Nowadays, poetry is well known as a means of communicating to convey messages. Poetry has an important role that is useful for human life, one of which is a medium of communication because through poetry we can convey messages both implicitly and in writing. Poetry is a recording and interpretation of human experience, transformed in the most memorable form.

“Just like art, poetry becomes a space of expression when formal channels are silenced. Poetry is an extension of self that in some ways cannot be shown in real terms, being the most polite and courageous representative at the same time. Poetry is more audible, it can move and is therefore scary for some people because it touches the recesses of the heart, not the head. Poetry to me is a liberating playroom,” said Dr. Lintang Ratri Rahmiaji S.Sos., M.Sc., Lecturer of Communication, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro.

In the midst of her busy schedule as a lecturer, she is a literacy activist who also serves as Chairman I for the Arts and Culture Sector (KSBN) of Semarang. She still finds time to write poetry and in 2020 published her first collection of poems, “AMBAVASNABHISMA: Serenada Kata-Kata“. In addition, she also co-wrote “CORPUS PUISI PANDEMI: Merajut Kata, Ilmu, dan Hati” (2020) and “Sang Acharya : Antologi Puisi Guru dan Dosen” (2020).

“Keeping up with a job is like a mother’s love that is infinite for all time. The sooner it’s finished, usually, there will be another one queuing up to be done. Even during the WFH period, when we will work from home, we no longer have time to rest on the weekends. So it’s the same with other activities, such as family time, sports time, worship time and others. For me, I need time for myself, or is well-known as me-time,” she said.

“Why? So that life is balanced, healthy and not dry. How, limit the working hours and give yourself time, usually to take care of the soul, body and head. Keeping your soul, which is currently being actively pursued during the pandemic, mental health. Now I’m lucky that I can do many things to maintain (my) mental health, one of which is by writing poetry. Poetry then becomes an important moment of the process of nurturing and rejuvenating a healthy soul, many times of recovery,” she continued.

According to Lintang, art was something she took the time to do, as long as it was reading, writing, being a judge for poetry reading or poetry book editor, being a reviewer for poetry books, being a member of the arts and culture committee, almost all of which were probono (no charge/free). Even being a spectator in poetry performance, she would be happy to participate in.

“Because I have been familiar with poetry since I was child, my father was the cultural editor of the Central Java newspaper and the Head of the Semarang Writer’s Family and often served as a judge of poetry (competition) which became the moment he met my mother, who at that time was a poetry reader champion. Poetry is like family history, we go together to watch poetry performances, poetry reading competitions, performing together, now we are judging together. A relatively new thing that requires courage is publishing a poetry book. It was difficult to dispel the fear as a daughter of an artist in his era, I always felt that my writing was too “young” or immature. My husband is the leading supporter of this, he said, just publish it, even though he knows this is a love poem,” she explained.

“We can’t force everyone to like poetry, but at a certain point, everything can be touched with poetry. In order to be more accessible, this is a digital era, so it is packaged. So that it can be enjoyed through digital media, such as social media or made in videos, I see that there are friends who make on their Instagram, common people read poetry, it’s a very interesting idea. It means that poetry does not exclusively belong to the artist only, then there is a live discussion on Instagram… discussing poetry, or making podcasts,” she said.

She liked the genre of mellow poetry, her favourite poems include the works of Sapardi Djoko Damono, Aan Mansyur and Joko Pinurbo, Lucia Priandini, Beni Satryo or Inggit Putria. Joko Pinurbo’s Kamus Kecil and Sapardi Djoko Damono’s Dalam Doaku, according to her, the two poems had a beautiful sound play, a simple metaphor but in short, the two poems went straight into the recesses of their souls without permission and stayed there, forever.

While her hope for Undip’s progress towards a World Class University was that the goal would not negate the process, and the good intentions at the beginning. “It’s not just rankings and numbers but really in human development, the university is like the human factory that is expected to be the best, so hopefully the main focus is the human resource development, and that means covering the lecturers, education staff and learning facilities, everything has to develop,” she concluded. (Linda Public Relations)

Source: undip.ac.id