the gains and the pitfalls | Bùi Chát

Lời - lỗ Acrylic, sơn dầu, oilstick.. trên canvas 115x160cm 2024 by Bùi Chát

poem inspired art by Bùi Chát
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

as soon as it is liquid
it is a gain
though sometimes it is a pitfall

my ancestors were born in
these pits
the pits they eat
live and die in
gain was never a word in their mind

me composing a poem without a word
a poem without gain
dying nearly without a pit

living – the pitfall is the gain
poetry – the gain is the pitfall
enthusiastically: the pitfall bears the gain

L ờ i – l ỗ

Khởi thủy là lời
Nhưng có khi là lỗ

Tổ tiên tôi sinh ra
Ở lỗ
Ăn lỗ
Sống, chết trong lỗ
Chưa bao giờ biết lời

Tôi làm thơ không lời
Thơ không ăn lời
Chết không kịp lỗ

Sống – lấy lỗ làm lời
Thơ – lấy lời làm lỗ
Nhiệt liệt: lời ăn lỗ chịu

(Chúng ta đang trôi đi đâu?! – Nxb Đà Nẵng 2025)


Bùi Chát is the poet, writer, publisher and artist’s pen name. Bùi Quang Viễn was born on October 22, 1979, at Hố Nai, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, Việt Nam. Born to family of patriotic Catholic refugees from the North in 1954.

Graduated in 2001 from the Faculty of Literature, Linguistics, and Journalism of Hồ Chí Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bùi Chát named and cofounded Nhóm Mở Miệng (Open Mouth Group) with the poet and writer Lý Đợi, promoting Graveyard & Garbage Poetry.

Nhà Xuất bản Giấy Vụn (Scrap Paper Publishing House), also founded by Bùi Chát, distributions of xerographically structured sensitive works by “pavement poets”. In 2004, Bùi Chát and cofounder Lý Đợi were detained for two days for distributing flyers at a poetry reading raided by the authority. In 2005, the culture department blocked their performance at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

In 2011, Bùi Chát was awarded the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize “for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish.” He was arrested on his return to Việt Nam after receiving the award in Buenos Aires and detained for several days.

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.

What is poetry? | Bùi Chát

poem by Bùi Chát
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

What is poetry?

– How the f..k would I know!
You’re the poet, you tell me!


Bùi Chát is the poet, writer, publisher and artist’s pen name. Bùi Quang Viễn was born on October 22, 1979, at Hố Nai, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, Việt Nam. Born to family of patriotic Catholic refugees from the North in 1954.

Graduated in 2001 from the Faculty of Literature, Linguistics, and Journalism of Hồ Chí Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bùi Chát named and cofounded Nhóm Mở Miệng (Open Mouth Group) with the poet and writer Lý Đợi, promoting Graveyard & Garbage Poetry.

Nhà Xuất bản Giấy Vụn (Scrap Paper Publishing House), also founded by Bùi Chát, distributions of xerographically structured sensitive works by “pavement poets”. In 2004, Bùi Chát and cofounder Lý Đợi were detained for two days for distributing flyers at a poetry reading raided by the authority. In 2005, the culture department blocked their performance at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

In 2011, Bùi Chát was awarded the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize “for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish.” He was arrested on his return to Việt Nam after receiving the award in Buenos Aires and detained for several days.

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.

Trong album cũ của gia đình | Georg Trakl

Quê Hương in Hải Phòng, photography by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

By Georg Trakl
Translation into Vietnamese by Lê Vĩnh Tài

bao giờ bạn trở lại, u sầu
lẻ bóng, hỡi linh hồn lẻ loi
một ngày vàng rực rỡ và đã kết thúc
người bệnh yếu ớt đầu hàng cơn đau
âm vang giai điệu du dương và êm ái điên cuồng
hãy nhìn kia, hoàng hôn
đêm trở lại lần nữa và một người than khóc
một người khác đau khổ chịu đựng
trong sự cảm thông cứ rùng mình dưới những ngôi sao mùa thu
năm tháng cúi đầu sâu hơn nữa…

Always you return, melancholy,
Oh meekness of the lonely soul.
To the end a golden day glows
With humility the patient one bows before pain
Resounding with melodies and tender madness.
See! It is already dusk.
Again night comes in and a mortal lament
And with it another suffers.
Trembling beneath autumn stars
Yearly the head bows deeper.


Georg Trakl [1887 – 1914] was an Austrian poet and the brother of the pianist Grete Trakl. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. He is perhaps best known for his poem “Grodek”, which he wrote shortly before he died of a cocaine overdose.

