Pariyem’s Confession

Pariyem’s Confession is a long poem written in the first person—in the voice of a woman. It tells the story of a young woman from a rural area who comes to the city of Yogyakarta, works as a maid for an aristocratic family, gets pregnant by the family son, has his child, then returns to work for them. As she tells her tale, Pariyem muses on eroticism, Javanese customs, and social change. Her story is a search for contentment and her life journey will teach her the secrets to fulfillment.