36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem
[1. Diasporic]
In English, mind You.
You dink I write Yiknamee?
Shame on You.
It was Your violence dumbed me
Smeared me, reaved me —
Your war I don't remember
And won't let You forget —
Moved me
From place and sufficiency.
From everything I didn't know
I didn't know
I would've known
You would've known.
Dis place ment
Everything to me
Before the power went
Home. Shame on me.
What do I know?
What's Vietnamese in me
Could fit in a poem.
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Nam Le
36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem
Knopf 2024
