During his 1988 imprisonment in Burma’s notorious Insein Prison Zarganar was severely beaten during an interrogation, losing his teeth. He was also forced to re-enact his satirical jokes in front of military intelligence interrogators while hung upside down.

Although reading and writing were banned in the prison cells, Zarganar scraped the dust off bricks, added water and used the mixture to write poems on the floor. He then committed these to memory, before sweeping away the evidence. After his release from prison, he published the following poems.

Untitled (1998)

From the tree of my feelings
Sprang exquisite leaves,
Tendrils, branches
Which awoke my senses
And entwined my thoughts.
And from the lines
Composed in mind,
Came these verses
Written in blood.
On blank pages
With invisible ink.

Untitled (1998)

They may greet you with applause
But don’t get ideas.
Show’s over boys
Prepare to step down
(Untitled, Zarganar, 15 October 1988)

However (1998)

We cry out
"We’ve won!"
And raise both arms in glee.
But when we lose
Both arms go up again.

Untitled (1998)

With row upon row of iron bars
They can cage me.
With the heat of seven suns
They can roast me.
With a battalion of ogres
They can guard me.

But if I took my scarlet blood
And sprayed it all across the sky
The bars would melt
The ogres kneel
Their suns kowtow before me.

What happened with Nargis?
by Zarganar, 2008

(Unpublished in Burma, available on www.kaungkin.com.
Translation: Vicky Bowman)

What happened with Nargis?
Rice bags rode by rotor
4WDs rented at £400
Bogale prices outstripped Inya Road.

What happened with Nargis?
Holland Beers got salaries
Strand satphones
Sold for a grand.

What happened with Nargis?
Saltpans were saturated
With saltwater.
It took a hundred thousand people
To create a thousand jobs.

No matter if it was a naga
Or a narcissus
What happened with Nargis?
Nothing. Nothing’s happened.
Nothing’s been done.

Untitled

By the river
can't see the river
where am I?

Under the moon
can't see the moon
where am I?

Just remind the world
that I can't be involved
where am I?
Zarganar, Myitkyina Jail, 2009

Untitled

It’s lucky my forehead is flat
Since my arm must often rest there.
Beneath it shines a light I must invite
From a moon I cannot see
In Myitkyina.
Zarganar, Myitkyina Jail, 2010