A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh

Composing poetry’s no different from chopping wood

Saying it out loud might upset quite a few people

All you have to do is put on a pair of shorts and bend over

So if something happened to fall on you, you could simply flick it off

—–

April 2022

—

Kinh nghiệm riêng

Mần thơ ôi giống hệt bửa củi

Nhưng nói ra nhiều người sẽ tủi

Nên mặc quần đùi đứng khom lưng

Có gì rớt vô ta dễ phủi

thơ Nguyễn Đức Sơn

---

Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.

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.