A conversation with a poet about poetry | Bùi Chát

In the middle of the first line 
                – when you first put pen to paper
And the full stop. Once you are rather satisfied
With 
A period that
          Went on and on     
An emptiness that could 
Imprison a person's life

From such a point poetry is born
To then 
Disappear forever

Together with the dissolution of the poet

Giữa dòng chữ đầu – lúc ngươi đặt bút
Và dấu chấm hết. Khi tạm hài lòng
Là
Một khoảnh khắc
      Kéo dài
Một
Khoảng trống rỗng chiếm đoạt đời người

Từ đó thơ sinh ra
Rồi
Mất hút

Cùng với sự mất biến của nhà thơ

Bùi Chát is the poet, writer, publisher and artist’s pen name. Bùi Quang Viễn was born on October 22, 1979, at Hố Nai, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, Việt Nam. Born to family of patriotic Catholic refugees from the North in 1954.

Graduated in 2001 from the Faculty of Literature, Linguistics, and Journalism of Hồ Chí Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bùi Chát named and cofounded Nhóm Mở Miệng (Open Mouth Group) with the poet and writer Lý Đợi, promoting Graveyard & Garbage Poetry.

Nhà Xuất bản Giấy Vụn (Scrap Paper Publishing House), also founded by Bùi Chát, distributions of xerographically structured sensitive works by “pavement poets”. In 2004, Bùi Chát and cofounder Lý Đợi were detained for two days for distributing flyers at a poetry reading raided by the authority. In 2005, the culture department blocked their performance at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

In 2011, Bùi Chát was awarded the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize “for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish.” He was arrested on his return to Việt Nam after receiving the award in Buenos Aires and detained for several days.

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.