A poem in Vietnamese by Đinh Trường Chinh
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh
Published on Gobblers & Masticadores Espana

Thơ at I-95

going the distance 
through sections of the forest
clatter of dusk
stints of rain
go
go through
all that past
father was a mountain
mother was just there
a cloud in passing

dusk drifting
seamlessly through the forest
spirit rolling with the approaching rain
picking my daughter up from a campus 
so far away, the distance seemed but a moment
a flashback.

now I’m a parent
driving my children
and the faraway clouds
in sahā 

—

May 2022

—–

Thơ ở I-95

đi xa qua những tầng rừng
qua chiều tịch mịch
qua từng liếp mưa
đi
đi băng
hết ngày xưa
thấy cha dáng núi
mẹ vừa
mây qua

chiều trôi
suốt cánh rừng nhoà
hồn lăn theo bánh chan hoà mưa sa
đón con từ nội trú xa
đường đi trăm dặm
chỉ là sát na.

bây giờ ta cũng mẹ cha
chở con
cùng đám mây xa
ta bà …

–

17.5.2022. last day of school. W&M

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Đinh Trường Chinh, the poet and artist, was born in 1970 in South Vietnam. The poet currently works in IT in Virginia, U. S. A.

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the blogger, poet, and translator, was born in 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.