Death in Summer

Burmese poet Maung Day's ninth book of poems but his first full-length collection written in English, Death in Summer is a haunting, surreal series of prose poems and original ink drawings that delivers defiant social commentary on the atrocities of Myanmar's past and its turbulent current events. Through these visceral, at times magical realist poems, we witness a family's migration from the countryside to Yangon, a childhood marked by the 8888 uprising and resulting coup, and present-day struggles against political censorship and violence.

Interwoven throughout the book are Day's chimeric figure drawings, which, like his poetry, draw on Buddhist folklore and themes of environmental justice. Day's writing is influenced by the Burmese khitpor (modern) tradition and American poetry alike. His stark imagery and frank, direct use of language evoke Charles Simic, while the absurd and fable-like narratives may remind readers of Russell Edson.

In a city "trembling with insomnia," we meet tongueless children who "must speak through birds given to them on the first day of school," a visiting uncle who prefers to sleep outdoors in a tree, "a corpse waiting for burial at a monastery" who "mutters how much he hates the wet days," and a terrified family that realizes their home is actually "a carriage drawn by a malevolent creature" they can't see. At once exquisite and grotesque, plainspoken and enigmatic, Death in Summer is an original and spellbinding collection of contemporary activist poetry and art.