practising line breaks(create the enjambment):

A poem in Vietnamese by Lê Vĩnh Tài
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photographer: 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.

By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

There's magic in translating a body of work from one language to another.

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