36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem

December 18, 2023
Le’s evocative and introspective debut delves deep into the complexities of diasporic experiences, weaving intergenerational memory through a moving portrayal of survival, displacement, and identity. Le reflects, “My family came to this country with/ nothing more than a small knapsack// full of cut diamonds.” This metaphorical sack, filled with the precious memories and heritage of their Vietnamese homeland, is juxtaposed with footnotes that highlight the complexities of diaspora: “(The need to deflect via humour qua coping mechanism is a violence”// “The war broke differently for north v south, for those who left earlier v those who left later; the failure to differentiate is a violence).” These annotations underscore the internal and external conflicts arising from the complicated, layered nature of the immigrant experience. Elsewhere, Le remarks, “We know. When they say/ kill ratio they mean death—our death.” Reimagining Vietnamese culture and legacy, this volume stands as a testament to the power of poetry to articulate complex themes, from the weight of cultural heritage to the nuances of representation.

February 15, 2024
In his widely acclaimed story collection, The Boat (2008), Le sought to redefine ""ethnic lit"" through short narratives and longer novellas that interconnect characters from around the globe through struggles of migration and relocation. For his debut book of poems, Le's propulsive lyrics center the culture, language, and history of the author's native Vietnam. Refracted through 36 lenses, the poems range from a handful of words to many stanzas and pages as they probe questions of sincerity, authenticity, and legacy. One poem with a long, provocative title ""[Uncomposed]"" remains, alluding to the difficulty aesthetic pursuits encounter in the face of political uncertainty. Other poems extract a multitude of meanings through simple, powerful wordplay (""Dis place ment / Everything to me"") and calligraphic crossover (""Spilled logogram. Smeared morphemes. // Character cannot cohere""). Ever aware of his unique place in a shifting literary landscape, Le adds a subtitle (""Nine White Masters Sitting In A Tree"") to a poem that cites Heaney, Yeats, and Pound, among others, winking to readers by naming and undercutting canonical poets. A much-awaited work by an important writer of our times.

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Starred review from July 19, 2024

In his first international release since the award-winning 2008 short story collection The Boat, Vietnamese Australian author Le explores identity, language, generational trauma, and the many forms of violence in verse that's pick-axe vivid and almost breathlessly propulsive. He opens by proclaiming, "Your violence dumbed me // Smeared me, reaved me-- / Your war I don't remember / And won't let You forget." Plunging into the consequences of colonialism, war, and emigration, he sharply addresses the burden of categorization ("they'd rather you be inscrutable than difficult") and assimilation ("though not acceptance-- / no amount of East-West fusion achieves that"), acknowledging that "whatever I write is / Vietnamese. I can never not." Le is especially acute when talking about language, the tragedy of "our tongue blood-gutted"; English boasts "its mind of closed grids," while Vietnamese entails "openness, manyness." He uses the language of poetry to reflect on the language of a people, purveying the musicality of Vietnamese and the very physicality of its words being formed ("The mouth is the true / soul's window"). In a final ambitious poem, he seems to embody a glacier, its flow gratefully omnivorous of life. VERDICT This brief, potent book offers a fresh understanding of diaspora; readers of contemporary poetry will seek it out.--Barbara Hoffert

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