Not as mystical as the wind
nor dissolving like the clouds
a pure gentleness
like white wine
each time raised
crisp
in swallowing
lightly sweet
in drunkenness
you’re an apparition
Author: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
There's magic in translating a body of work from one language to another.
Let me draw a room to hold the fragrance of you
If the walls could talk
Let them talk
Of how I would hold tight the billow of your breath…
Categories
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm | Thái Hạo
Pencil sketch
Categories
Lê Vĩnh Tài | SCENT – MÙI (45)
scent of the ocean
reeds blooming
imagining morning
a fish a tiny wave
scent
dreaming of a freckle coloured sky
scent
of an angry storm
warm rain
a frog’s serenade in the palm of your hand
dissolving in the setting Sun
perhaps the love is real
turning the rain white awash the afternoon
a wet leafy shelter by the bend of the road
you’re softer than so much
awhile since the phone rang
and I miss
the ringtones cutting short my breathe
each time the afternoon pulls light into night…
Categories
Đặng Văn Hùng | A Moonlit Night (3)
Categories
Thái Hạo | The day I die (34)
I shall recall the scents of guavas
Mixed in with the scent of her hair
A love affair sound in autumn followed by the sad prayers
The sadness bleaching the blooming branches of pomelo
The chilling scent in the wind
The pouring of dusty storms
The breaths with smoke overwhelming
Across the vast sky unfurling
to then
upon the blue sky see
your heart
the forever deep
the sea?
they too bury
their own dreams
Categories
Đinh Trường Chinh | share (30)
share till the time falls in a crumbling mess
share the laziness in memories of sound sleeping
share a hand full of memories barely
share the night of endless butterflies
(in our stomach)
barely and it was day
you shall feel the tears
I’ve shed
you shall see the holes
that no one could escape
Categories
Đinh Trường Chinh | hung by the window
Categories
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm | Bạch Điệp
Pencil sketch
Categories
Nguyễn Lãm Thắng | eyes mystified (17)
returning in vengeance from a distant sea
I tried to quiet the churning blood within
the choking sheaths of white cloth
the hole in the sky
the vessels laden with souls
grounding tires
severed tongues
sputtering of sandy soil
the red eyes
can’t you hear
the waves shrieking in perpetual tears
the vessels of recollections
me
ruffling my hairy quills each morning
night, I’m a quad-horn-stag
prancing
my hooves hid by rays of light
it’s the easiest way I could
take off or change my clothes
my hair
as you’re aware
removing each flower
meant you removing
each person at a time
Categories
Lê Vĩnh Tài |come back to me (44)
parting
the silky
scented flesh
that wants to covet you
as a rose would
swallow the sting
of a bee
Categories
Vũ Ngọc Giao | WAITING FOR YOU (4)
I’ve waited for you
in silence
time turning
the ache shifting
the moans
Ta chọn yêu em trong im lặng…
Vì im lặng không có sự từ chối,
Ta chọn yêu em trong cô đơn…
Vì trong cô đơn em không của ai mà chỉ là của ta
Ta chọn thương em từ xa…
Vì khoảng cách sẽ che chở ta khỏi nỗi đau,
Ta chọn hôn em trong gió…
Vì gió mềm hơn môi ta,
Ta chọn ôm em trong giấc mơ…
Vì trong giấc mơ, em sẽ là mãi mãi.
Coleman Barks’ RUMI (translated February 26, 2020)
and all the aspect of sadness
the sombreness of the rain
tries to endure the fading eternity
the height of age-old talentless delusions
thought it could persevere.
but in conclusion
in itself disappears
You shall walk alone in the dark
Tripping on your own thoughts
To after rise
Beneath the Sunlight
You will set free the truth
Allowing the vines of others to latch onto
The souls you’ll find
Residing in the Clouds and the Leaves
you touch it
and know its eyelids
made of coral
more beautiful than jade
