By Leni Marlina
–
/1/
VOICES THAT REFUSE TO BE BURRIED
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I am not the beginning,
but the voice you never placed
in the first line.
We live in commas—
lined up as pauses the world abandoned,
never allowed to be subjects,
always the objects of pain
in your sterile sentences.
You,
who write history
with a pen dipped in headlines,
have you ever read
our tremble in the question mark?
We are the voices
that refuse to be buried in quotation.
We are the bodies
that shape poems
upon the ruins of our own homes.
See us not through glass,
but through shards of luminous wounds.
For behind your shadow,
there is us—
who refuse to be metaphor,
but choose to be meaning itself.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
/2/
BREATHING BETWEEN SKY’S PAUSES
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I breathe
between the pauses of a closed sky,
and you don’t know—
this is no longer air.
I am
a breath from a body
no longer claimed by a country.
You are
an echo that once
promised the word “welcome”
but forgot to open the door.
We
once spoke the same language
within wounds.
They
are our shadows
trapped inside screens
and censored by time.
Today,
I struggle to recognize
my own breath—
nameless,
stateless,
without a place to say “I,”
without blame for bleeding.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
/3/
SAVING A FRAGMENT OF NIGHT
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
You ask me,
“Where is the night
that once felt warm like home and mother’s voice?”
I answer softly:
“The night has been hidden
beneath the table of the world,
folded like an ancient map
never opened again.”
They took it,
and turned it into a carnival
of cheer,
without stars.
We now live
in a day that never ends,
in false light
that burns the eyes
but never warms the chest.
But I still keep a sliver of night
under my tongue—
a small night you can kiss
when the world becomes
too noisy to live in.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
/4/
REBORN FROM A SEED OF SILENCE
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
We were once thrown
into the grave of time
that never learned our names.
We—
voices of trees that were felled,
tears of rivers replaced by concrete,
echoes of mothers who lost
their children
to the catalog of war.
But you,
if you still have
a single thread of conscience,
hear this:
We will be reborn—
from seeds of silence
sown
by the most discarded prayers.
We shall grow
like poems
that need no publisher,
only sky and hearts
yet unmined.
They will forget
how to bury us.
For voices
born of truth
always return—
even if buried
beneath statistics.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
/5/
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COURAGE
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I learned about myself
not from mirrors,
but from broken bodies
that chose to rise.
You—
who believe wounds limit life,
don’t know that my body
is an encyclopedia of courage.
They wrote us
in history’s footnotes.
But I rewrote it
with blood that chose
not to die in vain.
We are a paragraph
penned by the earth
not yet permitted
to be erased by war.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
/6/
A LANGUAGE GROWING BETWEEN US
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
There is a language
that cannot be translated
by diplomacy,
by screens,
or by any institution.
That language grows
between us,
in tears that cannot be broadcast,
in hands
that quietly love the world
without reason.
You and I—
whisper in that language
amidst ruins.
They—
who only speak
with bullets and agreements—
will never understand
what we say
when we are silent
and still choose to love.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
/7/
GROWING INTO A SILHOUETTE
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I do not wish to be buried
with the morning news,
nor locked
in a disaster archive.
Nor do you.
We are too alive
to be extinguished by events.
They hope
we turn into statistics—
but we have grown
into silhouettes
that haunt history.
And the world,
someday,
will read our rubble
as a new alphabet
that cannot be burned.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
/8/
WE BECOME THE VOICE ITSELF
Poem by Leni Marlina
[UNP Padang, PPIPM-Indonesia, PPIC, Satu Pena Sumbar, KEAI, ASM, Penyala Literasi Sumbar, ACC SHILA, WPM-Indonesia]
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Enough—
we no longer need sympathy
hung from the ceilings of diplomacy.
We have become a language
that grows from the roots of patience,
splitting the stone of time
with breath that never gives in.
You see us—
once silent, once shattered,
but never truly extinguished.
Now we are one
among thousands of leaves bearing witness,
that what goes unheard
can still create an echo.
I, you, we—
are no longer numbers,
no longer news,
no longer wounds.
We are the voice
that needs no amplifier,
for our echo
has been written by the wind,
sung by the trees,
and whispered by the sky
to every soul
still holding a heart.
Padang, West Sumatra, INDONESIA
——————————
Leni Marlina – A Literary Voice from West Sumatra to the World
Leni Marlina is a writer, poet, and academic from West Sumatra, Indonesia. Deeply rooted in the realms of literature and education, she has long been a passionate advocate for literacy movements across local, national, and international platforms.
Since 2022, Leni has been an active member of the Indonesian Writers Association (SATU PENA) – West Sumatra Chapter, under the leadership of Chairperson Sastri Bakry and Secretary Armaidi Tanjung.
In May 2025, she was honored with the prestigious title of Outstanding Writer of the Year by SATU PENA West Sumatra during the Gala Dinner of the 3rd International Minangkabau Literacy Festival (IMLF-3), held at the Governor’s Auditorium in West Sumatra on May 9th, 2025. The recognition was a tribute to her significant contributions to literature and her dedication to promoting literary culture in Indonesia and beyond.
Internationally, Leni is a member of the ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Association (ACC SHILA), led by renowned Chinese poet Anna Keiko. Since 2024, she has served as Indonesia’s Poetry Ambassador for ACC SHILA, and in 2025, she was appointed Chief Representative of Poetry in Asia for the ACC SHILA Ambassadorial Group—fostering poetic and cultural diplomacy between Indonesia and the global community.
That same year, she also joined the World Poetry Movement (WPM) – Indonesia, coordinated by Sastri Bakry, with the movement’s global headquarters based in Colombia.
Earlier in her career, while pursuing her Master’s degree in Writing and Literature in Australia (2011–2013), Leni became a member of the Victorian Writers Association, further enriching her engagement with international literary circles.
In addition to her accolades and memberships, Leni organized a major literary event on May 31, 2025: Poetry BLaD (Poetry Book Launching and Discussion) and IOSoP (International Online Seminar on Poetry). The program was sponsored by Suara Anak Negeri News in collaboration with the English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang—showcasing her commitment to developing literary forums and nurturing poetic dialogue across cultures.
Since 2006, Leni has served as a lecturer at the Department of English Literature, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang, where she actively contributes to the university’s threefold mission: teaching, research, and community service. She mentors students in language, literature, creative writing, and academic composition.
Beyond the walls of academia, Leni also engages as a freelance journalist, columnist, editor, and digital media contributor. Her published works can be accessed by the public via this official link:
🔗 https://suaraanaknegerinews.com/category/puisi-leni-marlina-bagi-anak-bangsa/
Her passion for literacy and community development is reflected in several social and digital-based initiatives she founded and leads, including:
1. World Children’s Literature Community (WCLC) – Visit WCLC
2. Poetry-Pen International Community (PPIC)
3. PPIPM-Indonesia (The Poetry Community of Indonesian Society’s Inspirations)
https://shorturl.at/2eTSB
https://shorturl.at/tHjRI
4. Starcom Indonesia Community (Starmoonsun Edupreneur Community Indonesia) – Visit Starcom
5. Linguistic Talk Community (Ling-TC) &
6. Literature Talk Community (Littalk-C)
7. Translation Practice Community (Trans-PC)
8. English Language Learning, Literacy, and Literary Community (EL4C)
Through her literary works, creative writings, and literacy-based social movements, Leni Marlina continues to ignite the flame of inspiration—from campus to community, from word to meaning, from local wisdom to the global stage—alongside her mentors, colleagues, fellow writers, and loyal readers from Indonesia and beyond.
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