There is a poetic Truong Son

BAC GIANG - Truong Son Road, the legendary road named after beloved Uncle Ho, is a symbol of Vietnamese revolutionary heroism in the resistance war against the US to save the country. In the history of human warfare, there are few roads that hold as many "records" as Truong Son Road - a strategic transport route to support the battlefields of the South and all three Indochinese countries. And it is unique that from that heroic and bloody road, a literary and artistic genre was born, becoming a priceless cultural heritage of our nation. Among them, there is a section of Truong Son poetry associated with the names of many authors who are typical writers of modern Vietnamese literature.

Indeed, during the years when the whole nation “cut through Truong Son to save the country”, that road “attracted” a large and powerful group of poets writing about Truong Son. From the authors of the New Poetry movement, to the pre-uprising revolutionary poets and the generation of anti-French poets, such as: Che Lan Vien, Huy Can, Nguyen Dinh Thi, Nguyen Xuan Sanh, Xuan Sach, Chinh Huu, Nong Quoc Chan, Pham Ngoc Canh, Thanh Hai, Giang Nam... all were present in Truong Son and had many poems written about Truong Son.

Truong Son Road. Photo archive.

Besides, there is a large group of poets who grew up during the resistance war against the US, many of whom directly participated in the fighting and served in the fighting in Truong Son, or at least on the way to "Go to Be" also had profound experiences on the Truong Son routes. All of them left behind good poems about Truong Son, such as: Huu Thinh, Thu Bon, Nguyen Trong Oanh, Nam Ha, Nguyen Khoa Diem, Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong, Nguyen My, Trong Khoat, Pham Le, Trinh Quy, Hoang Nhuan Cam, Anh Ngoc, Nguyen Duc Mau, Vuong Trong, Duong Trong Dat, Thanh Thao, Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat, Pham Ho Thu...

Just on the land of Quang Binh “the fire line”, where there are many locations chosen as the Command Headquarters of the Truong Son Army through the periods; at the same time, it is also the place with the most fiercest points on both the Eastern and Western Truong Son branches, a generation of fire line poets has been formed writing about Truong Son. They are authors who either grew up from Truong Son, or have many successful compositions about Truong Son, such as: Xuan Hoang, Tran Nhat Thu, Xich Bich, Lam Thi My Da, Le Thi May, Hoang Vu Thuat…

Outstanding among the Truong Son poets is Pham Tien Duat. He is the poet who opened a new wind of generosity, youthfulness, full of reality of battlefield life. He is the one who brought the whole Truong Son into poetry. He is not only compared to "the eagle of Truong Son poetry" but also honored as "the leader of anti-American poetry". Pham Tien Duat's generosity, enthusiasm, full of optimism in the Truong Son bombs, such as: "To you, the volunteer girl", "Truong Son Dong - Truong Son Tay", "Light fire", "Squad of cars without glass", "Remember", "Tieng bom o Seng Phan" ... still live forever with generations of readers.

There is something very special: The Truong Son theme is also a poetic inspiration for many Party, State and military leaders. Comrade Truong Chinh, during his working trip to the Truong Son Command in early 1974, was moved to write the poem "A Gift to the Truong Son Soldiers": Your vehicle is heavy with love and affection/ You carry with you your achievements/ Truong Son Tay, Truong Son Dong/ High passes, deep streams... looking forward, waiting... At the same time, comrade Le Duc Tho, during a visit to Truong Son, witnessed: Who passes Truong Son Pass/ Does not taste the dust?/ With each vehicle passing/ Dust is kicked up in clumps...

Then comrade Dang Tinh, Political Commissar of Truong Son Army, also humorously shared: Hello to the brave soldiers/ Driving on Truong Son/ Green head but gray hair/ Because of the layers of dust on the road... And poet To Huu, a high-ranking leader of the Party, had some classic verses about Truong Son: Splitting Truong Son to save the country/ With a heart full of hope for the future . And: Truong Son, East sunny, West rainy/ Anyone who has not been there, does not know themselves...

There is also something very interesting: In the group of artists who participated in “cutting the Truong Son mountain range to save the country”, besides the “men” of many generations as presented above, there were also “beauties” of very young age, including female poets whose names are still stars in the literary world. Poet Lam Thi My Da was born and raised in the fiery land of Quang Binh. She was an active reporter on the Truong Son road right in her hometown.

Her poem “Khoong troi - bom hoc” written in 1972, ranked among the best poems of the anti-American war, still makes many generations of readers sob to this day: The story goes that the girl who opened the road / To save the road that night from being injured / So that the convoy could be on time for the battle / She used her love for the Fatherland to light a fire / To distract the enemy from the bomb blast ... This work won first prize in the poetry contest of Van Nghe newspaper in 1973. Poet Tran Thi Thang graduated from the Faculty of Literature - Hanoi University in 1970.

The literature of anti-American national salvation in general and poetry and literature about Truong Son in particular are a cultural heritage of multifaceted value, with many names that have been and are the pillars of contemporary Vietnamese literature. And the reality of contemporary Vietnamese literary life also proves: Truong Son yesterday and Truong Son today are still a rich and attractive topic for writers to continue to exploit and create valuable literary and artistic works.

In 1971, she backpacked thousands of kilometers along the Truong Son Trail to the Southeast battlefield, working as a journalist and writing at the front. To date, she has published 15 collections of poems, epic poems, short stories and novels. Pham Ho Thu also chose the battlefield to live and write after graduating from university. To date, she has published 5 collections of poems with many literary awards. In 2017, her epic poem about the legendary Truong Son Trail won the official award of the Vietnam Writers Association on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day...

Among the female poets who grew up in the war-torn Truong Son, Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát and Le Thi May are two quite special cases: They entered the battlefield right after graduating from high school, not to work as journalists or write, but to... sing and patch roads, repair bridges, and fill bomb craters. Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát, when she was still a young Truong Son artist, won the Encouragement Prize in the poetry contest of the Literature and Arts newspaper in 1973-1974. To date, she has had 7 separate published volumes and 2 joint published volumes.

Poet Le Thi May is a former Truong Son youth volunteer. Among her hundreds of poems and photos about the Truong Son moon, there is a moon that has created the "brand" of Le Thi May's poetry, which is: You are pale with joy/ Like the moon rising in the daytime... And here is the moon on her "Soldier's Backpack": The wind blows on the pass, my back carries/ Heavy on my shoulders is a moon/ Heavy on my shoulders is the soul of the Fatherland/ The tilted crescent moon supports the silent steps... All three female poets Lam Thi My Da, Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát and Le Thi May have received the State Prize for Literature and Arts.

The literature of anti-American national salvation in general and poetry and literature about Truong Son in particular are a cultural heritage of multifaceted value, with many names that have been and are pillars of contemporary Vietnamese literature. And the reality of contemporary Vietnamese literary life also proves: Truong Son yesterday and Truong Son today are still a rich and attractive topic, for writers to continue to exploit creatively to create valuable literary and artistic works, worthy of the stature and miracle of Truong Son road - Ho Chi Minh road - the legendary road!.

Mai Nam Thang

Source: https://baobacgiang.vn/co-mot-truong-son-thi-ca-postid416278.bbg