A poem in Vietnamese by Lê Vĩnh Tài
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
practising line breaks(create the enjambment):
New year eve
.
.
.
drink
.
.
.
drink
.
.
.
drink
.
.
.
Lunar new year…
.
.
.
drink
drink
drink
.
.
.
sometimes
that’s all there is
in a poem
so
we won’t
have to
remember
every
word
as though they are
falling
apart…
tập xuống dòng:
tết tây
.
.
.
nhậu
.
.
.
nhậu
.
.
.
nhậu
.
.
.
tết ta…
.
.
.
nhậu
nhậu
nhậu
.
.
.
đôi khi
tất cả mọi thứ
của bài thơ
là dường như
để
chúng ta không nhớ
tất cả con chữ
dường như đang vỡ
nát…
_____
December 2020
Lê Vĩnh Tài, the poet and translator born in 1966 in Buon Ma Thuot, Daklak, Vietnam. The retired doctor is still a resident of the Western Highlands and a businessman in Buon Ma Thuot.
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.
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm 