YANGON, June 5 ― Before he was killed, Khet Thi’s poems railed eloquently against Myanmar’s sudden coup, joining a deluge of protest verse celebrating democracy demonstrators and defying the military’s brutal war on words. As soldiers unleashed a violent crackdown on resistance to the army.
Hannah Beech, The New York Times
Published: 25 May 2021 01:32 PM BdST
Updated: 25 May 2021 02:27 PM BdST In an undated image provided to The New York Times, Ko Chan Thar Swe, who had left the Buddhist monkhood to write poetry and was killed in March. The New York Times A protest in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb 17, 2021 The New York Times.
After the first and second poets were killed, the third poet wrote a poem. );
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After the third poet was killed, the fourth poet wrote a poem.
Don’t let your blood run cold/Pool your blood for this fight.
After the fourth poet was killed, his body consumed by fire on May 14, there was no verse. At least for a moment.
Revolution dwells in the heart : Myanmar s poets cut down by the military | Myanmar theguardian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theguardian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sunday, 09 May 2021 10:38 PM MYT
Khat Thi was at least the third poet to die during protests since the Feb. 1 coup. Reuters pic
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YANGON, May 9 Myanmar poet Khat Thi, whose works declare resistance to the ruling junta, died in detention overnight and his body was returned with the organs removed, his family said today.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls to request comment on the death of Khat Thi, who had penned the line “They shoot in the head, but they don’t know the revolution is in the heart.” Myanmar Now news service said he was 44.
Myanmar’s Long History of Revolutionary Poets
K Za Win, Kyi Lin Aye, Khet Thi
6.9k
By The Irrawaddy 15 May 2021
Poet Khet Thi was arrested by some 100 junta troops on the evening of May 8. The following day, he was dead. His wife reportedly had to ask the authorities for permission to collect his body, whose internal organs had been removed for autopsy, from Monywa Hospital.
The 45-year-old poet was arrested for alleged possession of explosives, but no evidence was found at his home. He was the third poet to be killed by junta forces in Sagaing Region’s Monywa in just two months. Poets K Za Win, 39, and Kyi Lin Aye, 36, were shot dead in crackdowns in March.