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Poetry by Võ Đức Quang

  • Võ Đức Quang
  • Oct 29, 2020
  • 2 min read

Updated: Nov 2, 2020

Thursday in the rain 

 

To J 

  

Bubbles on cobbled steps— 

like a field of glazed flowers. 

  

I think of you, waiting under 

a pigeon feathered sky, 

 

like a drenched kitten with  

sadness harpstrung to its eyes— 

  

two amber butterflies  

stirring a sunbeam shard.  

 

What can I show you  

that is unique? 

  

The tea leaves in our cups? 

The lamp posts 

 

on our evening walk? I ask  

the rain to wash all shyness  

  

from your sun dodged face, 

and beg the foreign seasons 

  

not to dye your hair, 

to preserve rich colors 

  

from the delta’s streams, 

though I am sweetly dark  

  

as a honey gatherer—  

and timid as a caterpillar.


Thứ năm trong mưa

Tặng J.

Bóng nước trên đường đá cuội— 

như đồng hoa tráng men. 

Anh nghĩ đến em, đợi  

dưới trời lông bồ câu,  

như con mèo con ướt 

đeo sầu trong đôi mắt— 

hai con bướm hổ phách 

khuấy mảnh nắng vỡ. 

Anh có thể cho em xem 

dì độc đáo? 

Xắc trà trong ly chúng ta? 

Những cột đèn 

trên đường đi buổi chiều? 

Anh xin cơn mưa rửa bẻn lẻn 

từ mặt vô ánh dương, 

và cầu các mùa xa lạ 

đừng nhuộm tóc em, 

hảy giữ màu sắc 

nước sông đồng bằng, 

dù anh ngọt đấm 

như chàng hái mật— 

và nhút nhát nhưng một con sâu. 









Jackfruit

To J.

You pack some jackfruit  

for lunch, forgetting to share  

with me. I understand 

the task is pensive,  

messy, wonderful— 

why share with me? 

Your hands move patiently— 

courting fingers fumbling  

sunlit skin for resin pearls  

nestling inside. 

And so, my fingers  

are left idle, starving— 

while the seeds you remove 

sparkle like polished stones.  

Mít  

Tặng J.

Em mang một chút mít  

để ăn trưa, quên chia 

với anh. Anh hiểu  

vì công việc ân cần, 

dơ tây, tuyệt vời— 

tại sao phải chia với anh? 

Bàn tay em di chuyển kiên nhẫn— 

các ngón tay tán tỉnh dò dẫm 

da nắng để tìm những ngọc trai 

làm tổ bên trong. 

Còn ngón tay anh 

thì rảnh rỗi, đói khát— 

trong khi những hột mít em lấy ra 

lấp lánh như đá được đánh bóng.


LISTEN to Jackfruit





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Võ Đức Quang is a recipient of the Susan T. Scanlon and the Joy Linsley Memorial Poetry Awards at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His poems have been featured on diaCRITICS, Perfume River Poetry Review, and other publications. His literary interests are Vietnamese music and literature from 1930s-1975 as well as Vietnamese diasporic culture.


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