POLITICAL SCIENCE

By Ko Ko Thett

A tongue that demands ‘Water!

Water! Water!’ is chapped

From tonguing the thick lips of a

totalitarian ashtray.

You may find life in a bombshell.

There is no water in ash.

They redress their national

internal bleeding with quacky

Tincture. There’s no cure for

national internal bleeding.

To tame the tsunami they whip

the ocean with a knout.

The ocean doesn’t bother.

“On this land …”, Their slogan goes,

“… there’s no corpse

Who died from starvation!” .

Infants who were force-

Fed that shrunk into skin-on bones carcasses.

Drought makes you think, thieve, and thrive.

“Moderation is medicine, excess—poison.”

Lectures a baton

Blow on a citizen.

Some of us love flexural history.

Others make do with bitter rainwater.

Political Science summary

This poem by Ko Ko Thett explores the theme of political oppression and the consequences it has on
a nation and its people.

The first stanza describes the harsh conditions under a totalitarian regime, where people’s
demands for basic necessities are ignored, leaving them chapped and parched.
The second stanza contrasts life in a bombshell (possibly a metaphor for a chaotic situation)
with the lack of nourishment in the ashes of a repressive system. The government’s attempts
to address internal issues are described as ineffective.
The third stanza portrays the government’s futile efforts to control a massive problem (the
tsunami) through force, symbolizing their ineffectiveness and cruelty.
The government’s propaganda slogan denies any deaths from starvation, but the reality is
quite different, with infants suffering from forced feeding and malnutrition.
The poem suggests that drought forces people to think, steal, and survive, highlighting the
desperation that arises in difficult circumstances.
The final line implies that some individuals appreciate the nuances of history, while others
simply endure the bitterness of their situation.

Throughout the poem, there is a sense of suffering, manipulation, and deception under an
oppressive regime, with a hint of resilience and the human spirit’s capacity to adapt.