The Whisper of Le Thai Son

That village is imprinted in his poetry as a simple yet enduring witness: Chua market, Cau well, Bung river, Hai Vai cliff… - familiar names that become coordinates of memories, of affection, of concerns about human fate. Critic Ha Quang in the book “Coming to contemporary poetry”, gave poet Le Thai Son affectionate words:“Son’s poetry is not the type of thorough words, cluttered with images, or far-fetched philosophies in the current orbit. His poetry is genuine, as if squeezed from the heart, from the soul…”.Perhaps so, readers can easily recognize in Le Thai Son's poetry a trustworthy voice: Not noisy, not pretentious, not sophisticated in poetics, but quiet, sincere, like the way a country person confides his life story:My family drinks water from Cau well / Carrying it with a clay basket, scooping water with a palm leaf.(Well Bridge)

Reading Le Thai Son’s poetry, readers will find it interesting because of the many folk elements. His life experiences and experiences in the folk culture of Nghe An have made his poetry truly the poetry of a Nghe An person. Poet Nguyen Trong Tao – a fellow countryman, classmate and confidant of poet Le Thai Son, when writing the preface to the poetry collection “Green January”, affirmed:“I see that the country man in you is very abundant and flourishing. Almost all of your emotional ties are tied to the countryside, and just by lightly touching a certain string, the poetic instrument in you vibrates with sympathetic notes.”Those tones, though very easy to vibrate, are wrapped in the author's silent songs:Black shirt. And black hat and scarf/ Plus black wet eyes, a lifetime of latching(Multi-faceted).

Different from the usual dusty appearance, in Le Thai Son's poems are feelings for the poor, at the bottom of society. There is a beggar child, a cyclo driver, a grave digger, a bricklayer, a porter, even a prisoner... And his literary friends do not hesitate to compare him to "The poet of the poor". It is also a very personal song of poet Le Thai Son in a world where money always turns cruelly. The poem "Happy poem for a cyclo driver friend" is as warm as a pat on the shoulder, like a smile that drives away fatigue: "Know the road like the back of your hand/ Know this alley and that lane/ Sleep as if listening with your ears open/ To the whistles of trains arriving at the station.

In the field of children's poetry, Le Thai Son chose his own path, he wrote for children in special circumstances or those who were placed outside the safe rails of life. "Hometown" is a poem filled with the feelings of an "illegitimate" grandchild who has never been to his paternal home:I only know my hometown through my father's words.And two verses in the poem“The seasons of white frangipani flowers/ The sound of the wooden fish seems to be fragrant too”flew up to the sky of Vietnam Poetry Day in 2003, and twenty years later, it continues to be displayed on the Poetry Street in Thang Long Imperial Citadel. Perhaps because there, people can hear a scent: the scent of kindness, the scent of the ancient temple bell, the scent of tolerance that his poetry distilled throughout the journey.

During his lifetime, poet Le Thai Son lived a gentle life, devoted to his friends. From 1997 to 2005, when he was the president of the Nghe An Literature and Arts Association, his office was always open, welcoming the joy of friendship and poetry. He did not care who came to him, old or young, rich or poor, from the lowlands or the mountains, from the city or the countryside, leaders or employees, as long as they confided in poetry. Many young writers later were recognized from such "literary tea talks". And there, that seemingly worldly man appeared as a "literary old farmer" who was both rustic and refined.