Unsprung • Print Only

Summary

Unsprung: In a book of witness, indictment, rage, heartache, and grief, Burmese writer M. Tu explores poetic form, like a compass swinging wildly toward north, as a means of examining the indefensible political violence in her home country of Myanmar.

Details

• Selected for the 2022 Emerging Poets Chapbook Series
• Saddle-stitched, risograph cover, 44 pages, 5″ x 7.25″, FSC-certified paper
• Order print + e-book
• Order e-book only

Praise

“Part documentary and part confessional, M. Tu’s chapbook UNSprung chronicles the tragic stories from Burma’s anti-coup resistance, now stretching into its 20th month. Tu appears in the garb of the spirit lord Thagyamin to address the politically imponent UN in a modern sonnet; speaks in the voice of the late UN Secretary General U Thant to console her distressed relatives; and uses the redacted texts from the UN’s own press releases, punctuated with the perfunctory phrase “deeply concerned” like a tiresome chorus, to indict the international agency for its inaction. Playing with unconventional forms, she uses text messages and hangman figures to pay tribute to Angel, a protester who was shot dead wearing a T-shirt that read “Everything Will Be Okay”; and four activists executed in Insein Prison in July 2022. Alternating between matter-of-fact lines and visceral verses, she confronts her nagging conscience and overflowing anger, and forces the readers—and herself—to witness to the untimely demise of the ngu-wa and yuzana blossoms of Burma Spring. Their lingering scent reminds us that, even in the darkest hours, it’s still worth believing dawn is just around the corner.”
        —Kenneth Wong, Burmese-American author, translator, and Burmese language instructor (UC Berkeley)

“Unsprung is a collection that offers a powerful vision of what poetry can do in the world. These poems, that range from the small intimate moments of human connection to the large scale of the United Nations, make clear for readers the human costs of war and oppression. M. Tu is a poet with the formal prowess of a young Gwendolyn Brooks and the vast political vision of our best poets of witness. This is a voice to cherish and a poet to watch.”
        —Nate Marshall, author of Finna and Wild Hundreds

“Tu’s words are steeped in pain, each poem is a cry—a rant and a plea living in the collective diasporic consciousness since February 1st, 2021. The author of these poems has captured each heart wrenching disappointment and failure of the international community and responded with boldness. These words allow us in the community to find refuge in our collective suffering and anger, giving voice especially to the experiences of the diaspora, who push the revolution forward everyday.”
        —K. C. M. M.

Author

M. Tu is a writer and a poet from Yangon, Myanmar. Her work has appeared in Longleaf Review, West Trestle Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Monsoon Daughter (Thirty West Publishing House, 2022) and Unsprung (Newfound, 2022).

Artwork

Cover by Nora Kelly.