His poems, written under the pen name K Za Win, were full of a vigor that belied his monastic background. Chan Thar Swe had left the Buddhist monkhood to write poetry more than a dozen years ago, a move that shocked his family, which had basked in the prestige of having a cleric among them, said his sister Ma Khin Sandar Win. One was shot in the head and the other in the chest during a mass protest in Monywa in early March. The first poets to be killed by security forces in the aftermath of the coup were Ko Chan Thar Swe and Ma Myint Myint Zin. Poets have joined the protests, too, their rhyming couplets providing battle cries for the movement. Students and beauty queens have protested, as have doctors and engineers. The resistance to Myanmar’s military, which has dominated the country since its independence from Britain, has inspired people from all walks of life. At least four have been killed, all from the township of Monywa, which is nestled in the hot plains of central Myanmar and has emerged as a center of fierce resistance to the coup. Sensing the power of carefully chosen words, the generals have imprisoned more than 30 poets since the putsch, according to the National Poets’ Union. For some democracy activists, their politics cannot be separated from their poetry. Poetry remains alive in Myanmar, where unconventional weapons are being used to fight a military that has killed more than 800 people since it staged a coup on Feb. After the first and second poets were killed, the third poet wrote a poem.Īfter the third poet was killed, the fourth poet wrote a poem.Īfter the fourth poet was killed, his body consumed by fire on May 14, there was no verse.
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