Black Dog, Black Night: Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry

by Nguyen Do (Editor), Paul Hoover (Editor)

Overview

“A monumental contribution to international literature.” —BLOOMSBURY REVIEW

Vietnam—the very word raises many associations for Westerners. Yet while the country has been ravaged by a modern history of colonialism and war, its ancient culture is rich and multilayered, and within it poetry has long had a special place.

In this groundbreaking anthology, coeditors and translators Nguyen Do and Paul Hoover present a revelatory portrait of contemporary Vietnamese poetry. What emerges from this conversation of outsiders and insiders, Vietnamese and American voices, is a worldly sensibility descended from the geographical and historical crossroads of Vietnam in the modern era. Reflecting influences as diverse as traditional folk stories and American Modernism, the twenty-one poets included in Black Dog, Black Night, many of whom have never before been published in English, introduce readers to a fresh, uncensored, and utterly unique poetic vision.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571318671
Publisher:	Milkweed Editions
Publication date:	08/10/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	525 KB

About the Author

Paul Hoover is a professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University. He is coeditor of New American Writing and the editor of the anthology Postmodern American Poetry. He is the author of fifteen books of poetry, a book of literary essays, and Saigon, Illinois, his only novel. He has also translated poetry from German, Vietnamese, and Spanish.

Table of Contents

Black Dog, Black Night   Nguyen Do
Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry: Invisibility and the New Horizon     xi   Huu Loan (1916-)
The Purple Color of Sim Flowers     5   Te Hanh (1920-)
Hanoi Without You     11
The Old Garden     12
Missing My Home River     13   Van Cao (1923-1992)
Your Face     17
Sometimes     18
Empty     19
A Beer Joint     20
The Door     21
Nightly Restaurant     22
Three Variations at Sixty-Five Years Old     24
Five Unreal Mornings     26   Hoang Cam (1922-)
I Live in Quan Ho Circle     31
The Dieu Bong Leaf     34   Tran Dan (1924-2001)
Collected Short Poems     37
From The Provincial Gate: The Blind Path     38
New Year     40
The Speechless Light Pole     41
A Man Made of Flesh     42   Dang Dinh Hung (1924-1990)
From The New Horizon (I)     49
From The New Horizon (II)     51
From The New Horizon (III)     53   Xuan Quynh (1942-1988)
Love Poem in Late Autumn     61
Song ofMyself     63
A Lullaby     65   Hoang Hung (1942-)
Untitled Poem [Rain makes dreams]     69
Waking in Hon Gai     70
The Madwoman     71
A Peaceful Madman     72
A Rainy Night     73
A Man Returning Home     74
Black Dog, Black Night     75
A Dog of Stone     76
America     77
Untitled [Where do the stairs lead us]     80
Untitled [The faint, dark hallways]     81
Fever     82
The Smell of Rain or A Poem Belonging to M     83
The Night of Crossing the Pass     84   Nguyen Khoa Diem (1943-)
My Mother's Garden     87
The Huong Giang Evening     88
A Country Place     89   Tran Vu Mai (1944-1991)
The Grassy Banks of Hong River     93
The Grieving Spring     95   Y Nhi (1944-)
A Woman Knitting     99
Song Lyric     100
Morning     101
Evening     102   Thanh Thao (1946-)
Suddenly     105
March 12     106
Andante for the Millennium (2000)     108
Untitled [Up and down a fishing rod]     111
The Fire     112
To Suddnely Remember     113
MiMi     114
A Leaf     115
Wave Oscillation     116
And You Wake Me Up, Ginsberg...     117
This Is Usual     118
A Journey     119
The Goal     120
If I Knew     121
A Soldier Speaks of His Generation     122   Nguyen Duy (1947-)
Dalat-Once with the Moon     129
Sitting in Sadness, Missing My Mother...     130
Do Len     132
Looking Home from Far Away     133   Nguyen Quang Thieu (1957-)
The Spirits of Cows     143
Women Carrying River Water     144
Exchanging Stars     145   Nguyen Do (1959-)
The Light     149
Headache     150
Memory of a Day     151
Morning     152
A Symphony of Friendship     153
For My Lovely Au     155
Mission     156
Untitled [feeling extremely sad]     157
The Unlucky Days     158
Theme I     159
A Lyric Song for Ngoc      160
Silliness     161
With...     162   Linh Dinh (1963-)
Borderless Body     165
Don't     166
Self-Portraitist of Signa     167
K-9 Dogs     168
Eating and Feeding     169
A Reactionary Tale     170
After Zigzagging     171
The Most Beautiful Word     172   Hoa Nguyen (1967-)
Eurasiacan     175
The Goddess Gave Me Roses     176
Lacy Light     177   Nhat Le (1968-)
Untitled [Yesterday]     181
Myself     182
When I'm 23     184
If You Know How to Love Me     185
The Father     186
Autumn     187
Freedom     188
Untitled [Sunlight]     189   Truong Tran (1969-)
Recipe 5     193
Scars     194
Placing the accents     195
The book of beginnings     197   Mong-Lan (1970-)
The taste     203
Letters     204
Grotto     205
Trail     208   Vi Thuy Linh (1980-)
Lying Down Forever with the Meadow      219
The Love Season     221   Paul Hoover
Hanoi Without You: Afterword     223
Acknowledgments     229
Notes     233