April 30th, 1975 | Phan Nhiên Hạo

A poem in Vietnamese by Phan Nhiên Hạo
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh

April 30th, 1975
The T54 tank masturbated in front of the Independence Palace
in and out in and out many times on the green grass
in ecstatic convulsions
and fervent malarial fever.

It has been a smutty Saigon ever since.

30 tháng 4, 1975



30 tháng 4, 1975
Xe Tăng T54 thủ dâm trước dinh Độc Lập
thụt thụi nhiều lần lên thảm cỏ xanh
sướng ngất trong cơn co giật
sốt rét.

Sài Gòn tục tỉu từ đó.

2011

Nguồn: thơ phan nhiên hạo, Radio mùa hè


Phan Nhiên Hạo, the poet and translator born 1967 in Kontum, Vietnam, currently works and lives in Illinois, the United States of America.

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's avatar

By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

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

7 comments

  1. This poem sums up Saigon quite nicely ever since all of Vietnam fell under Communist rule back on April 30th 1975.

    My hairstylist and barber is a Vietnamese woman.

    Last time I got my haircut (which was a few weeks ago), she was saying that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is turning Canada into a Communist country like the Vietnam of her childhood that she and her family were forced to flee.

    She’s absolutely right.

    Liked by 3 people

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