I don’t care for Hnahsin Kut
Chapchar Kut or any other Kut
If our clothes exoticized
And our culture mysticized
Restraining us and our ways of life
I don’t care for them at all
There is no Zo Nun Mawi in it.
I don’t care for churches
If there is Christian infighting
Or denomination championing
No spirit of crusaders ever holy
Just for their glories solely
I don’t care for it at all
There is no Zo Nun Mawi I know
I don’t care for governments policies
“To uplift the poor” they lied
Whether it is Mau of richness or
Sawhthing of prosperity – promised.
If it’s empty promises by deceitful politicians
I don’t care for it at all
There is no Zo Nun Mawi D-A-H in the Act.
I don’t care for law enforcers
Or civil society organizations
If a widow’s son is beaten to death
And her house stoned to dust
Stoned first by he with sin I don’t care for them at all
If there is no Zo Nun Mawi in their deed
I don’t care for the Silent City
If bribes are taken silently
By those who worshiped the horned one
Silent ’cause no one voice the truth
Afraid to stand, afraid of “mi pawi sawi”
I don’t care for all of it
There is no Zo Nun Mawi in being voiceless.
I don’t care for even Zo Nun Mawi itself
If it’s constrained just for a single group,
If it cannot include all the people of Zo
All the Sap and Vai, and he, him, she, her, they them for that matter,
I don’t care for it if it cannot include all.
Why not let Zo Nun Mawi be a way of life for all?
A holistic inclusive altruistic noble way of life.
This poem is a self-introspection and denouncement of cultures around the poet, and a reclamation of what the poet calls “Zo Nun Mawi”. Festivals are first pointed at, Hnahsin, much like Anthurium festival, a celebration of exotic flowers as festivals, even the legitimate festivals like Chapchar kut did not get spared. With every verse the poet gives a reason as to why they do not care for it. Clothes, cultural apparel becoming costumes, exoticized, worn for the awe and wonder of outside eyes. At the end of the first verse the poet mentions “Zo Nun Mawi” an ethic, and champions it and laments in its absence in every ending of a verse.
The second verse goes after churches, commenting on the Christian infighting that they see. Denomination hierarchy and minorities trampled up. Holy crusades launched against enemies physical and spiritual only for the glory of the people waging it.
The poem gets topical in the third verse, mentioning upliftment schemes and projects that the government has failed the people with. Mau – Bamboo, sawhthing – ginger, mocking the politicians of their empty promises in how they sold their schemes. Further, it mentions law enforcers and civil society organizations, denouncing them again, “if a widow’s son is beaten to death and her house stoned to dust”, not just a single event, the poem highlights how the anger of the mob and authorities have often inflicted violence upon those below them.
In the fourth verse, the poem again accuses those who take bribes silently in the Silent City, accusing them of worshipping the devil, the horned one, Mammon. Explaining why the Silent City is silent, the poem leads the readers towards how people refrain from criticizing because of “mi pawi sawi”, to be afraid of offending someone.
The last verse addresses the “Zo Nun mawi” mentioned, announcing that they do not care for it, IF, it is just for one group. Here, the poem expands beyond narrow nomenclature and nationalisms and invokes a wider lens of Zo people, going further to include even the people we deemed outsiders and introduces gender inclusion as well. In the last lines, the poem explains what “Zo Nun Mawi” could be ‘a way of life for all. A holistic inclusive altruistic noble way of life.’
