Yesterday morning, even when I was too busy to sleep, I took up a challenge re Vietnamese poetry, at the spur of the moment. I was asked to make a poem in my native language on "fish sauce" within less than half an hour. The point was to make me demonstrate my ability to write Vietnamese poetry without much elaboration in the shortest amount of time. This was possible because I write Vietnamese poetry in the "am van dieu" format as easily as I speak the language, perhaps even easier because I don't have to struggle with phonetics and the moderation of my breathing when I write Vietnamese poetry. I responded that I don't write Vietnamese poetry to aid in idle jokes. I only write on serious themes. So I took less than 15 minutes and then it turned out to be less than half an hour because I had to remember what I had written in my head, in order to write it down, below.
Within less than half an hour, I came up with the following:
Nước mắm hay là nước mắt đây?
...
Xoá đi, em nhé, vết lưu đày ...
The point is, am van dieu of Vietnamese poetry "a la classical" is part of the cultural and linguistics heritage. For Vietnamese today not to preserve it as part of their going forward is a serious mistake, if not to say an insult to the heritage. To abandon it to imitate the West on what they call "tho van xuoi" is really just an admission of lack of an inborn skill and the truest connection to the culture. Am van dieu in Vietnamese poetry should be something that the true Vietnaemse poet breathes up and down the same vocal cord that produces music.
Am van dieu is like musical notation, it might be learned, but it is also inborn if music and literature are within you. Those who don't have it as inborn will resort to "tho van xuoi" to free themselves, but there are also those who abuse "tho van xuoi" and abandon am van dieu, in order to camouflage their lack of that connection which spells "inborn."
How did I get am van dieu for my Vietnamese poetry? From being my parents' daughter, an effortless state of being because...I was there! The greatest gift from God is to be my mother's daughter so that I can share in the sufferings of the few tender souls who give up themselves to help others, the angels who are sent to earth...My mother loved and helped even those who harmed and betrayed her. She held no possession, just her immense heart, an extraordinarily sensitive, soulful connection to beauty and the arts, and an intuitive, natural devotion to the concept of goodness -- right versus wrong. Those who know her will know that this statement is a simple, undeniable fact. Innocent like a child, wise like a sage, pure like a lotus, enduring like the earth that holds our feet, giving and compassionate like the heart of Buddha. That's the description of my mother.
Nước mắm hay là nước mắt đây?
Xối lên cơm trắng buổi xum vầy
Mục rưả vẫn là hương xứ mẹ
Cay xé con ngươi, ngày chia tay
Nước mắm hay là cơn máu lệ
Hạch hỏi nhau chi khúc mắc này?
Máu đổ trong ngày ly biệt cũ
Trước khi di tản cuối trời mây
Ngọn cở đã gãy không ai xếp
Lấy vải mà lau mối hận này
Chấm mút khuấy đều đôi đuã mặn
Làm sao cho hết đời chua cay
Nước mắm sẽ không là nước mắt
Xoá đi, em nhé, vết lưu đày
DNN Nov. 30 2010
