The Maw Naing 
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on Lyrikline: 3 poems translated

from: birmanês to: inglês

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100 favorite lines

birmanês | The Maw Naing

© The Maw Naing
Audio production: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, 2013

100 Favorite Lines (1971 – 2003)

inglês

1. The pencil becomes blunt after a year
2. I did not think that she walked in
3. The satellite channel she watches is zero point zero
4. A friend said he hates Radio Head because they damage the music in the way Nirvana or Bob Dylan has done to the music
5. The Maw Naing 1971 – 2030
6. The yawning and four mouths
7. ... but what has been produced is the chaotic future
8. ... doubling the damn ....
9. The nails are black, the middle finger is raised upright
10. Black lines, more limiting lines in the black
11. What is held in hand is a leash, but don’t know if the dog is ahead
12. Upcountry men, five feet five inches tall, standing like that
13. Read only the words in parenthesis
14. Days are slowly walking out of it, those days
15. This is the partial beginning
16. In the past decade, In the past decade, In the past decade, In the past decade, In the past decade, In the past decade,
17. The break has failed for quite some time, but everyone comes along in the car as it is
18. I don’t want to give promises, you have to help yourselves
19. I don’t want to read the line 80
20. You can’t pick up anything. Do you believe that you’re not out of your mind?
21. 9 is the end point at the very end
22. The foot has to be put flat after being lifted up. The water in the glass on the table takes the shape of the glass. A stone is thrown up and it drops to the ground. Things normally drop to the ground. The bicycle goes along the horizontal line. It slows down as it goes up the hill. It gathers speed as it comes down the hill
23. This square is ...
24. It’s better to fly up from the vast field than to lay the foundation
25. 25 is like a wound that keeps bleeding
26. Because it’s a stationary wheel, it can be checked if the grooves on the tires are worn thin, what have pierced the tires, whether they’re muddy or not, if there’s rust or if the tires are deflated.
27. Or another event or anywhere
28. Conversations that took longer than four or five years are no longer made
29. A conscience is obvious that is aware of the constantly changing mind
30. Original style and presentation is good but .... is bad
31. Choose a job, a family, a damn large TV set, a washing machine, a car, an electric can opener, a comfortable dress, choose a DIY, choose Sunday way of life, choose nonsensical muttering of words while sitting on a cheap, synthetic leather sofa, choose something that is nothing in the end, choose a future that’s coming into contact whether a step is made or not,
Why should these things be done?
32. Words will come out that say ....
33. A car is being driven into a filthy street, but this is not a secret. In other words, a filthy street is being driven into a car, a filthy car is driven into a street, a street is being driven into a car
34. Pussy! pussy! pussy!
The door was locked last month. The same door was locked again with another lock by the end of this month.
35. For example, overall events are more important than a particular one happening to you currently
36. Twenty reasons for synchronous equality and 10 unknowns
37. Todays that keep expanding day by day
38. Intimate contact between opposite sexes but it should not exceed the speed limit of 30m/hour
39. I’m pulling out the nail that was driven in in the early 1960s, all by myself ...
40. 11 o’clock. Monday. On the white on the black wall
41. Don’t cry for me, Argentina*
* You can replace with any other country.
42. Who killed the Ant^?
^ You can replace with any other thing.
43. 41 = 42
44. Expecting, we are expecting, we are expecting for centuries, you are holding on to those expectations, then you are expecting together with us
45. event = event
A bucket has been brought and put the event into it. event = event is upside down in the bucket, with the spelling going wrong
46. Echoes arrive very late.
47. People are not to be put in a straight line
48. He says, he shot John Lennon, then he says he’s sorry
49. Steps are being made inside the room, by one leg after another, by one leg after another, steps, steps are being made, one after another, walking, but have no idea if the body is slanted and moved, but keep walking, take a pause for a few seconds, then keep on walking, keep on walking, keep on walking. ...
50. “50 multiplied by 2 = 100 lines” is put in parenthesis


The maw naing
4 – 9 – 2005


[before yellow]

birmanês | The Maw Naing

Text

© The Maw Naing
Audio production: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, 2013

