Văn Học Ngoại Biên — Literature Beyond
i
giggle with the thought
simple
the letters being shifted
sideways ___ then up
me
an accent in your verses
high___
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 am my father’s daughter, I am nothing and everything without him. My soul is torn each time I think of all the alleys and valleys he had walked. My father stayed after Saigon fell, never regretting the opportunity to leave, till the end he had hope. To end what is our family, my father put a gun to our heads on April 30th,1975; To risk our young life at sea for the freedom of words. I resent the voice of those who say – you hold too much of the past. My family’s scars are small in the vast populace of whom were violated children, stolen women and those missing at sea.
I have searched all my life for the man that is my father; Fathers of daughters, they know the mountains their daughters must climb – you must work twice as hard, bear children and be the mocking of man.
I see in you my friend, the aspirations of my father, your daughters see you for the man that you are. I see your heart breaks when her heart is broken. I see your smiles when she is loved; your anxieties when she loves. I know that you will make her is and will be – you are my father, my husband, my lover, my friend, my muse.
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 by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: a portrait of Phan Quỳnh Trâm by Đinh Trường Chinh
YOUR WIT MY LADY IS MY DOWNFALL
(a poem inspired by Phan Quỳnh Trâm)
Your wit my lady is my downfall
I’m at your feet
grovelling
I’m your cloak and dagger
use me
please
By this daunting horizon
your eyes are my guiding light
the muscles in my thighs
the air in my ventricles
the fresh air in my mind
You’re measured by nothing at all
the extent of your boundaries
the oxygen in your lungs
They see your shell
Never your hell
The value of love paid
by a currency born of your soul
so behold my love
You are the clear sky
the blissful clouds at dusk
the dust in their eyes.
_____
JULY 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.
Thì tôi tập đánh vần
Tôi tập đánh vần làm thơ
Tập đánh vần làm thơ chi cơ
Đánh vần làm thơ chỉ cớ phá
Vần làm thơ chỉ cớ phá em
Làm thơ chỉ cớ phá em trên núi
Thơ chỉ cớ phá em trên núi?
Thì là núi Chư Mang!
Thơ tặng Y Thiện trên núi Chư Mang!
_____
Yep, I’m learning to spell
I’m learning to spell to write poetry
learning to spell to write poetry to just tease
to spell to write poetry to just tease a boy
to write poetry to just tease a boy on a mountain
poetry to just tease a boy on a mountain?
Yep, Mount Chư Mang!
Poems for Y Thiện on Mount Chư Mang!
_____
August 2019
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.
“Who taught thee how to make me love thee more,
The more I hear and see just cause of hate?”
Within my constraints and what remains of my self-respect I am silent. How fickle is my love. I am dishevelled and alone. My mind is a maze of such thoughts, it has always been.
It was a corner table I think, you weren’t alone. You were laughing, from a glance above my book I saw you. The child in kindergarten perhaps, rolling a tiny motor car across the edge of the table. As for her, she was holding onto your wrist, left hand, trying to make a point. The simple matching gold bands, they were lovely.
I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be that young. I don’t remember ever living my thirties. I don’t remember brushing my hair, except for that time I’m on the train wearing my top inside out, the humiliation still fresh. Yet there you were, immaculate. I am, in contrast, an insult.
The pathetic sadness of me ending up as a cliché, even the tears I’m shedding are not worthy.
Forty days, forty days Jesus did fast in the desert. Could I be more arrogant in comparing myself to Him. But here I am. I will fast in the silence of you.
March 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.
Me and my little bro
Me shorter than him
Me weighing in half his bulk. But
My back is cast iron
My mind made of steel
My heart carries him.
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.
Souls 13/05/2015
The ray of light
On each glimmering morning dew
On grains of salt drawn
…from your teardrops
Fall from the heavens
Sunlight
Night sky billions rays of hope
I’m always with you.
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.
How could you?
How could you begrudge me
my ignorance?
I am not of your world
(I care not for it)
You laugh at how much little I know
The eyes of a bewildering child
My view of your world
Mine alone
My willingness to be alone
In the world of Men
How small I am then
Small small small
I am not the person you see
How then possibly do you see me
The owner of my dignity
The mother of my children
I am me
(No one’s property)
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 