Văn Học Ngoại Biên — Literature Beyond
The sugar in coffee beans
“a promise of summer”
The honey in wine
“notes of spring”
On taste buds budding lilacs
the fragrance of sweet yearning
Fresh soft morning dew
In the mist a foggy figure
Warm rays of sunshine
_____
March 2020
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.
The words, should it not be felt not heard?
Does a dog on heat require an explanation?
Does a black hole fear the inevitable?
Do you need me to hold your hand?
Then, will you feel that you’re understood?
Or, should you be afraid of the missing heart
in my chest?
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.
“Tưởng rằng đã quên…” những ký ức ném vào thùng rác khi tôi còn ngơ ngác nuôi những gì gọi là hạnh phúc (thật sự). Sự ác tụ trong những anh hùng tù giữa bốn bức tường thánh thiện cao hơn tầm mắt người. Còn tôi, đần độn mãi. Tôi sợ. Tôi còn sợ? Tại sao tôi sợ?
Lục ra từ đống rác một khúc nhớ, gói lại trong bàn tay, nhe nhẹ thắt gọn bằng tơ phút. Tôi tặng người tự do.
—
“Thought, it has been forgotten…” the memories are thrown out with the garbage when I was still ignorant enough to nurture all that is called (real) happiness. Cruelty resides in heroes imprisoned amidst four walls of virtue beyond the human eye. As for me, stupid forever. I’ve been afraid. I’m still afraid? Why am I still afraid?
Fishing out from the trash a piece of recall, wrapping it with my hands, gently securing it with a web of minutes. Me gifting it to the one who’s free.
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.
I have your word
I don’t know
if it’s enough
But
shovel it in a box
(you think)
mould it into a convention?
In convention
we are cheats
the worst kind of liars
Be it, but I won’t.
You are free
but I will take
your words as mine.
Mine alone,
you know this.
You are free.
You are the eagle,
the trees
they rhyme
Do you see?
You are free.
_____
14.10.20
________
“Clear and sweet is my soul,
and clear and sweet is all
that is not my soul.”
Walt Whitman
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.
The princess lived in a castle in the far far north, the walls were made of black Kevlar reinforced with steel. Knights were stationed at every tower, and there were at least a hundred towers. At night she sleeps in the four poster bed, and in the daytime she has the other princes and princesses to play with and please. The princess never ventured outside the walls, not that she was ever curious. The green lawns and visiting butterflies were all that made her happy.
Beyond the impenetrable wall, war ravaged the cold hard countryside.
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.
into a thousand teardrops,
ashes in the wind blinded by the grains of time
squeezed in the hairline fractures in your rib cage
the silent ache throbs the beat of your heart
14/03/2020
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.
A poem in Vietnamese by Vũ Trọng Quang
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photography: Nguyễn Thi Phương Trâm
Days, months, and a year to the end touched upon the last drop of wine
approachable still the eternal spring
against the flight of an arrow, time on fire upon a swallow’s wings
the children full of joy
people’s eyes squinting picking out bits of grey hair
.
Dawn was delivered officially by a vessel thus Dusk
the endless rickety rails
ignites the very last dot of light
without a date out of nowhere
.
Across this grubby life with your hand in mine
through the blinding fog the steep hills
in view of the embrace of an ocean
a daunting tale of the rain carried by the river back to its origin
.
A birthmark is an acute hopeful reminder
the rapid healing hues of a scar
upon this full cup the cheers
from one beginning to another
.
The ruinous devastation of a pandemic
in buds, an Easter of a new day
on your lips the longest kiss
returning upon the wings of a hark
Ngày tháng năm cạn chạm ly rượu cạn
hồ trường còn chút xíu tiếp cận
thời gian cháy cánh én ngược tên bắn
trẻ nhỏ vui khẳm
người người nheo mắt nhổ tóc sâu đen
.
chuyến tàu hoàng hôn chuyên chở bình minh
đường ray sình sịch xa hút
một chấm sáng cuối bừng
ở đâu đến không hẹn trước
.
nắm tay em vượt bụi trần
mù sương sương mù đồi cao
ngó biển rộng dang tay ôm
dòng sông câu chuyện trắc trở mưa về nguồn
.
vết chàm cấp tính niềm hy vọng
màu sẹo mau lành da
dzô dzô ly rượu đầy
từ khởi điểm đến khởi điểm
.
cơn dịch tàn khốc tàn lụi
phục sinh mầm mống ngày mới
hôn em thật lâu
đôi cánh hạc quay về
Vũ Trọng Quang, the poet currently lives in Saigon, Vietnam.
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.
in my heart the butterflies
your fingers the essence of flowers, cleanse
the unworthy flesh of a woman
a severed century
the blissful anguish
I’m jealous of a shadow
a light that isn’t mine
I’m blinded
by the curving meadow
I’m envious of
the soft grass at your feet
the grit between your toes
the blood through your veins
the butterflies in your heart.
April 11,2021
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 