poem by Lý Đợi
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
an old married couple discussing
who was more ecstatic
who was better in bed
the husband started with:
your ears, have they ever itched?
sometimes, but what does that has to do with the price of fish?
so what did you do to get rid of the itch?
I used a cotton bud.
so does that make you feel good or the cotton bud?
a duck in a pond my dear husband
does the duck feel happier than the pond?
yeah well hence,
the conundrum!
Ai sướng?
Hai vợ chồng già tranh
rồi luận về chuyện ai sướng
hoặc phê hơn trong chuyện đụ đéo
ông chồng gợi ý trước và hỏi:
Bà đã bao giờ bị ngứa lỗ tai chưa?
Thỉnh thoảng, nhưng điều đó liên quan gì?
Thế bà làm gì cho khỏi ngứa?
Tôi ngoáy tai bằng tăm bông.
Thế cái tăm bông nó sướng hay lỗ tai bà sướng?
Vậy chớ con vịt lội dưới ao
theo ông thì con vịt sướng hay cái ao sướng?
ứ, ừ…
thế mới đừ!
[chuyên đề TÌNH YÊU VÀ TÌNH DỤC TRONG VĂN CHƯƠNG]
Lý Đợi (1979), Born in 1978 in Khuc Luy village, Dien Minh commune, Dien Ban district, Quang Nam province. Bachelor of Literature, 2001. As of 2008, after five years of writing, he had published three solo works and approximately twenty-five collaborative works in Vietnam and abroad. His poetry and translated poems have also appeared in several literary magazines and websites in Vietnamese and English. He has also participated in poetry performances, presentations, documentary films, workshops, and exhibitions at the Goethe Institute in Korea, China, Germany, and Vietnam. A key member of the Open Mouth group, which includes Bùi Chát, Khúc Duy, Nguyễn Quán, Lý Đợi and others. He co-initiated and promoted the photocopied work printing movement in Vietnam. He co-founded the Paper Scraps Publishing House. He currently lives in Saigon and works as a journalist.
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 