Who’s ecstatic? | Lý Đợi [2]

trâm & khánh

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.

Still husband material? | Lý Đợi [1]

Nhà thơ Lý Đợi (Ảnh: Họa sĩ Phạm An Hải)

poem by Lý Đợi
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

a woman with money
three time divorced
looking for a guy as advertised
with a set with criteria:
single
who will never be a brute
who will never abandon a lady

who can fuck.

one autumn morning
the cypress door bell rang
and there outside the door was a monk
both his hands tied
there because of the ad in the classified
and she was surprised
and unsettled
because there indeed was a dick

the man took his time said:
as you can see… I’m single
and can’t in any way hurt you [hands tied]…

but how will you perform your task well she sighed
hold on to your dick, be that guy
confined?

I guarantee you it’s not blind
how else did you think I rang the bell on that cypress door!
[and what else am I supposed to do with the hand grenade in my tights? He implored]

Vẫn làm chồng tốt?


Một người đàn bà giàu sụ,
đã ba lần ly dị,
có đăng báo tìm cu
với các tiêu chuẩn:
Độc thân,
Không có thói vũ phu,
Không rời bỏ mệnh phụ
Và…
Biết đụ.

Vào buổi sáng mùa thu
chuông reo ngoài cửa pơ-mu
hoá ra một thầy tu
hai tay cột chặt
đến vì mẩu rao vặt
người đàn bà ngạc nhiên
và dằn vặt
vì đây đúng là một ngữ cặc

Người đàn ông đó thong thả nói:
cô thấy đấy… tôi đang độc thân
và không thể đánh cô được [vì tay trói]…

Nhưng anh làm sao có thể thực hiện tốt nhiệm vụ
của một người cầm cu
trong tư thế lao tù?

Đảm bảo với cô là nó không mù
Thế cô nghĩ tôi bấm chuông bằng gì khi đứng trước cửa pơ-mu!
[cũng như tôi phải làm gì với quả lựu đạn chày trong túi quần mùa thu?]

[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.

LÝ ĐỢI

Nhà thơ Lý Đợi (Ảnh: Họa sĩ Phạm An Hải)

in Vietnamese by Lý Đợi
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm


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.