there’s one stubborn poem that refuses to ever sleep

A poem in Vietnamese by Hứa Hiếu
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

in the end

there’s one stubborn poem that refuses to ever sleep

awake hugging a bottle of fermenting poetry

each bubble is a grenade

ready to explode, in full disclosure

power rituals in all their measure

itself included

born from an age-old wilderness.

—

July 2022

cuối cùng

có một bài thơ chẳng chịu ngủ chẳng bao giờ ngủ

luôn thức ôm bài thơ bình rượu của mình

trong chai, mỗi bong bóng rượu là một trái phá

sẵn sàng nổ tung mọi điều

lễ nghĩa bạo lực các thứ

kể cả thân xác chính mình

được sinh ra từ cổ đại hoang sơ.

_________

HHiếu

Hứa Hiếu, the poet from Vung Tau, Vietnam, currently lives in Lawrenceville, USA.

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.

there’s one stubborn poem that refuses to ever sleep