Lê Vĩnh Tài, the poet and translator born in 1966 in Buon Ma Thuot, Daklak, Vietnam. The retired doctor is still a resident of the Western Highlands and a businessman in Buon Ma Thuot.

khi em ra đi | Donna Ashworth

By Donna Ashworth
Translation into Vietnamese by Lê Vĩnh Tài

khi em ra đi
chàng đừng sống như thể không còn bóng dáng em
mà hãy sống trong tình yêu của em
vì bây giờ em yêu theo cách khác

và nếu chàng muốn ngắm em
hãy nhắm mắt chàng lại
nhìn vào cái bóng
em về khi trời nắng

em ở đó

chàng có
ngồi với em trong im lặng
và biết rằng
em không bỏ chàng ra đi

không bao giờ có sự chia ly
vì em hòa vào chàng
một tâm hồn hóa vàng tan vào tâm hồn khác

khi em ra đi
chàng đừng sống như không có em
hãy tìm em
những lúc bên chàng

em ở đó
[chàng có
ngồi với em?]


Donna Ashworth là một nhà thơ người Scotland có tác phẩm bán chạy nhất trên tờ Sunday Times. Bà trở nên nổi tiếng vào năm 2020 khi những bài thơ của bà về lệnh phong tỏa do COVID-19 ở Anh được đọc trong một video lan truyền rộng rãi để gây quỹ cho NHS (Hệ thống Y tế Quốc gia Anh). Sau đó, bà được ghi nhận là người đã giúp doanh số bán thơ đạt mức kỷ lục ở Anh.

Lê Vĩnh Tài, the poet and translator born in 1966 in Buon Ma Thuot, Daklak, Vietnam. The retired doctor is still a resident of the Western Highlands and a businessman in Buon Ma Thuot.

A footnote on a journey | Bùi Chát

Khai mạc 'Đang trôi'. Art by Bùi Chát. Photo by Trà Cù Lủ

poem by Bùi Chát
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

You left me in a rush as though
you’re retreating from a fight where I’m
completed bogged

Chú thích cho một cuộc đi


Em rời bỏ tôi
Vội vã như rút khỏi cuộc chiến
Tôi đã sa lầy

(Chúng ta đang trôi đi đâu?! – Nxb Đà Nẵng 2025)


Bùi Chát is the poet, writer, publisher and artist’s pen name. Bùi Quang Viễn was born on October 22, 1979, at Hố Nai, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, Việt Nam. Born to family of patriotic Catholic refugees from the North in 1954.

Graduated in 2001 from the Faculty of Literature, Linguistics, and Journalism of Hồ Chí Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bùi Chát named and cofounded Nhóm Mở Miệng (Open Mouth Group) with the poet and writer Lý Đợi, promoting Graveyard & Garbage Poetry.

Nhà Xuất bản Giấy Vụn (Scrap Paper Publishing House), also founded by Bùi Chát, distributions of xerographically structured sensitive works by “pavement poets”. In 2004, Bùi Chát and cofounder Lý Đợi were detained for two days for distributing flyers at a poetry reading raided by the authority. In 2005, the culture department blocked their performance at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

In 2011, Bùi Chát was awarded the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize “for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish.” He was arrested on his return to Việt Nam after receiving the award in Buenos Aires and detained for several days.

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.

pointless | Bùi Chát

poem by Bùi Chát
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

“Whoever uses the spirit that is in him creatively is an artist.
To make living itself an art, that is the goal.”

― Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

the end is inevitable
don’t you want to go out with a bang?
try not to bored people to death

the same drama over and over again
a bunch of amateurs
inept actors always in the wrong role
saying the wrong lines

why the same sad tragedy?
do you think your audience are fools?
or no one has enough courage to write something new?

the end is inevitable
so choose the best way to go
dragging it out is pointless
to the sacrifice of so many patron!

Vô ích


Sau trước gì cũng xong
Phải chăng chọn một cái kết phù hợp?
Đừng để người xem nhìn nhau ngán ngẩm

Một vở kịch diễn đi diễn lại
Mà diễn viên toàn người nghiệp dư
Lần nào cũng không đúng vai
Lúc nào cũng sai lời thoại

Sao để mọi người xem mãi vở kịch tồi tệ?
Tụi bay nghĩ chẳng người nào hiểu kịch?
Hoặc không còn ai dám dựng vở mới?

Sau trước gì cũng xong
Hãy chọn một kết thúc hợp lý
Kéo dài chi vô ích
Mất hết khách bi chừ!


