Cut me open | Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Trâm and Minh

Mổ tôi ra
Bạn sẽ không thấy trái tim tôi

Tìm tôi trong con tôi
Trong tâm trí chúng, linh hồn tôi
Trong bàn tay chúng, những mảnh vỡ của tôi
Thận tôi ướp lạnh
Gan tôi cắt từng lát
___rỉ ra từng giọt chất độc của tuổi trẻ mình

Lưỡi tôi không thiếu sự hiển nhiên
Mắt tôi đã nhìn thấy bạn

Não tôi là một tổ nhện
___một tập hợp những nốt móc đơn rực rỡ

Tôi không nhớ ra ngày nào mình đã có nhịp thở..

Cut me open 

You won’t find a heart

Search for me in my children
In their minds my soul
In their fists pieces of me
My kidneys are on ice
My liver in slices 
___oozing the poison of my youth

My tongue is not short of evidence
My eyes have seen you

My brain is a nest of cobwebs 
___a collection of beaming quavers crotchets 

I have no recollection of ever having a pulse.
_____
SEPTEMBER 2019

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.

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By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

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

8 comments

      1. It was beautiful. Sadness and anger is part of life. I enjoy your raw energy in your poem. That is a great thing, it helps us think. Your work is honest and one of the things I love so much about reading you. 🦋❤️🤗

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  2. It’s good. I like the form. Also the liver part i had to chuckle totally reminds me of the decade I lived 3 lifetimes, survived it, my liver hates me I’m sure.

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  3. “Cut me open” does not feel like a demand for pain, but like an act of trust. What stayed with me was the calm honesty in how the inner fracture is named—without drama, without defense. The voice here feels less like asking to be fixed, and more like choosing to be seen. That quiet courage stays with the piece.

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