H

Hyphen Log

by Maw Shein Win

question mark-comma-hyphen
marks punctuated by division upon division

                        a leaving-behind
                        a coming-toward
                        a moving-between

language heard over-tables under-walls
how we-connect how we-do-not

                        flip-flops
                        tea-shop
                        full-stop 

                                                                        Burma-Myanmar

 born within a-border is another-border

                        collision-tables
                        brain-sprain
                        division-trains

a comma soft-pause separates conjunctions

                        shot-echoes
                        cyclone-pound
                        plumeria-rain

Photo by Liana S on Unsplash

Maw Shein Win

Maw Shein Win's most recent poetry collection is Storage Unit for the Spirit House (Omnidawn) which was nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry, longlisted for the PEN America Open Book Award, and shortlisted for CALIBA's Golden Poppy Award for Poetry. She is the inaugural poet laureate of El Cerrito, CA. She teaches poetry in the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco and was selected as a 2023 YBCA 100 Honoree. Win’s Process Note Series features poets and their process and her full-length collection Percussing the Thinking Jar (Omnidawn) is forthcoming in 2024. She can be found at mawsheinwin.com