Sa Lung river water distilled into wine jar

(Reading the poetry collection "Identity and Belief" by Nguyen Huu Thang)

Poet Nguyen Huu Thang grew up beside the clear blue Sa Lung River. Is the Sa Lung River the poetic river of the Dragon Land - Vinh Long ? During his dreamy years sitting in a pedagogical lecture hall beside the Huong River, he had his poems published regularly in the literary page of Dan newspaper and the Binh Tri Thien Literature and Arts magazine, using the pen name Nguyen Hoai Chung. In 1977, at the age of 20, Nguyen Huu Thang was honored to be the youngest member of the Literature and Arts Association of Binh Tri Thien province.

Cover of the book "Identity of Faith" - Thuan Hoa Publishing House - Photo: TN

In the blink of an eye, nearly 50 years have passed, the once dreamy white-skinned student has now become the “old poet of the 67 seasons of falling yellow leaves”. His successful career is the dream of his peers; first as a model teacher of Literature, then as a manager. In every position, he has always performed excellently.

Although poetry is his “side job”, his writing ability is admirable. It seems that he has a “full library of words”, so when he grasps information, events, and poetic ideas, he completes a poem quite quickly. His poems are full of vitality, full of emotions, flexible writing style, mastering all genres of poetry, and rhyming fluently.

Political poetry has a serious poetic language but a gentle and easy-to-understand writing style; everyday poetry has humorous, witty, and joking words but is quite profound. He is faithful to traditional poetic forms.

Most poets publish more than one book of poetry in their lifetime, which is a great effort. Yet Nguyen Huu Thang published 7 separate books of poetry in a row, which are considered to be quality collections, with more than a thousand poems.

In the 7th collection of poems titled: "Identity of Faith" including 75 poems, published by Thuan Hoa Publishing House in July 2023. Nguyen Huu Thang's poems often remind us of the 17th parallel, the painful boundary dividing the North and South.

The poet is proud to be a citizen of the historic 17th parallel. There is the Hien Luong bridge painted in blue and yellow, dividing the two regions. The northern end of the bridge has a red flag with a yellow star, ninety-six square meters wide, flying on top of a thirty-eight meter high flagpole, as a symbol of faith. The poet feels the pain of dividing the two regions and asks: “ Oh Ben Hai, temporary border/ Why is it so temporary that it is so far away/ Oh Hien Luong, a painted boundary line/ Why is it a boundary that blocks the way and blocks the road?” (Once upon a time, Ben Hai)

Nguyen Huu Thang's hometown is Vinh Linh, a land of steel, the border, the northern outpost of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, so the US imperialists dropped bombs and destroyed it day and night: " I can never forget, my dear/ The time when my homeland was engulfed in fire and bullets/ Firebombs, cluster bombs, cluster cannons, naval cannons/ Night after night, flares lit up the sky red/ At that time, we were nine, ten years old/ One autumn afternoon, far from home, evacuated/ Adults called this "plan K8"/ Took us to meet Uncle Ho...K8 was a time that gave me what I have today" (Memories of K8).

During the years of fierce war from the 17th parallel onwards, children to the elderly feared the most the evil B52 carpet bombing, leveling the ground within a radius of several kilometers, the grief and sorrow were indescribable: “B52 carpet bombing Vinh Linh land/ 37 times/ Each bomb thirty tons/ Vinh Lam, Vinh Thuy, Vinh Son/ The strip of land on the northern bank of Hien Luong/ Bomb after bomb, house after house burned/ ...B52 first dropped on Vinh Linh/ At the front line of the North/ Tunnels, trenches dug deep into the ground/ People still steadfastly held on to defend their homeland (Does anyone still remember this day).

Poet Nguyen Huu Thang chose the poem “ Identity of Faith” as the title of his poetry collection. Faith in life brings

gives us the strength to act, without faith, nothing can be done. With a keen intuitive feeling, the poet praises the image of police officers and soldiers who are attentive in making "citizen identification cards" - a type of personal identification for residents of cities, rural areas, lowlands and highlands: " Day after day, night after night / The campaign to make ID cards / Lets me understand more about what happiness is / When I receive the identity of faith. (Identity of faith).

