Monday, March 7, 2022

HOA NGUYEN ~



Unrelated Future Tense


with me being a bastard

and Saigon tea   will ask about my language

people will ask about bar girls

even without food in the poems

they will smell fish sauce and pho

ask about 'the war' which is to say

about men fathers and soldiers

about white Americans what

about them

about them

about white Americans what

about men fathers and soldiers

ask about 'the war' which is to say

they will smell fish sauce and pho

even without food in the poems

people will ask about bar girls

and Saigon tea   will ask about my language

with me being a bastard


__________________________

Hoa Nguyen

A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure

Wave Books, 2021


photo ~

1956, Vinh Long province. On the back of the original photograph, for the apparent purpose of giving it to someone unnamed, it says in her handwriting as follows:
“This is a glorious time, in 1956.
In those days I was a flying motorist artist—
this is the sole memory of my life.
For my friend, to keep as a memory…
The flying motorist artist”
Her Vietnamese name was Nguyễn Anh Diệp (April 21, 1941 – June 9, 2019). When she left Vietnam for North America in 1968, she became Linda Diep Lijewski. She does not leave the photo for the friend but takes it with her.