A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Lãm Thắng
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Brushing your teeth
Đánh răng
The toothbrush is soft
The toothpaste is refreshing
The brushing is gentle
The toothpaste is sweet
We brush our back teeth
We brush our front
Each part we brush
Thoroughly
Don’t forget
Oh look!
One bug
Fell out
And there goes
One more!
Gargle
Gargle carefully
We wash our face
Who’s that
With the big white smile
On their face!
—
May 2022
__
Bàn chải mềm
Kem thơm quá!
Bàn chải êm
Kem ngọt quá!
Xong hàm dưới
Đánh hàm trên
Đánh thật kỹ
Bé đừng quên
Ô! Ô kìa!
Một “con sâu”
Rớt ra ngoài
Ô! Ô kìa!
Hai “con sâu”
Rớt ra ngoài
Súc miệng kỹ
Rửa mặt thôi!
Ai cười tươi
Răng trắng thế?
Nguyễn Lãm Thắng
Born August 14th, 1973, writes under many pseudonyms: Nguyễn Lãm Thắng, Lam Thuỵ, Trà Thị Kim Xuyến and as a children’s author: Nguyễn Trần Bảo Nghi, Du Lãm, Nhật Quang, Nguyễn Trần Khải Tú…
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 
Kid toothpaste is dangerously sweet…and delicious…i might just…yum yum!
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heheh, children poetry is my new mission. Don’t know how long it will last, but I’m giving it a year, finding rhymes for a poem is kinda fun. :))
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It’s good for the soul! 🙂
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