Rangoon 2005. Kuva: tv.
Ko Ko Thett wrote the poem to mark the 20th anniversary of 8 August 1988 (8888) uprising of his homeland Burma.
Ko Ko Thett kirjoitti tämän runon 8.8.1988 tapahtuneen 8888 -kansannousun 20-vuotispäivän kunniaksi.
cerebral malaria (8888-8808)
twenty years
what’ve you done so far
you and your mighty mindset rigidity
that reeks of pugnacity
have buried my dignity alive twice
if i were you
i would have slashed my face with the bayonet
with which you skewered that child soldier
with a deafening ‘CHARGE!’
twenty years
what’ve you achieved so far
save entrenching yourself in that trench
that smells of your enemies’ stench
thou spake democracy
thou sounded hypocrisy
twenty years
you shouldn’t be proud of your paranoia
what’ve you got so far
nothing but you and your mighty mind-numbing mediocre propaganda
nothing but you and your spy stories
nothing but you and your rhetoric shit
with which i’ve been fed
as if i were a cowed circus tiger
twenty years
two hundred thousand tears
fifty million fears
you have hurled at my complacency
monhinga, ohnno-khaukswe, monhinga
morphine, metatheory, metta
delirium, derision, dukkha-thitsa
heroes deliver!
twenty years
tell me who you are
a fetus preserved in a revolution jar?
or a snake in a counterrevolution bottle?
exported all over the world
for a mere twenty dollars?
twenty years of your self-righteous sacrifice
twenty years of unwavering intransigence
twenty years of incredible incompetence
twenty years of violent illusions and vicious infightings
twenty years of iconoclasm on one hand and idolatry on the other
twenty years of indulged orthodoxy in dire purgatory
twenty years of morbid prejudice and maudlin pride
twenty years of rancourous regression and rant
twenty years of obsequiousness for kakistocracy
twenty years of the elegant white queen being partially pinned
twenty years of diminishing hope that the table may be turned
……………………………………………………..
twenty years
behind bars
beyond wars
beneath peace
before justice
below the harvest of sorrow
besides the point
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, e, f
you are everywhere
but have you got anything anywhere?
Ko Ko Thett
4.8.2008
Do not publish/print this poem without the express consent of the poet.
Ethän julkaise/tulosta tätä runoa ilman tekijän lupaa.