(QBĐT) - As a literature teacher at Nguyen Chi Thanh High School (Le Thuy), Bui Thi Dieu is also a talented writer of the early 8x generation, classified as "young" by the Quang Binh Literature and Arts Association. Dieu writes criticism and poetry but rarely posts on social networks...
I remember a few years ago, an editor of the Army Literature Magazine asked me to introduce some authors to a new style. I suddenly remembered reading about Dieu somewhere, Dieu sent two articles, and both were published.
I thought it would be a long time before Dieu had her first book. But surprisingly, the poetry collection “Con bong cuc vang o lai” was splendidly in my hands during the spring days of At Ty.
With 42 poems, divided into four parts: Starting from the roof, what do we have left, how much is enough, dreams will bloom into colors, "The yellow chrysanthemum remains" is filled with erotic, sensual images, exploited by the author from many different scenes in life. Dieu's poetry has a modern direction but still retains a rustic, profound language imbued with tradition. The rhythm of the poem is flexible, sometimes sad, sometimes intense, helping to create strong emotional effects. Images such as "field", "yellow chrysanthemum", "mother", "war" are not only realistic images but also contain deep meanings, symbolizing time, memories and loss.
Reading “Con bong cuc vang o lai” I realized that the verses are heavy with memories, the images of the past are not only nostalgia but also traces of things that have not ended. Similarly, the love in “Con bong cuc vang o lai” is not love in the present but the hidden memories. It is the love of youth, love of homeland, family, things that have passed but still leave a mark in the author’s soul with sweet echoes mixed with regret. It is the struggle between the desire to hold on and the reality of not being able to touch the past that creates special hidden memories in poetry. I call it Bui Thi Dieu’s hidden love.
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Young love, regret and nostalgia
The love of couples in Bui Thi Dieu's poetry is a distant memory that still lulls somewhere in each line. It is a love that appears in lonely nights, in moments of questioning oneself about the past. In "Alone One Night" , the only six-eight poem Dieu wrote: "I lull you to sleep alone one night". The "lull" not only shows the caress but also the self-consolation of a soul that once loved, once was happy, and now only has memories left. The image of the rainbow in "You pour on me every rainbow" , brings brilliance but fragility. The rainbow is beautiful but short-lived, like the years of love, sparkling but not eternal. The poem does not tell about an ongoing love, but is the echo of a past love, with regret deeply embedded in each word: "I pour on you/a white shadow of four seasons/like a rain flowing through a dew drop on a leaf...".
Moonlight, time, night, sunset are also hidden memories that recede into the past, leaving behind melodies and lyrics that seem to linger somewhere in space: “what does it mean/a day longer or a day less/a green night, a pale purple day… the song of separation, what color is it/the trembling sunset, what color is it…”. Many rain showers, sunsets, and deserted afternoons are recurring images in many of Dieu’s poems, not simply as backgrounds but also as points of contact, awakening the feeling of a beloved time gone by in the heart of youth.
Love and sadness of people living far away from home
Bui Thi Dieu's poetry expresses nostalgia for her homeland through simple but very delicate and emotional images. The image of "wild duoi bushes standing alone at the end of the field/waiting/for migratory birds in the afternoon dew, tired wings. Like a silent poem/blossoming from the hardships of love" (Village) not only simply describes the scenery but also reflects the mood of a person who leaves his homeland, always carrying in his heart the nostalgia for the old place.
Homeland in Dieu's poetry is not only the place where she was born and raised, a place name, but also a part of her soul, a part of the past that she has always been attached to, and no matter how far she goes, she cannot forget. The poem "Hue River" evokes the quiet beauty of the ancient capital, where people and nature blend together in the sounds of rivers and temple bells. Gentle but nostalgic verses such as "church bells ringing in harmony with temple bells/the train whistle entering the station/I left behind by the Vi Da bamboo bank, my heart fluttering with longing" depict a Hue that is both sacred and close, where the soul, no matter how far it wanders, still longs to return.
The distance is not only a physical distance but also a spiritual distance. The nostalgia for home appears through simple details such as “the season of ripe red mulberry trees”, “the old star fruit tree at the end of the garden” - familiar things of childhood, now only in memory.
The homeland in Bui Thi Dieu’s poetry is associated with the image of villages, nature, and people. Mothers, grandmothers, and familiar figures all become symbols of the homeland. It is no coincidence that the image of the grandmother in “Love is full of a burden” or the image of the roof in “Starting from the roof” appear many times - because that is where the memories of the homeland remain most clearly.
Poems about the homeland are not simply about nostalgia, but also about regret and pain when realizing that even if we return, the homeland may still be there, but the old things have changed. The question “How much is enough?” in the poem of the same name can also be a self-question: How can we fill the void of memory, when what we love only remains in our minds.
Family love, silent sacrifice
Family affection in Dieu's poetry is not a flowery praise but appears through simple, familiar and surprising images: "chopsticks leaning on each other/turning around/the little girl becomes a young woman". In "Love is full of a burden", the image of the grandmother with the verse "The burden of love is heavy on her shoulders" depicts the silent sacrifice, the burden of life that she carries for her children and grandchildren.
Mother is always associated with hard work and worries, which is common in poetry, but for Dieu, the image of mother is very impressive and new. The letter M in the "roof" of that house is also mother, a shelter for her children, a great tolerance: "The letter M is still like a sturdy roof/the roof is mother/tolerant like mountains and rivers, like the endless and deep sky" (Starting from the roof), making readers feel the mother's devotion and silent sacrifice for the family much more. The grandfather and father in Dieu's poetry also appear with a quiet, taciturn appearance but full of love, spiritual supports that their departure leaves behind full of regret: "bald and bare/he is gone/no one knows the poems anymore/I sit and cry over the lost notebook of poems" and "father has stepped over the threshold/who told me about the blood flowing on ten fingers in a foreign land" (Old Garden).
In “Con bong vang o lai” , there are poems that do not directly mention family, but through metaphorical images still evoke the protection and longing of family love: “Is this my place/the sweet autumn of childhood/the dowry is the calm green night-blooming jasmine tree/thousands of fragrant leaves that do not bear the mark of time/mother waits for her child to return” (The season of ripe red mulberry). The image of family in the collection of poems is not simply nostalgia but also gratitude and respect for the silent sacrifices of parents and grandparents. Family affection is not only a place to return to but also the source of memories, the thing that holds us in the midst of a turbulent life.
With “The Yellow Daisy Remains” there are many things to discover...
Do Thanh Dong
Source: https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/van-hoa/202503/an-uc-tinh-yeu-trong-tho-bui-thi-dieu-2224709/
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