Ash man(men)

How I got involved Tima’s
2021 Christmas party was quite a memory Unexpectedly

David was there
to bring back
Ko Tayzar San
their presence warmed up a quiet and moist camp By the fireplace

Phuba treated us
with his wine collection

`He fell
right there by the place we were smoking.’
the violinist Michael explained how
his great teacher Phuba was gone
over the online chat
on 2023 October

The first bomb hit
his disciples and three fell down Phuba clawed up from the trench to bring down their bodies
in that moment
The second bomb
fell on him

The funeral photos
in the bamboo hut
where we had Christmas lunch together run like a movie

Before coming back down from Tima Post Phuba suggested
I should help him with
Arts and Education

of the children in the Kutkai region being a Mandalay University Graduate he was that hungry for development. but it was unfortunate
his 14 yrs old son
who was visiting him
also fell on that night

Three months later
I saw a picture of
the young comrade Michael taken sitting on a crashed plane If he saw it, would he smile?
In the other world,
Are you whistling
your new songs?

Up and down the Tima camp
Because of the radiating clouds
The landscape is bluish-grey.
Because of the people who turned to ashes?

Our(Myanmar) landscape Everywhere

is bluish-grey. Can you see it?

June
February 2023

(To Phuba Laban Nanda)

*) Tima, Kachin Independence Army’s post nearby Kutkai, Northern Shan State