Ho Si Binh is originally from Quang Tri, currently living and working at the Writers Association Publishing House - Central and Central Highlands Branch, a member of the Da Nang Writers Association and the Vietnam Writers Association. "Waiting for the Fragrance to Release the Wind"* is his third collection of poems, also his seventh book, which was just released to readers in May 2024, after "Rain and Sunshine on the Pass" (2018) and "The Birth of the Wind" (2021).
His rich life experience and passion for conquering new lands have created for Ho Si Binh a unique poetic personality. His poetry is both carefree and free, yet also wild, unrestrained, and soaring.
The sadness and regret for the values of life that are being lost due to the dust of time and the hustle and bustle of the present, along with the desire to find a bit of the old scent, are clearly present in Ho Si Binh's compositions: "Sadly missing the grapefruit and blackberry flowers/Waiting for the scent to be released by the next monsoon. I'm back."
The trips awakened in him feelings and aspirations; traveling a lot for him is not to forget but to return, to return to the silence and memories of the past. Hanoi, where he often visits, the winds, the alleys, the delicious food at the restaurants cannot hold back the footsteps of the wanderer; "only the cup of tea on the sidewalk/ pulls me to stay/ and the sunlight/ caresses the shimmering autumn color of Hanoi/ that no one has ever been able to paint" (Hanoi pulls me away) ...
Indeed, when coming to Hanoi, everyone likes to stop at a roadside cafe, enjoy a cup of tea to relax, to contemplate the changes, and then stroll around the narrow streets under the sweet and golden sunlight of autumn. For Ho Si Binh, Hanoi is both familiar and strange, "every time we say goodbye in a hurry/only having time to bring/a little bit of the light, green scent of the season".
Da Lat, the dreamy land of peach blossoms with its splendid yellow flower-filled streets, is no longer there, leaving only a sense of emptiness: “The paintings have been removed/ fading away a mysterious color/ the echoes of a place to sit and give up” (Da Lat and I).
The feeling of loneliness and loss filled the souls of those returning when the winding roads of the misty mountain town lacked the brilliant colors of countless flowers. Returning to Bac Ninh, listening to the quan ho songs of the young men and women, enjoying Dong Ho paintings; the poet seemed to meet Hoang Cam again with the soul of Kinh Bac: "The amorous Duong River flows through Kinh Bac/falling in love with quan ho, he was flirtatious all his life" (Tuong tu quan ho); "I met Hoang Cam again at the old wharf/where is the soul, the diep paper has faded" (Ben tranh lang Ho).
The ancient capital of Hue is also the place where Ho Si Binh is most attached because that place is a sky of memories with lecture halls and old friends. A series of poems in the book mark memories with a certain "you" and the lingering feelings of an unexpressed love: "The afternoon is very old like the old days falling back/I hear in the middle of the deserted heart a bit of a fading dream" (The day you returned to Ben Ngu). Hue to Ho Si Binh is like a predestined relationship and that city is always charming like the poems he wrote: "Meeting Hue again", "Returning to the old town", "The day after the storm", "Afternoon at Thua Luu station", "Love letter to Nam Giao", "Huong oi" ...
Wandering through the 56 poems of the poetry collection “Waiting for the scent of the wind”, we encounter a whole system of place names; the dense appearance of this type of word has proven the roads bearing the wandering footsteps of Ho Si Binh; the passion for traveling has opened up the “shorthand” verses but is not easy in structure and rhyme. In the poetry collection “The birth of the wind” (2021), more than once he expressed: “sometimes afraid of the roads/not going all the way to passion”.
Going to return, the trips not only help Ho Si Binh broaden his horizons, have more abundant material for his writings but also are a place for him to look back at himself. The stories about his career permeate every word of Ho Si Binh, which is also the common pain of a poet's life as Xuan Dieu once lamented: "The pain of a miserable life is showing its claws/Food and clothing are no joke for poets". Ho Si Binh's poems convey a bit of reflection on poetry through the maximum use of life experience from his wandering trips and the process of reading and learning constantly.
The consciousness of being stuck in place, gradually fading away, is the consciousness of the ego that is always restless, aching with the desire to reach uniqueness and individuality: “poetry and words/keep trembling and writhing, constantly calling out to the heart with disappointment/alas/how can I bring my poetry to the Zen gate/where you are waiting” (How). The more conscious he is of his writing career, the more Ho Si Binh realizes that he is like an old horse with tired hooves: “Old horse, don’t sing the eternal song/the shadow of the dove outside the window... Lock into your memory/the silent fields/and the longing for grass/the southern sky/old horse, clinging to the shadow to return” (Old Horse). He even worries when thinking about a day: “fearing that one day people will read my poetry with boredom/like a cup of wine, like snail water/in a deserted tavern by the river on the thirtieth afternoon” (If One Day) ...
Originally a poet who lived a closed life, always absorbed in the desire to create, in the collection of poems "Waiting for the scent to release the wind", Ho Si Binh always paid attention to finding his own ways of expression through diversifying writing styles and poetic forms; a wandering, dreamy tone; a way of speaking that harmoniously blends words with ancient nuances with reduplicated words with strong North Central colors such as "ngui ngai", "chac chieu", "bui bui": "In the middle of the old town, the sadness of life is filled with green grass/looking for someone, sadly smelling a bit of areca fragrance/the afternoon is purple, who knows/when crossing the river, the dust is piled up in the back" (Returning to the old town).
Thuy Nguyen
*“Waiting for the scent to float in the wind”, poem by Ho Si Binh, Writers Association Publishing House, 2024.
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/khao-khat-tim-huong-qua-tho-ho-si-binh-186880.htm
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