Bones Will Crow: An Anthology of Burmese Poetry (Arc Anthologies) - Softcover

James Byrne; Ko Ko Thett

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906570892 ISBN 13: 9781906570897

Publisher: Arc Publications, 2012

Synopsis

In the 1930s, a swathe of poets in Burma were determined to break away from traditional poetic forms and introduce a more modern and progressive poetics that would reflect the new and changing politics of their country. The subsequent “school” was called khitsan. Several variants developed during the late twentieth century, despite the strong arm of government censorship, each of them determined to put at their centre new ideas using speech rhythms and Burmese dialects.

Bones Will Crow includes the work of leading Burmese poets who fairly represent all new post-khitsan movements – from khitpor to ‘Language-oriented’ poetry. This is the first anthology of contemporary Burmese poetry to be published in the West. It introduces 15 poets from the post-colonial era right up to a new generation who are beginning to emerge from a country that has suffered from years of military dictatorship.

About this title

About the Author

Tin Moe (1933-2007), Thitsar Ni (b. 1946), Aung Cheimt (b. 1948), Ma Ei (b. 1948), Maung Chaw Nwe (1949-2002), Maung Pyiyt Min (b. 1953), Khin Aung Aye (b. 1956), Zeyar Lynn (b. 1958), Maung Thein Zaw (b. 1959), Moe Zaw (b. 1964), Moe Way (b. 1969), ko ko thett (b. 1972), Eaindra (b. 1973), Pandora (b. 1974), Maung Yu Py (b. 1981)

Review

Poems like these demand a response from the reader. There is no hiding or denying our call to respond to these poems in translation, which offer the opportunity to further understand ourselves in relation to another. The poems of Bones Will Crow exist in their own right and should be treated with the same deference that we afford poets who are more familiar and less complex. The contradictory and imposing forces that shape Burmese poetry continue to create an evolving poetics that courageously redefines and reasserts itself, both internally and externally, to the wider literate world. Saradha Soobrayen, Poetry Review 2012

Edition details

• Publisher: Arc Publications
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1906570892
• ISBN 13: 9781906570897
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 266