Poetry and Love Romance of Generation X
Who can evoke the romance of love as well as Hardi Hood? Or start counting on your fingers—what woman is as lucky as Kustrini? On her golden anniversary—her 50th birthday—Kustrini received a poetry book as a gift. Through this book, she found a love as deep as Qais for Laila and as grand as Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for Arjumand Banu Begum. Yes, like the Taj Mahal, this beautiful poetry book is titled Merenda Hati (50 Poems for Wife).
Hardi is no ordinary man in many ways. Even in matters of the heart, he is as disciplined as a samurai. “I deliberately compiled a number of poems I wrote between 1982 and 1986, more than 30 years ago. I kept these poems in a diary, a book I have carefully preserved,” Hardi wrote in the preface of this book.
According to scholars, 30 years ago was an era of romance and sentiment for Generation X (Gen X – The Baby Bust). A time when emails, chatting, and social media interactions were not yet imagined. Love messages and heartfelt longings were respectfully expressed in hard copy format.
Consider Hasan Aspahani’s words in the book’s foreword: He knew that in the afternoon, on that same bench, a sweet junior girl would sit in the same spot and receive the letter. This was an eternal modus operandi in a country where educational facilities were still inadequate, requiring classrooms to be shared in shifts. But from this, the earliest poems in this book were born, along with a poet who never cared about labels.
This book undoubtedly moved Cik Puan Kustrini, instantly transporting her back to the prime of her youthful infatuations. Tuan Hardi is indeed remarkable—as a husband, a senator, and a poet of love. Even among the Hood lineage, he is recognized for his poetic stature by fellow poets.
“Even though I was famous and Hardi in Bandung had already heard of my exploits, I still realized that the true poet was Hardi. His writings are exquisite. I write columns, and though he once wrote columns too—with a large readership in a renowned local newspaper—he is also the speechwriter for important figures in the Riau Archipelago, often weaving Malay literary expressions into his words,” testified Husnizar Hood, a poet and recipient of the Anugerah Jembia Emas 2016. ~
Written by Muhammad Natsir Tahar
