Ly Lan

Posted on February 18, 2007
Filed Under Blogging, Poetry, Vietnam |

My friend the Vietnamese writer Ly Lan has a blog & she would like to wish the world a happy Valentine’s Day & a happy year of the pig, too. Chuc Mung Nam Moi! The hill on which the school Ly Lan attended as a little girl was blown out of existence by American artillery shooting into a free fire zone. When she took me to her village in 2000, I remember her amazement that not just the school bu the entire hill had been obliterated. She lived in a refugee camp in Saigon during the war, but managed to go to school, became a teacher & is now one of Vietnam’s most important writers. I will never forget then night Lan & her friend Vang Anh took me out for a traditional poet’s drinking party to see me on way way back to the states. I remember eating small birds with the bones still in them as well as lightly grilled coconut grubs, about two inches across, washed down with plenty of beer. The longest hangover I ever had, it began on the flight home as I sobered up, then continued for several more days as my body processed whatever exotic bugs the grubs contained, a sort of bacterial psychedelic trip. To this day I carry Vietnam in my body. More importantly, I carry it in my heart & mind.

Falling Asleep in a Café

A riverside café garden
An evening of light rain
A light breeze shifts over the water
The river bubbles with a dribble of lights

Get some sleep, man—forty year’s heart weariness
Forty years to let go of a first love
Swaying lanterns flicker white hairs among the black
Close your eyes on the human stain

Get some sleep beneath the early moon
The rhythm of the running tide swaying the wharf
Close your eyes on the world
Learn to take pity on yourself.

[Ly Lan / trans. Ly Lan & Joseph Duemer]

Comments

2 Responses to “Ly Lan”

  1. Just Shelley » Links on February 18th, 2007 10:30 pm

    [...] year of the pig. I remember eating small birds with the bones still in them as well as lightly grilled coconut [...]

  2. LY NGUYEN on August 10th, 2007 12:59 am

    Message for Mrs. LY LAN:

    I read your stories. Thank you for giving me feelings about VN. You was in Binh Nham, I was in An Thanh ( Bung ). I’d think that we were relatives. Your grandma would be my dad’s youngest sister. My husband & I are living in Califonia. My youngest sister is Thuy, Dai Hoc Tong Hop TP HCM. If you have the same thougth, please send me email when you have chance. Thank you