clemency for those awaiting this fate


Heavy weather over the rainforest
heavy weather over plantations and prisons;
when I think of Nusakambangan
I think of the black egret and mouse deer.

Midnight coats the sea with vitriol —
glass waves shatter with each crack of the air;
when colonial overlords withdrew, the bones
of those they’d crushed made walls for the future.

Prayers for clemency can’t break free,
trapped in the wood of buildings and furniture;
midnight ends one day but doesn’t begin another,
the living are made to suffer their end in sight.

Heavy weather is over the rainforest
heavy weather is over plantations and prisons;
when I think of Nusakambangan
I think of the black egret and mouse deer.


John Kinsella