(A roaming street vendor, shouting by night, mimicking the rap song of rat-killer sellers, playing in loops.)
Viet this
____________Viet that
Viet fast
____________Viet slow
Viet no
____________Viet yes
Viet wet
____________Viet dry
Viet anti
____________Viet support
Viet sword
____________Viet shield
Viet healed
____________Viet hurt
Viet alert
____________Viet drowsy
Viet mighty
____________Viet helpless
Viet gorgeous
____________Viet loathsome
Viet drum
____________Viet stick
Viet mix
____________Viet purify
Viet sigh
____________Viet laugh
Viet half
____________Viet full
Viet bull
____________Viet ox
Viet inbox
____________Viet spam
Viet instagram
____________Viet facebook
Viet cook
____________Viet chew
Viet bamboo
____________Viet lotus
Viet ambitious
____________Viet easy
Viet monkey
____________Viet one-hundred-eggs
Viet legs
____________Viet hands
Viet dance
____________Viet kick
Viet homesick
____________Viet wandering
Viet bridge-burning
____________Viet building reed-boats
Viet untying the ropes
____________Viet expanding the land
Viet and
____________Viet but
Viet hut
____________Viet mansion
Viet even
____________Viet rough
Viet love
____________Viet care
Viet share
____________Viet take
Viet chưng cake
____________Viet bánh mì
Viet sushi
____________Viet fish sauce
Viet loss
____________Viet win
Viet spleen
____________Viet bliss
Viet abyss
____________Viet mountain
Viet dragon
____________Viet phoenix
Viet width
____________Viet length
Viet strength
____________Viet weakness
Viet virus
____________Viet penicillin
Viet villain
____________Viet goddess
Viet heartless
____________Viet gentle
Viet trouble
____________Viet comfort
Viet black tooth
____________Viet long hair
Viet where
____________Viet what
Viet gut
____________Viet skin
Viet thin
____________Viet thick
Viet realistic
____________Viet fictional
Viet typical
____________Viet unorthodox
Viet cock
____________Viet hen
Viet then
____________Viet past
Viet breakfast
____________Viet dinner
Viet rigour
____________Viet happiness
Viet genius
____________Viet dummy
Viet mercy
____________Viet attack
Viet get back
____________Viet go away
Viet they
____________Viet us
Viet minus
____________Viet extra
Viet umbrella
____________Viet paddy hat
Viet combat
____________Viet make peace
Viet please
____________Viet curse
Viet earth
____________Viet sea
Viet key
____________Viet lock
Viet sidewalk
____________Viet middle
Viet swindle
____________Viet honest
Viet split
____________Viet gather
Viet forever
____________Viet one minute
Viet west
____________Viet east
Viet at least
____________Viet wholly
Viet omnipresent here and there
____________Viet of yore Viet of now Viet whatever not yet
Viet this
____________Viet that
The Vietnamese language punctuates me: you are a Viet person.
The Vietnamese language commas me: you are a Viet person,
The Vietnamese language semicolons me: you are a Viet person;
The Vietnamese language proclaims me: you are a Viet person!
The Vietnamese language frightens me: you are only a Viet person.
The Vietnamese language ridicules me: you are also a Viet person?
The Vietnamese language champions me: no wonder you are a Viet person!!!
The Vietnamese language goes on at me: you are wholly Viet!
The Vietnamese language grumbles at me: you are solidly Viet!
The Vietnamese language feels bitter about me: You are liquefying Viet.
The Vietnamese language and me.
The Vietnamese language but me.
The Vietnamese language plural-me.
The Vietnamese language singular-me.
The Vietnamese language enshrouds me, I am soundlessly Viet.
The Vietnamese language ploughs me, I am tenaciously Viet.
This can not be what-ever. Classifying it into the Without-Species box.
I am following your goose-feather route, tracing the refrigerated lorries. Oh, the fragrance of phở noodle keeps spreading all over, far and wide.
The word smells so innocent that I desperately want to archive it for a museum winter exhibition, forthcoming,
Note: This poem is also presented on a digital display panel on the balcony above the main entrance of Bürgeramt Rathaus Tiergarten Berlin, as a part of Displayed Words project, curated by Fabian Schöneich, Nan Xi and Lou Ferrand, CCA Berlin and Mathias Zeiske, DAAD. On view from December 2023 until 30 April 2024. https://displayedwords.org/
Nhã Thuyên secludedly anchors herself to Hà Nội, Việt Nam and stays within borders of languages, translations and poetic exchanges. Her most recent books are bất\ \tuẫn: những hiện diện [tự-] vắng trong thơ Việt with its English edition: un\ \martyred: [self-]vanishing presences in Vietnamese poetry (Roofbook, USA, 2019) and moon fevers (Tilted Axis Press, UK, 2019). She’s been talking to walls and soliloquies some nonsense when having no other emergencies of life to deal with. Her next book of poetry vị nước (taste of water) has been waiting to see the moon. She is unearthing her notebooks and rubbing her words in Berlin as a 2023 DAAD artist-in-Berlin fellow.
