Poem
Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng
April
days like this, against the scores of weather-vanesautumn books fighting termites, meals of fleshed out bittermelons,
straw men down the ground, smell of turps
a cloudburst white as a skull
a wash of shocked icebergs, blue and grey
post a downpour that goes mental
down the drains of crocheted streets on a mend
one gets closer to the painted-over graphite sketches
close readings of a scratched horse
who was here a moment
before the signal white christmas and the sauve-qui-peut
rome and seneca, his last hour in the bathtub
willing the drowning lungs go faster
a torpid mass of spent people
the white noises of rotor-blades
to the sea and wagner
a dropping curtain of tropes, of faces
wincing from thousands
heading a scurry
to the footnotes
© Translation: 2008, Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng (Thường Quán)
From: Best Australian Poems 2008
Publisher: Black Inc, Melbourne, 2008
From: Best Australian Poems 2008
Publisher: Black Inc, Melbourne, 2008
April
April
những ngày như bữa nay, một nền âm lập cập đầu gà chỉ hướng giónhững cuốn sách mùa thu chống chọi mối ăn
những bữa cơm phanh thân mướp đắng
những gã bù nhìn ngã sụm, mùi keo
một cồn mây đùn trắng sọ
một nền sơn loang những băng sơn động giật, xám len xanh
sau một đêm mưa dại
trút như điên xuống cống rãnh chằng chịt phố phục hồi
bước gần tới xem những nét chì chìm dưới cọ
phép đọc gần thấy một gã ngựa ra rìa
hắn mới đây
trước giờ tin đài báo white christmas, cuộc chạy lấy thân
roma, seneca, giờ cuối cùng trong bồn nước rửa tội
đẩy tới tận cùng cuộc trầm hai cánh phổi
trước loạt loạt con người xóa sổ mít mớ cửa ngoài
lùng bùng tiếng cánh quạt giờ cháy
bay về biển dữ kèn wagner
một buông đỏ màn khoa ngôn đại thắng
lẫn mặt mày đau xé giật nhìn
kẻ thân thích hàng nghìn
chạy như bị đánh tốc
về vùng phụ chú
© 2010, Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng (Thường Quán)
Translated from English into Vietnamese by the poet.
Poems
Poems of Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng
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April
days like this, against the scores of weather-vanesautumn books fighting termites, meals of fleshed out bittermelons,
straw men down the ground, smell of turps
a cloudburst white as a skull
a wash of shocked icebergs, blue and grey
post a downpour that goes mental
down the drains of crocheted streets on a mend
one gets closer to the painted-over graphite sketches
close readings of a scratched horse
who was here a moment
before the signal white christmas and the sauve-qui-peut
rome and seneca, his last hour in the bathtub
willing the drowning lungs go faster
a torpid mass of spent people
the white noises of rotor-blades
to the sea and wagner
a dropping curtain of tropes, of faces
wincing from thousands
heading a scurry
to the footnotes
© 2008, Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng (Thường Quán)
From: Best Australian Poems 2008
Publisher: 2008, Black Inc, Melbourne
Translated from English into Vietnamese by the poet.
From: Best Australian Poems 2008
Publisher: 2008, Black Inc, Melbourne
April
days like this, against the scores of weather-vanesautumn books fighting termites, meals of fleshed out bittermelons,
straw men down the ground, smell of turps
a cloudburst white as a skull
a wash of shocked icebergs, blue and grey
post a downpour that goes mental
down the drains of crocheted streets on a mend
one gets closer to the painted-over graphite sketches
close readings of a scratched horse
who was here a moment
before the signal white christmas and the sauve-qui-peut
rome and seneca, his last hour in the bathtub
willing the drowning lungs go faster
a torpid mass of spent people
the white noises of rotor-blades
to the sea and wagner
a dropping curtain of tropes, of faces
wincing from thousands
heading a scurry
to the footnotes
© 2008, Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng (Thường Quán)
From: Best Australian Poems 2008
Publisher: 2008, Black Inc, Melbourne
From: Best Australian Poems 2008
Publisher: 2008, Black Inc, Melbourne
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