we must not
forget to mention the name of Nyunt-Wai (Katha) if we
discuss about the poet/writer_physicians of burma.nyunt-wai(katha)
is a poet of long standing in burma, having written poetry
continuosly from 1949 to date.his selected poems named ,"Seit-pya-din
( the mental window)" won the national literary prize for poetry in
1992.his real name is thein nyunt, graduated M.B.,B.S. from the
faculty of medicine, university of rangoon in 1958.he trained in
plastic and oro-facial- maxillo surgery in moscow for several years
in the late 1960s to early 1970s and got a Ph.D. from the moscow
state university of the former soviet union, now russia.he was born
in taung-twin-gyi although he put "katha" in his pen name.he said
katha was where he finished his high school education.
dr thein nyunt wrote poetry since 1949 following the examples of
saya minthuwun and sya zawgyi.hence his poems are well rhymed. his
choice of words is also good, using clear and powerful burmese words
for the meaning he implies.he states that the follwing criteria are
to be met in a good poem: inborn desire to compose, industry and
perseverance in learning & composing poetics,following the poetic
rules, rhythms and rhymes, well intentions and strong feelings.
he writes poems whenever he feels like it.he writes it at home, in
the hospital, while travelling or while playing golf.i remember him
writing poetry on the ship during a rivering trip in yunnan, china
when we travelled together as the myanmar delegation to china.he was
a good friend of mine since 1962 when i was posted as a medical
officer in the burma army to tauggyi.i lived in his house as both of
us were bachelors at that time.we shared food, drinks and literature
together.he has been writing poetry and prose for about 1 dozen
years before we met and i was trying to write short stories then (in
1962). he lent his books on english literature and short stories
written by somerset maugham, heminway, richard gordon,a.j.cronin,
mark twain,leo tolstoy, pushkin,maxim gorky etc.and he would discuss
about my short stories before they were sent to the burmese magazine
taiks in rangoon.and i would criticise his poems.
we are good friends and we would invite each other for dinner
alternately at our homes that are situated in the parami
quarters ,
yangon since then.we will celebrate our get-together with our common
friends_ writers and poets.dr thein nyunt is always the host for
us.he's very generous and jolly with us.
now, i like to present some of his poems in english translation:
" people say the weather is hot,very hot;why so hot?because the
environment is spoilt, the ozone layer is broken; but why the cost
of living in
" thief, theif, people shouted in unison;they follwed a hollow man
and arrested:he has stolen two htami and a few shirts:people hurt
him in the face and on the back: but there is a rich man in the
quarters, living on the bribes he got from his office:is he not a
thief too?.."
" i could buy dolls with money; i could buy cakes with it too;so are
flowers i admire; but in the government shops, i cannot certainly
buy any smiles by any means!..."
" my teachers, they are so kind; they feign deaf when people tell
ills of me;they feing dumb when people ask bad things about me;they
venture to protect me when someone tries to hurt me;they venture to
teach me the right and the wrong; they teach me how to choose the
right from wrong;oh, teachers i kowtow you for your love all
round ..."
"oh, she was a lovely girl,unmarried with a beautiful face and curly
hair;the breasts are white,well-formed and round, so is the belly
and pubic mound; she died of barbiturate poisoning, so, they say on
her case write-up; but, alas! when we open her abdomen for post-
mortem, we found a uterus with a foetus inside up!.."