Three poems from Burma

WASO LAPYAE

This morning

Waso Lapyae
Brings blue skies

And a giant crow
Perched upon the sill
Of my squat toilet window

This afternoon

The heavy rain
Gives me a headache
Again

Neither jasmine tea
Nor red wine help

This evening

I am drunk once more

Like a lunatic,
I pace the parket floor
Reciting poems by Li Bai

Yes
Tonight

We’ll sit in silence
The full moon and me

Until only dawn remains

BETEL NUT STAINS

They’ve found a bomb
At Shwe Dagon

They say
They say

Beer station Jihad
Fueled by
Cheap whisky and soda

More talk –
More enemies

Blood red betel nut stains

STAINED BUS WINDOW

January
Turns to December
A little quicker every year

Yesterday’s
Quiet countryside
Turns into the chatter
Of today’s villages
Then on to tomorrow’s
Overcrowded towns and cities

Things that once were
No longer appear

Time has taken them back
From these red eyes that linger
On their lined reflection
In the stained bus window

No
Not so young now
Are you boy?
Not so quick on our feet
As you used to be

So
Tell me son
What have you learned?
Drunk and alone
Who is your song for?

Caught between
The then of there
And the now of here
I have no idea

All I feel in the seat
Of this dusty heart is

Longing
Longing
Longing