Back in the Tall Grass

Abstract

Back in the Tall Grass Translated from Burmese by the author My hazy eyes explode into storms.Swamps and ducks fall out of my body through every hole.Flamingos disappear especially when you want to see them.This is Year of the Tiger for firemen.For people living in the streets, not a year of bean sproutsWhispering good news about free food into their ears.They feel stuck and dejected like water lilies.I know what storms are like better than everybodyBecause my parents raised me as a window.Dinner is getting cold, our raincoats becoming us.Go home, Michael Jackson! Go to bed, Lou Reed!The bedtime stories I was told when I was littleWere about tall grass and murderers.Then I would be awake in a nightmare all night.Storms are to me what cacti are to deserts.One crocodile is too many, a thousand storms are never enough.As I move along in the tall grass, butterflies enter my body,Yellow ones in the throat, black ones in the lungs,Raging at the futility of having wings. [End Page 194] Maung Day Maung Day is a poet, artist, and translator. He writes in Burmese and English. His eight books of poetry include Pleasure Sea (2006), Surplus Biology (2011), and Alluvial Plain of Ogres (2012). His translations from English include the children's books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlotte's Web. He has translated into Burmese such poets as Adonis, Robert Kelly, Tomas Tranströmer, and Wislawa Szymborska, and has translated many Burmese poets into English. Copyright © 2022 University of Hawai'i Press