Bùi Chát is the poet, writer, publisher and artist’s pen name. Bùi Quang Viễn was born on October 22, 1979, at Hố Nai, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, Việt Nam. Born to family of patriotic Catholic refugees from the North in 1954.

Graduated in 2001 from the Faculty of Literature, Linguistics, and Journalism of Hồ Chí Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bùi Chát named and cofounded Nhóm Mở Miệng (Open Mouth Group) with the poet and writer Lý Đợi, promoting Graveyard & Garbage Poetry.

Nhà Xuất bản Giấy Vụn (Scrap Paper Publishing House), also founded by Bùi Chát, distributions of xerographically structured sensitive works by “pavement poets”. In 2004, Bùi Chát and cofounder Lý Đợi were detained for two days for distributing flyers at a poetry reading raided by the authority. In 2005, the culture department blocked their performance at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

In 2011, Bùi Chát was awarded the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize “for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish.” He was arrested on his return to Việt Nam after receiving the award in Buenos Aires and detained for several days.

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 poem – there’s two way to handle it | Bùi Chát

Khai mạc 'Đang trôi'. Photo by Trà Cù Lủ

poem by Bùi Chát
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

1.
Fire


Silence
Might be golden
But as it confronts evil
Silence is golden only on the surface
That can easily contaminate

2.
But

As it confronts evil
Silence is golden only on the surface
That can easily contaminate

Bài thơ – hai cách xử


1.
Lửa

Im lặng
Có thể là vàng
Nhưng đối diện cái ác
Im lặng chỉ là vàng giả
Dễ gây ô nhiễm


2.
Nhưng

Đối diện cái ác
Im lặng chỉ là vàng giả
Dễ gây ô nhiễm

(Chúng ta đang trôi đi đâu?! – Nxb Đà Nẵng 2025)


Bùi Chát is the poet, writer, publisher and artist’s pen name. Bùi Quang Viễn was born on October 22, 1979, at Hố Nai, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, Việt Nam. Born to family of patriotic Catholic refugees from the North in 1954.

Graduated in 2001 from the Faculty of Literature, Linguistics, and Journalism of Hồ Chí Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bùi Chát named and cofounded Nhóm Mở Miệng (Open Mouth Group) with the poet and writer Lý Đợi, promoting Graveyard & Garbage Poetry.

Nhà Xuất bản Giấy Vụn (Scrap Paper Publishing House), also founded by Bùi Chát, distributions of xerographically structured sensitive works by “pavement poets”. In 2004, Bùi Chát and cofounder Lý Đợi were detained for two days for distributing flyers at a poetry reading raided by the authority. In 2005, the culture department blocked their performance at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

In 2011, Bùi Chát was awarded the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize “for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish.” He was arrested on his return to Việt Nam after receiving the award in Buenos Aires and detained for several days.

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.

Mother | Bùi Chát

Khai mạc 'Đang trôi'. Art by Bùi Chát. Photo by Trà Cù Lủ

poem by Bùi Chát
translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Definitely not a river, a grain of rice,
Nation or memory at all

Nor anything truly terrible ever

Mother

That fucker

Has a husband and lots of children

A fact that will never change

Mẹ


Hẳn nhiên không phải dòng sông, hạt gạo,
Quê hương hay kí ức gì cả

Cũng chưa bao giờ là gì đó thực sự tệ hại

Mẹ

Là mẹ

Có chồng và thiệt nhiều con

Đấy là điều luôn được biết đến

(Chúng ta đang trôi đi đâu?! – Nxb Đà Nẵng 2025)


Bùi Chát is the poet, writer, publisher and artist’s pen name. Bùi Quang Viễn was born on October 22, 1979, at Hố Nai, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, Việt Nam. Born to family of patriotic Catholic refugees from the North in 1954.

Graduated in 2001 from the Faculty of Literature, Linguistics, and Journalism of Hồ Chí Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Bùi Chát named and cofounded Nhóm Mở Miệng (Open Mouth Group) with the poet and writer Lý Đợi, promoting Graveyard & Garbage Poetry.

Nhà Xuất bản Giấy Vụn (Scrap Paper Publishing House), also founded by Bùi Chát, distributions of xerographically structured sensitive works by “pavement poets”. In 2004, Bùi Chát and cofounder Lý Đợi were detained for two days for distributing flyers at a poetry reading raided by the authority. In 2005, the culture department blocked their performance at the Goethe Institute in Hà Nội.

In 2011, Bùi Chát was awarded the IPA Freedom to Publish Prize “for his exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish.” He was arrested on his return to Việt Nam after receiving the award in Buenos Aires and detained for several days.

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.