Light up the poetry of the homeland

(GLO)- In an era filled with urban sounds, amidst the hustle and bustle of life that can easily erode the roots of one's being, the poetry collection Con Que Xu (Writers Association Publishing House, 2025) was just released to readers in early July 2025, like a gentle echo from the motherland, making us calm down...

The collection of poems brings together 8 authors: Duyen An, Tuong Chi, Nhien Dang, Le Trong Nghia, Van Phi, Ho Minh Tam, My Tien and Nguyen Dang Thuy Trang. Each person contributes 10 poems with their own poetic voice but blends into a common melody, full of pain and love for the homeland.

We can easily read touching verses, like the feelings of a person returning home from afar, where there are always open arms waiting: “My father welcomed me with a dilapidated car following the market people today and tomorrow/ my mother welcomed me with a smile going through many lost seasons/ memories of my homeland starting from the kitchen/ the smell of crab paste and steaming sweet potato leaves wafted out/ the rustic smell many times creeping into the dream of prosperity…” ( Homeland's Arms - Duyen An).

Or somewhere in the silence is the homeland of a childhood spent chasing fireflies on bare feet, the homeland of bamboo hammocks swaying to grandmother's lullabies, the homeland of wood stoves, wells, thatched roofs and the orphaned dreams that the child carried with him throughout his life: "At the beginning of summer in our house / Tonight the South wind has entered the season of blowing / cutting into me the pain of being an orphan / the incense burner silently burns for the rest of my life / I lie face down and return / to the sweetness of my homeland" ( At the beginning of summer - Tuong Chi).

On the other hand, “hometown” in the collection of poems is not just a village, a field or an old house, but an inner homeland, a spiritual homeland. That homeland is not only present in the landscape, but hidden in every fold of memory, every line of poetry, every grain of rice hastily washed by a poor mother, or even hidden in a broken piece of Go Sanh pottery, evoking a once-famous culture: “From the ground/ a broken piece of pottery/ like a sigh of the origin/ before the winds of the century” ( Pottery Piece and the Breath of the Earth - Le Trong Nghia).

The collection of poems is also a journey back to the roots, to the old roof, to the river, the fields, the country markets, the temple bells, the midday sunlight, the lullaby of the grandmother, the figure of the father bending over in the field, the shadow of the mother returning late at night after a day of shopping... All of these dear images appear earnestly, deeply, becoming the source of inspiration, the soul of the collection of poems.

In the context of today's poetry constantly searching for "new possibilities" and bustling expressions, this collection of poems seems to make us slow down with our contemplations, to reflect on our homeland, our people, and reflect on ourselves. This is also the way that the children of the countryside preserve themselves in an era of many losses and changes...

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/thap-len-loi-tho-que-xu-post566569.html