Ejected Spaceship
Because Burma is not herself
and
Herself is no longer Burma.
What does the cloud see when she looks herself in the mirror?
When the white faces laugh at her accent…
When her families tell her “You are not a Burmese anymore”
She used to carry that weight
from grandmas
on her shoulders
under her armpits
in her asscheeks
When the passport protects you from one military gun but not the other’s
A woman with travelling ID cards must have felt like a spaceship
That has been ejected out into the space
Goodbyes with celebrations
Farewells with no return home.
She moves and moves and moves
But there is no gravity
“Ungrounded” ရေပေါ်ဆီ
“Talking from abroad?”
“Why NOT talking from abroad?”
To create her own gravity
She must cut a piece of her body
To move closer to the Mother Ship
Just like that
Spaceships have become clouds
Pieces and pieces and pieces
All dispersed.
A thing of a less-than
Faceless
Armless
Fingerless
Legless
Bodyless
Worth
less
Less than the Mother herself.
Must have been her fault that she floats.
When the Mother no longer wants her, rejects her, cuts her off like a cancer tumor.
Clouds are flying everywhere now
But they will never ever get home.
And just like that…
She is no longer Burma
As Burma is not her Self anymore…
Chu May Paing
