"Urban Sister" by Aung Khaing Myat

Burmese girl, licensed from Shutterstock, Tanison Pachtanom

Burmese poet Aung Khaing Myat lives in Taungoo, Bago (Pegu). His poem "Urban Sister" was first published in Pan Alinka mazagine in February 2010. The poet recently revived the poem by republishing it on his own Facebook page, remarking on the poem's ten-year anniversary. The original date on the poem suggests he wrote it in 2009.

Aung Khaing Myat's poetry has appeared in Gabyah Lawka (Poetry World), among other places. His poem titled, "According to the Map, it's a Pile of Cash" is the winner of Pay Phoo Hlwar magazine's 2013 Audience Favorite Poem award. The Burmese word for "map" (myay bone) is a perfect rhyme for the phrase "a pile of cash" (ngway bone) -- a hint of the poet's penchant for wordplay.

He declares on his Facebook profile that "Poetry watches over life."

Urban Sister* 

Our little evenings …
We know they were dead
But we resisted,
hid it from the others.

We grew cloudy on each other,
We grew grey and sunless on each other,
But when goodbye was imminent,
The hearts were all aflutter again.

You carried a backpack,
I carried my own tears;
Afraid we’d get caught together,
Afraid we’d miss each other.

From your little back
To your round handwriting
To your empathy ...
Must everything
Turn to ash?

But now,
We’re apart,
Like the plane and the ground below.

My urban sister,
Like a soccer team on a winning spree
Go dominate the center field
Fly upwind against your days.

If we were
Shattered glass pieces
We must still refrain from
Spilling and scattering all over.
That’s my girl!

Note: The word "sister" can also be used as a term of endearment to refer to one's girlfriend. 

Published in Pan Alinka magazine, February 2010
Translated by Kenneth Wong, March 2019

Below is a photo of the Burmese text of the poem, as found on the poet's Facebook page.

"Urban Sister" by A.K. Myat in Burmese text