Two Poems by Mandy Moe Pwint Tu

Spring outside my window, winter boughs sprouting green.
These balding cypress knees are nothing compared
to the knees of my people, their bodies thudding
with the glint and sear of metal through their heads.
Hail the victorious dead: and sand the roads.
Let the blood lead a little ways, then nowhere.
See, these roads can lead
—oh, nowhere.

Poet Mandy Moe Pwint Tu weaves together images of divinity, nature, and revolution in her two poems, The Buddha Tries to Withdraw Money During the Revolution and On Being Absent for the Revolution. Speaking from her perspective in the diaspora, her work echoes with grief for the tumultuous violence her homeland is going through, and the complicated emotions that define being able to watch this history unfold unscathed, an ocean away from the chaos.

The two pieces can be read in their entirety on the NYSEAN partner Asian American Writers’ Workshop website here.