What is unique and especially interesting is that Denny JA’s literary works are written in the form of essay poems. This is a new genre of poetry, which Denny JA himself created.
Essay poetry combines fictional characters with historically authentic plots. Thus, each essay poem is a dramatized, fictional story with realistic elements. Although these literary works employ poetic devices, the poems are generally as long as a novel or short story .
Essay poetry is also distinctive due to the presence of footnotes. These footnotes provide news sources that contextualize and authenticate the historical aspects of the background story in each essay poem.
The popularity of the essay poetry genre that Denny JA originated has become widespread. More than 150 books of essay poetry have been published.
More than 200 writers throughout Indonesia’s 34 provinces have composed essay poems that express both the wisdom of local folklore as well as lingering aspects of social discrimination that still persist in their particular province. Due to cultural activities, sponsored by ASEAN, essay poetry has recently become popular in Southeast Asian societies outside Indonesia.
In 2020, the term essay poetry was officially recognized as a new entry in the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, the official dictionary of the Indonesian language. In celebrating this occasion, Denny JA exclaimed that “nothing made him feel more proud of himself as a writer than contributing to the birth of a new word that was officially adopted by the dictionary”.