Longing for fragrance through Ho Si Binh's poetry

Ho Si Binh is originally from Quang Tri, currently living and working at the Writers Association Publishing House - Central and Central Highlands Branch, is a member of the Da Nang Writers Association and the Vietnam Writers Association. “Waiting for the Fragrance to Release the Wind”* is his third collection of poems, also his seventh book, which was just released to readers in May 2024, after “Rain and Sunshine on the Pass” (2018) and “The Birth of the Wind” (2021).

A rich life experience and a passion for conquering new lands have created for Ho Si Binh a unique poetic personality. His poetry is both a bit carefree and carefree, yet also wild, liberal and soaring.

The sadness and regret for the values ​​of life being lost by the dust of time and the hustle and bustle of the present, along with the desire to find a bit of the old fragrance, are quite clearly present in Ho Si Binh's compositions: "Sadly missing the grapefruit and blackberry flowers/Waiting for the scent to be released by the next monsoon. I'll return."

The trips awakened in him feelings and aspirations; traveling a lot for him is not to forget but to return, to return to the silence and memories of the past. Hanoi , where he often goes, the winds, the streets, the delicious food at the restaurants cannot hold back the footsteps of the wanderer; "only the cup of tea on the sidewalk/pulls me to stay/and the sunlight/caresses the shimmering autumn color of Hanoi/that no one has ever been able to paint" (Hanoi pulls me away) ...

Indeed, when coming to Hanoi, everyone likes to stop at a roadside cafe, enjoy a cup of tea to relax, to contemplate the changes, and then stroll around the narrow streets under the sweet and golden sunlight of autumn. For Ho Si Binh, Hanoi is both familiar and strange, "hurrying to say goodbye every time/only having time to take/a little bit of the light, green scent of the season".

Da Lat, the dreamy land of peach blossoms with its splendid yellow flower-strewn streets, is no longer there, leaving only a sense of emptiness: “The paintings have been removed/ fading away a mysterious color/ the echoes of a place where one sits in abandonment” (Da Lat and I).

The feeling of loneliness and disappointment filled the hearts of those returning when the winding roads of the misty mountain town lacked the brilliant colors of countless flowers. Returning to Bac Ninh , listening to the Quan Ho songs of the young men and women, enjoying Dong Ho paintings; the poet seemed to meet Hoang Cam again with the soul of Kinh Bac: "The amorous Duong River flows through Kinh Bac/falling in love with Quan Ho, I was swaying all my life" (Love for Quan Ho); "I met Hoang Cam again by the old wharf/where is my soul, the diep paper has faded" (By the paintings of Ho village).

The ancient capital of Hue is also the place where Ho Si Binh is most attached because that place is a sky of memories with lecture halls and old friends. A series of poems in the book mark memories with a certain "you" and the lingering feelings of an unexpressed love: "The afternoon is very old like the old days left behind/I hear in the middle of the deserted heart a bit of a faded dream" (The day you returned to Ben Ngu). Hue to Ho Si Binh is like a predestined relationship and that city is always charming like the poems he wrote: "Meeting Hue again", "Returning to the old town", "The day after the storm", "Afternoon at Thua Luu station", "Love letter to Nam Giao", "Huong oi" ...

Wandering through the 56 poems of the poetry collection “Waiting for the scent of the wind”, we encounter a whole system of place names; the dense appearance of this type of word has demonstrated the roads marked by Ho Si Binh’s wandering footsteps; the passion for traveling has opened up the “shorthand” verses but is not easy in structure and rhyme. In the poetry collection “The Birth of the Wind” (2021), he expressed more than once: “sometimes he is afraid of the roads/that cannot be traveled to the end of his passion”.

Going to return, the trips not only help Ho Si Binh broaden his horizons, have more abundant material for his writings but also are a place for him to look back at himself. The stories about his career permeate every word of Ho Si Binh, which is also the common pain of a poet's life as Xuan Dieu once lamented: "The pain of a miserable life is showing its claws/Food and clothing are no joke to poets". Ho Si Binh's poems convey a bit of reflection on poetry through the maximum use of life experience from his wanderings and the process of reading and learning constantly.

The consciousness of being stuck in place, gradually fading away, is the consciousness of the ego that is always restless, aching with the desire to reach uniqueness and individuality: “poetry and words/keep trembling and writhing, constantly calling out to the heart with disappointment/alas/how can I bring my poetry to the Zen gate/where you are waiting” (How). The more conscious of his writing career, Ho Si Binh realizes that he is like a tired old horse: “Old horse, don’t sing the eternal song/the shadow of the dove outside the window... Lock into your memory/the silent fields/and the longing for grass/the southern sky/old horse, clinging to the shadow to return” (Old Horse). He even worries when thinking of a day: “I fear that one day people will read my poetry with boredom/like a cup of wine, like snail water/in a deserted tavern by the river on the thirtieth afternoon” (If One Day) ...

Originally a poet living a closed life, always immersed in creative aspirations, in the poetry collection "Waiting for the scent to release the wind", Ho Si Binh always paid attention to finding his own ways of expression through diversifying writing styles and poetic forms; a wandering, romantic tone; a way of speaking that harmoniously blends words with ancient nuances with reduplicative words imbued with the colors of the North Central region such as "ngui ngai", "chac chiu", "bui bui": "In the middle of the old town, the sadness of life, the green grass / looking for someone, sadly smelling a bit of areca fragrance / the afternoon has turned purple, who knows / when crossing the river, the dusty bushes of the back thousands" (Returning to the old town).

Thuy Nguyen

*“Waiting for the scent to float in the wind”, poem by Ho Si Binh, Writers Association Publishing House, 2024.

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/khao-khat-tim-huong-qua-tho-ho-si-binh-186880.htm