The Dark Cracks of Kemang
Author(s): Jeremy Roberts
“That old childhood saying ‘pick what you want from the tree of life’ simply not working anymore? Becoming a foreigner in Indonesia might be as good a stab at something new and rewarding, as anything …”
Armed with a teaching contract, some poems, and a guitar-playing buddy, Roberts discovers a potentially life-changing experience in Jakarta, in 2013. And so the Bajaj Boys make themselves at home.
Indonesia is revealed as a challenging but welcoming land of ‘instant millionaires’, ‘beautiful rubbish’, abundant romance, powerful religion, and unnerving history.
Nasi goreng, alcohol, cigarettes, bajajs, motorbikes, classrooms, a gentlemen’s club, poetry gigs, wild animals, and electrical storms weave together, as the ‘dark cracks of Kemang’ open.
Product Information
Jeremy Roberts is a writer and poet living in Napier. Roberts has several significant publications including his book Cards on the Table (2015) and poetry collection Idiot Dawn (1998). His work has also appeared in takahē magazine, Landfall, NZ Listener, Poetry NZ, Live Lines IV, and NZ Poetry Society Magazine. In the words of Dr. Nicholas Reid, “He’s a rebuke to academic poetry… he’s fun and he’s a damned good read.” In 2019, Roberts was awarded the Earl of Seacliff Poetry Prize for his poem Transistor Heaven (2019).
General Fields
- :
- : Interactive Press
- : Interactive Press
- : books
Special Fields
- : Jeremy Roberts