A poem in Vietnamese by Lê Thanh My
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
people line up in long lines
heads down and pre-occupied with when
the plane will take off
patiently you wait for a reply
you just sent, ready
to fall apart
less than ten minutes drive away
I’m standing in the rain
told no one in particular that I
have fallen for you!
Ở sân bay
người người xếp hàng rồng rắn
họ cúi xuống
nghĩ đến lúc bay lên
anh chầm chậm xem tin nhắn đến
vừa buông
thân đã muốn đổ kềnh
em đang đứng dưới cơn mưa cách xa mười dặm
nói vào khoảng không là em đã thương!
Author Lê Thanh My, real name Lê Thị Thanh My, was born in 1966. She was born and raised in An Giang, with more than 30 years of working in the local literary and artistic environment. Starting to write in the early 90s, in 1992 her first work was a collection of poems. She has now published 10 books, including 8 poetry collections, 1 epic poem, 1 bilingual English-Vietnamese poetry collection, several of which have won awards. Since 2019, she has retired and is living in Ho Chi Minh City.
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 