Danish writer Andersen said: “There is no fairy tale more beautiful than the one written by life itself”. Indeed, more than forty years have passed but poet Nguyen Huu Thang still remembers clearly the years when he first graduated and worked as a “Soul Engineer” in Dong Ha town after liberation.

Many difficulties surrounded the young teacher: The school was built temporarily with old corrugated iron roofs, there were no textbooks, the students were hungry so they picked up bomb fragments along the way to class to sell as scrap, and the teacher was so hungry that his chalk hands kept shaking. The poet and I were in the same situation at that time, thinking about the past, we could not help but feel sad and sorry: " The communal kitchen had cassava for one meal, sweet potato for the other / The salary was late for the month, we shared each other's handful of rice / Standing in front of the students, still smiling kindly / Still absorbed in the last lesson / Several rows of corrugated iron houses temporarily called schools / Not enough chairs to sit, students took turns standing / The teacher lectured while ravenously hungry / Borrowed each other's clothes to share the torn and the intact " (Memories of Dong Ha).

Most poets of all generations write poems praising mothers. Mothers are not only the ones who “carry the burden of childbirth” but also the ones who are responsible, hardworking, and love their husband and children, forgetting themselves. In Nguyen Huu Thang’s poems, the image of his mother is still patched clothes, wearing conical hats, wading in the fields, and carrying the burden of raising him to be a successful student. Now her son has “a warm bed and a soft mattress” thanks to her immense gratitude: “ I am like a rice plant in the field / Thanks to the grace of sowing and cultivating it” (Vu Lan Remembers Mother).

Besides lyrical narrative poetry, the poet is about to enter his "seventies" so he sometimes ponders and contemplates life: " Old people often wake up at night/ Looking at the clock, knowing the day is still far away/ The night gradually gets longer/ Sleep gets shorter/ Old people often think about the past/ Sleep is interrupted in intervals/ Seeing their figure in youth " (Night of an Old Man).

I believe that when he was awake, poet Nguyen Huu Thang gently turned on the flashlight and lay on his side to write poetry, blocking the light for fear of waking up the dream of his “other half” lying next to him. The poems are like memorable milestones: “Poetry on the top of the tower”, “Faces, souls”, “Recorded on the school festival day”, “There is a daughter-in-law in Quang Tri ”, “Song from the school roofs”, “Returning to Tan Ky in early spring”, “The village will always remember your name”, “The eldest grandson’s birthday”, “International Men’s Day”, “Going home to tell lies”…

I like his metaphorical, humorous writing style, simple language, but it makes his six-eight verses strangely attractive: " I came back and asked the children/ They all looked at me with wide eyes/ I left the village when I was twenty/ Now I'm back, young and I'm old " (Back to the village); " Shrimp cooked with tamarind/ Sweet potatoes stewed with beans just served / Far from home, I crave shrimp paste, crave eggplant/ Three miscellaneous things called the old days " (Flavor of Homeland); " Lend me a smile/ The interest I pay is equal to ten kisses/ Keep your smile, my dear/ Every day I borrow more to save " (Smile); " I have a little money left to spend/ Poetry left to wander with life/ My heart still flutters/ Friends left - soul mates " (A Little Left); " I owe you a moment of indifference/ The ups and downs of life don't see each other / The afternoon market has a bunch of areca nuts unsold/ The tomorrow market has a bunch of betel leaves waiting to be wrapped " (Winter Debt); “ Is there anyone selling indifference/ I'll buy a bunch to use gradually/Is there anyone buying hesitation/ I'll sell it cheap, almost giving it away ” (Indifference); “ I've traveled for tens of thousands of days/ My hair is white, I still remember the bamboo whips/ I became a director, a professor/ Thanks to the punishments of teachers in the past” (Is there anyone still remembering)...

Besides his love for poetry, the poet is also passionate about “football”. He has updated his poems for almost all football matches of the Vietnam national football team in the international arena. He is preparing to publish a poetry collection: “Football and Poetry”. Nowadays, many poems are printed, but the quality is mostly not as expected. The poetry collection “Identity of Faith” is a valuable spiritual gift for poetry lovers who are interested in enjoying the beauty in each poem.

Nguyen Xuan Sang

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/nuoc-song-sa-lung-chung-cat-bau-ruou-tho-190263.htm