Warship/War
by Su Thar Nyein
2019, Shwedagon Pagoda.
I sleep
a little when my mother
tells me to pray.
I close my eyes.
I dream.
Child-like.
I call her over.
Hey, look. The grass is growing.
Sometimes I think each blade
is a small god:
proof of survival.
strength of breath.
I say a prayer.
Not scripture or ancient writing,
but a hieroglyph of my hope.
A wishbone. A miracle.
A mouth in a drought.
Mumble in the silence,
in the serenity,
“သာဓု သာဓု သာဓု”
2023, Shwedagon Pagoda.
I’ve wanted to pray
for a while. My eyes can't close.
The smallness of a person
in an earthquake.
A home in a tsunami.
A drowning deity.
Prayers stuck
in my teeth. Gums uprooting.
My dog tongue.
Sometimes, I cling onto
life like death.
I meditate, hands poised on
my lap as tightropes,
floating like Buddha with
the world below me.
I am touching the sky.
Raindrops or bullets.
A mouth of ashes.
Unsaid and undone.
Whispering
under the melody
of a bomb,
“သာဓု သာဓု သာဓု”
"သာဓု သာဓု သာဓု," a phrase said after finishing a prayer, pronounced “Thadu, Thadu, Thadu," meaning “well done."
About the Writer...
Su Thar is a Literary Arts student at the School of the Arts, Singapore, set to graduate in 2025. Her work has placed first in Singapore's 2022 National Poetry Competition (Senior Category) and York University’s 2023 YorkIASG Competition. She is also an alumna of the SUNHOUSE Summer Writing Mentorship. Her favorite part of writing is explaining her work to her mother in broken Burmese.
About the Artist...
Ian Castro Soto is a senior at Savannah Arts Academy. He specializes in graphite, pen and ink while always doing his best to experiment with different mediums.