Sherry Chandler » Burmese poet held
Burmese poet held
Via Have Coffee Will Write, the BBC News has this item:
The Burmese authorities have arrested a well known poet, who published a love poem with a hidden message criticising the country’s military leader.
Poet Saw Wai’s work - titled February the Fourteenth - was published in a Rangoon magazine, The Love Journal.
Taken together, the first words of each line read: “General Than Shwe is crazy with power.”
Dissidents in Burma have used similar techniques before to get their messages past government censors.
At first sight it appeared to be a straightforward love poem looking ahead to Valentine’s Day, but eagle-eyed readers soon noticed what the Burmese government censors had missed.
It was not long before the authorities became aware of the poem and Saw Wai was arrested.
It is not clear what will happen to him now.
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