Moei River Question On hearing of Myanmar/Burma government troops mounting a new offensive against ethnic minority Karen National Union bases as well as refugee villages in the Thai/Burma border region, January 1995.
The little girl      with the page boy cut and impish grin                No Eh Wah the one who      pushed friends aside           to play patacake with our Sara           yes, the one whose      parents were both killed earlier           did she make it                inland when                     they fled the village      amid the                     130                               millimeter                                             high explosive                                             shells?                                     R. S. Carlson
First published in BLACK BEAR REVIEW (Fall/Winter) 1995:28. Click here to return to the list of poem titles on: R. S. Carlson's Poetry Pages. To return to the Top of the Page, click here: TOP To send comments on the poem, click here: QuangTri71@aol.com. Please note the name of the poem in your message. Below: a wing of Htoo Wah Hloo village hospital, Htoo Wah Hloo, Thailand, January 1995.
Below: Sarah with No-Eh-Wah and friends at Htoo Wah Hloo, Thailand, on the Moei River, 10 January 1995. The village was abandoned under heavy artillery fire 23 January 1995.