Văn Học Ngoại Biên — Literature Beyond Borders
what is soft
like the sound of silence
wistfully thinking
you were mine
to be kind
I don’t mind
if you kiss her
what is better
to be eager
or to be meagre
in loving you
since in my heart
you are love
divine
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.
On her tiny little island
Carved out by her father
She sat and pondered the universe.
All that’s written on the map of the sky
Is it fate?
“No” croaked the small frog in her small lake.
“It is just a series of probabilities.”
She stared at her tiny raft.
The glaring ocean.
_____
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.
Why am I so changeable?
I change my face
I change my place
I change the state of my fate.
Why such a mundane insignificant query?
Ask me why the water is green
The Sun so mean
Time taking away my sheen.
Ask me why the sky is blue
Why won’t you
Why won’t you stay true?
Why, why, why you ask.
Think.
Maybe I don’t want to be found
I prefer darkness black and sound.
Inward bound.
July 12, 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.
Những cơn cảm hứng giữa đêm
buộc tôi phải nghĩ đến anh
anh cướp hết những ước mơ của tôi
những khát vọng của một người đàn bà
biết say
ôi câm
quá lâu nay
The moments of inspiration late at night
sir, forced me to think of you
you robbed me of my dreams
the ambitions of a woman who knows how to drink
gosh
shut-up
way too long
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.
you are the embodiment of text
a bag of desiccated bones
scraping against each other
rattling
calling for flesh
– stick a needle in me
give be blood
gushing
sticky blood
squishy brain cells
rehydrating
me
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 English by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Translator: Lê Vĩnh Tài
Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
thơ nguyễn thị phương trâm
Trên đỉnh núi cô ấy dừng lại
Phân chia rõ ràng: tương lai của cô ấy, quá khứ của cô ấy
Từ đó những con đường mây che kín
Cô ấy đứng, ngẩng cao đầu, đôi mắt sáng, kiêu hãnh.
Nắp băng, đỉnh của đỉnh
Một cú đánh ánh sáng, một cơn bão trở nên hoang dã
Cô ấy nhìn thấy bụng mẹ, cái chết của cô ấy
Đối mặt với sự hỗn loạn, cô ấy đã gặp chính mình.
On a mountain peak she paused
Clear divide: her future, her past
From there, the paths were shrouded by clouds
She stood, head high, eyes bright, proud.
The ice cap, top of the world
A lighting strike, a storm grew wild
She saw her mother’s womb, her death
Facing turmoil, she met herself.
October 2013
viết lại = lục bát, lê vĩnh tài
núi cao không thấy nàng ơi
tương lai quá khứ đời người chia hai
mây che như mái tóc dài
ngẩng đầu, mắt sáng, đỉnh vài tuyết tan
một hai cú đánh tan hoang
ánh sáng, cơn bão đã mang ta về
cúi nhìn bụng mẹ đê mê
hỡi ôi cái chết tìm về chính ta
October 2022
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.
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 