Mai
Van Phan (Vietnam)
SPRING
1 - First Morning of New
Year
I find a child’s sock
Soft
As a ripened fruit
2 - New Year’s Day
On the road
Picking a dried blade of grass
I touch the old year’s tail
3 - The Splendid Spring Air
I rest
After collecting a full bucket of water
Not knowing what to do with it yet
4 - First Night of New Year
Hearing waves
I shine a candle
Towards the sea
5 - Choosing a Sofa
To place a vase of rhododendron
In the middle
Of Spring
BITTER POTION
(For Ngọc Trâm)
As
fever is burning you on its pyre
I
become ash too
The
bitter potion cannot wait any more
Holding
your hand
I pour
My
grief into the empty bowl...
O’
daughter! As the mist falls
My
hardship arches across the cold night
For
frail flowers
To
give off scent needs bitter roots.
Sweat
becomes callused hands
Spring
pours into the medicine bowl
My
old age weeps with mute tears
While
truth bursts out for no reason.
I wonder what you eat in your dreams
I
put the bowl on the window
When
you grow up to my age now
At
the bottom of the bowl
There may still be
a storm.
FROM OUR HOME
You
gather things according to their seasons
a bunch
of grapefruit flowers for autumn
plums
for spring
We are
the pulse of air, deep abyss, breasts of soil
we
choose warm places to set our furniture
uncluttered
places to put our tables and chairs
We drop
our worries at the dinner table
with
chopsticks we pick vegetables from the field afar
the fish
bites on the bait inside our clay pot
We love
the footprints near the rice stubble
deep
wells, streams and rivers, ponds and puddles
Don't
sit in the room too long
go out
into the field, out to the river bank
where
leaves grow green and fish wriggle
Bite on
fresh pineapple or sweet orange
and let
juice drop on brown soil.
ACCOMPANYING
THE GUEST OUT OF
THE ALLEY
After
brewing tea
When
I returned
The
guest was gone
Speaking
on the phone
His
family said he had been dead seven years
A
misunderstanding
At
home
All
in turmoil
No memory of when the portrait was taken down
Where was the winding clock?
To whom was the fake ancient teapot given?
Dropping in on the neighbour
To check several food items
Some with higher prices
Some
remained unchanged
In
the house
The
tea still hot
Pushing
a cup towards the guest's vacant place
A
deadly vapour six meters high suddenly rose up
Bowing
down in front once in a while.
VARIATIONS ON A RAINY NIGHT
Rain comes at last
And thunder rumbles
Tender shoots strip naked in darkness
The land tries to hide its barren dryness
When roots feel their way into our chest
Together we desire
And together we recall
A leafy cone hat and raincoat or
lightning across the sky
Night lies down with all the tombs
Its black shirt still hung in the trees
Together things cool down
And together things echo
The sounds get lost inside our deep
sleep
Where countless upside-down dreams are
shattered
In this cool, expanding, reverberating
rain water.
(Translated by Nhat-Lang Le. Edited by Susan Blanshard)
_____________
BIOGRAPHY OF MAI VĂN PHẤN
Vietnamese poet Mai Văn Phấn was born 1955 in Ninh Bình,
Red River Delta in North Vietnam. Currently, he is living and writing poems in
Hải Phòng city. He has published 16 poetry books and 1 book "Critiques -
Essays" in Vietnam. 27 poetry books of his are published and released in
foreign countries and on Amazon's book distribution network. Poems of Mai Văn
Phấn are translated into more than 40 languages. Mai Văn Phấn has won a number
of Vietnamese and international literary awards, including: The Vietnam
Writers' Association Award in 2010; The Cikada Literary Prize of Sweden in
2017; The Award of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2019; The Literary
award from Association of Literary Translators of Montenegro in 2020; Twice won
the Golden Pen Literature Award of Russian Federation in 2019; The Award Aco
Karamanov of North Macedonia in 2020; 1st Prize in The International Creative
Meeting and Festival “Together in the XXI Century” in Bulgaria 2020; The medal Alisher Navoi of the
Union of Writers and Historians of Central Asia in 2021; Winner of Sahitto
(Bangladesh) International Award for Literature 2021; The Award of
Newspaper Kitob Dunyosi (Uzbekistan) in 2021.
"Now poetry readers worldwide are able to gain a rare glimpse
inside Vietnam and the Vietnamese culture. The turbid past, contemporary
progressive present and unpredictable future, as seen through the eyes, heart
and soul of one of Vietnam's most prolific and thought
provokingcontemporary poets. Mai Van Phan writes in his native language.
The Vietamese language is emotional, expressive, precise, symbolic and
metaphorical. His poems are rich with memories, experiences and strong
emotions... His words express the value of culture, spirit, traditions and
customs of the Vietnamese people. Here, the poet speaks up about the joy
and immense sadness that his people have been through. His poems illuminate and
reveal poverty, diseases, suffering and backwardness while at the same time
capturing the heart and soul and expressions of the Vietnamese people. His
words move forward, just as his country is moving forward. The poet becomes
part of social change. For it is said that the greater impact of the poet, the
larger and more unique poetry atmosphere it can spread...the more positive
effect it can cause to the society. The poet is the one who designs a structure
for the society and nature in his own way. This rare honest insight is
expressed freely in this long awaited book. Poet Mai Van Phan says, "We
always have hope for a brighter future, like seeds that are sown in the
darkness and move towards the light". He explores the mystery and
complexity of human nature and the natural world. A radiant dawn, a worm
in the leaf, and the sigh of a woman... Mai Van Phan sees the world
through the eyes of a poet who can see into another world." (Susan
Blanshard)