What happened before yellow? . . . Blue

inglês

let’s say, shells of the nails are yellow stained
each strand of hair straying with yellow in harmony
eyelids are yellow
eyeballs are yellow
what’s wearing is vibrant yellow too
wrist and palms are also yellow
shadow which falls after touching with sunlight are also in yellow
but not the sagging yellow
it’s not collected brush-off as well
it’s concentrated yellow
but not the kind of yellow which slanted towards outer appearance
Yellow is still yellow after being brushed with hand
But it’s not the ideal yellow which has to be admired of
yellow in which it’s impossible to define what exactly it is
yellow
that’s it.
yellow without any yearning or desire
That yellow has swallowed the yellow mark.
Simple yellow which leads a simple life. Maybe. . Maybe not.
That’s not the kind of yellow which evolved
against of existing yellow.
Then, is it like the yellow without wearing off and vanishing?
or sort of yellow ablaze with metaphors?
yellow connected with a form?
yellow associated with current matters in three or four parts?
yellow which left her in solitary state?
like the kind of true yellow?
At the end, yellow is yellow.
It’s not the yellow which is hard to explain,
yellow is facing difficulties inside yellow
like half yellow which is being bothered
yellow is still yellow making up for lost even after being yellow
yellow is being yellow without knowing itself
Until amongst the most possiblity,
as it happens to lessen in reading, it became blue.
Blue denied blue. Before the start,
after seeing people who come in and out, blue has entered
will whatever come out be blue too?
I don’t know.
It’s full of blue notices
satisfaction is blue
on the field of ribs, blues have blossomed
it’s full of blue to give away at the other side
blue sweats come out from pores
after spitting, blue spittle has come out with disgust
those blue are with deep scars
true blue is exactly only one day
blue spinned, stated and noted.
After examining the past which is all the same, it’s also blue
how blue it looks like is
blue like the reference symbol
softly unlocked
it’s glittering blue
blue that has to be told sarcastically while taking it to mind
empty empty empty . . blue.

The Maw Naing

Translated by The Maw Naing

[The Things Like That]

birmanês | The Maw Naing

© The Maw Naing
Audio production: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, 2013

The Things Like That

inglês

This is the pillar. This is the foldable chair used in golf course. This is to be continued. This is the disassembly of coat rack, the extra. This is the pronunciation. This is the 44th page. This is the clenched fist. This is the good, the bad and the disgust. This is the garbage spade. This is the crutches used by my younger sister for her ankle sprain. This is as. This is the cleaning rod. This is F*** you. This is hammer. This is just an example. This is mobile rack for storage of computer gadgets especially hard disks. This is plier. This is 13.596, thirteen point five nine six in words. This is one step backwards. This is spring ring. This is one. This is ironing. This is the out of order extension cord. This is the reason. Those are the nails remained from repairing the roof. This is the space. This is wanting more. This is the formula as in movies. This is the water tap. This is care for a cup of milk? This is the pedestrian crossing. This is the chisel. This is until the past. This is shovel. This is what I have heard. This is noise. This is too obvious. This is just for awhile. This is bald. This is trowel used by mason. This is chewing up. This is width. This is broken golf club. This is not really. This is unsuitable wooden rods ordered for frames. This is 541 persons. This is second-hand. This is a saying. This is he, she, you from there. This is a hardback. This is silently. This is liquor bottles and mosquitoes repellent sprays. This is Heaven. This is shoe. This is container (palm leaf woven). This is scent. This is air wave. This is the door of water pump at home. Everything is no longer in use. Nothing is being used now. This is 180 degree. This is foldable table which can’t be folded. This is is somebody there? This is the bed sheet. This is 2 dollars and thirty five cents. This is telephone. This is drip-stand. This is ring bar. This is essence. This is summer heat. This is with open bracket . . . . . . This is the exit. This is garden hose. This is over hundred. This 011100011. This is brightest lantern. This is even if not the right person. This is foot trash can. This is without. This is the mattress. This is come on. Those are stars and stripes. This is gutter. This is holder for rackets. This is the saw. No one at home saws. This is iron grille. This is The Maw Naing. This is if. This is black tube light bulb or white one. This is round bamboo tray with stuff. This is before entrance. This is from month to year. This is computer circuit. Those are things inside the room. This is tri-pod. This is trishaw? This is 2006, 6, 6. This is never. This is like that. This is those. . .

The Maw Naing
2006, 6, 6

Translated by The Maw Naing