Lê Vĩnh Tài, the Vietnamese poet and translator, born 1966 in Buon Ma Thuot, Daklak, Vietnam. The retired doctor is still a resident of the Western Highlands, a businessman in Buon Ma Thuot.
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the poet and translator, born 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.
—–
the H’mong people
black, flowers, white, red…
obstinate. drifting into the South
fought for the thousand of years
their gun barrel their gut
never open their lips to beg
eat without a future. war with no fear of death
won
lost
earnest through the tweets of whistling leaves
found each other
leaves fallen in piles beneath thy feet
abundant as the rocks in the valley
gosh thee
by each other in caves make love
by each other to finality drank
by each other consumed the red chook eggs
by each other in communal marriage
by each other brothers
by each other fought
by each other as wives captured
by each other forgiven, yearned
loved…