– APYANGON:
A Myanmar poet has been arrested in Yangon after penning a Valentine’s Day poem (right)that carried a hidden message criticising the leader of the country’s military junta, colleagues said yesterday.
The poet, Mr Saw Wai, was arrested on Tuesday, a day after his poem “February 14” as published in the weekly Love Journal, according to friends and colleagues. The journal, which is seen as close to the information ministry, published the poem in its latest issue, under a picture of heart-shaped balloons reading “I Love You”.
The eight-line poem in Burmese is about a man brokenhearted after falling for a fashion model, whom he thanks for having taught him the meaning of love. But if read vertically, the first word of each line forms the phrase: “Power crazy Senior General Than Shwe.”
