Surani - Passing through Burmese poems

When reading Zaw Lu Saeng's poems, the following unique phenomena are observed.

(A) For him, he is a man who has always positioned himself in a position where poetry and politics are inseparable.

(b) Zaw Lu Seung must also be added to the list of poets who often incorporate colloquialisms into their poetry.

For example, he often uses local words and expressions such as "balonbatwte", "flangflangtha", "kottaka kutta", "opit uayipit", "phyuphat phyuraw", "matsaddha yerasat", "poe sat patsat", "sinlo letrara", "konroontha", "maramak yaw khay", "chanchan si si", "ale ake" in his poems. This can be said to be his habit and his inclination towards local words.

(c) His other passions are Surrealism, which is again evident in his poems. The dead march like flames in the wind/Some of the fallen dead rise again/The white walls, lined with moonlight, rise one by one, are dreamlike and surreal scenes that are often found in his poems.

They are sharp.

(d) His compassion for his fallen comrades in the revolution, his desire to bring them back to life, and his desire to honor the heroes who had already died were the great lights that shone brightly in his mind.

(e) Another point is the connection between violence and the victims, and the power and manipulation of ordinary people, which are common themes in his poems.

The undead have returned.

The immortals that roll from your hearts

Thank the dead for this opportunity to live.

Respect the dead for allowing us to live like this.

They are the only ones who can see the dead.

The undead have returned.

This is how it is, only the strong survive.

We are the ones who survive, the ones who die, the ones who live.

Occupy the highways

Occupy prisons

In the middle of a pig's nose

The world is staring at me like I'm being stabbed in the back.

These undead were devouring

The dead and the living have returned.

(Not dead or alive)

Zaw Lu Saeng

The title of the poem is interesting. “Do not die or live.” If you do not die, you must live. If you do not live, you must die. Now you do not die, but if you live, you do not live. It is a textual conflict that breaks the East-West order. You and I do not die. But we are also facing difficulties in survival. In the development of a society that is not warm and transparent, we have also been unable to avoid it like a buffalo crossing a river. If there is war, there will be no war. So if there is peace, there will be no peace. No war, no peace We are in a state of uncertainty, like a cold war. A state of unsatisfied confusion and insecurity.

"These undead swallowed the world like a bayonet stuck in a pig's snout."

It is a very powerful text. We are standing still in a state of limbo. When we express our dissatisfaction according to the situation, we are met with tyrannical behavior and violence, and we are sided with the ruling class.