Poet of "Woman's Drop"
In the glittering world of poetry, there are people who come to poetry not because they want to find a place, but because they cannot bear not writing! They write as a way of breathing, as a reflex of the heart. Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen is such an author. She enters poetry with bare feet and the self-respect of a woman who knows how to listen to her inner self; there, joy and scratches, excitement and laconic words, desire and sobriety, unintentionally intertwine with each other...
Le Trang -Technique:Hong Toai• October 23, 2025
------------------o0o-----------------
In the glittering world of poetry, there are people who come to poetry not because they want to find a place, but because they cannot bear not writing! They write as a way of breathing, as a reflex of the heart. Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen is such an author. She enters poetry with bare feet and the self-respect of a woman who knows how to listen to her inner self; there, joy and scratches, excitement and laconic words, desire and sobriety, unintentionally intertwine with each other...
.png)
Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen is a familiar poetic face and has left her mark on the social network Facebook for nearly 20 years, however, it was not until 2021 that she released her first poetry collection: "Women's Drops" published by the Writers' Association Publishing House. She came to poetry naturally and simply, like the way people talk to themselves. She has never considered herself a "poet", nor does she consider writing a profession. But for her, each word is a "beautiful moment" - where women's emotions are illuminated, sublimated, and free:Last night a woman's tears fell/ This morning there are still dew drops on my eyelashes/ A flock of brown sparrows behind the house are chirping/ What's so happy that they're singing loudly?(Last night a woman's tears fell).
Literary criticPham Xuan Nguyen– the writer of the preface to the collection of poems, chose the poem"Last night I shed a woman's tears"as a leading word, because according to him, it is“a beautiful poem full of female joy and pain, falling into drops of poetry by Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen – sweet and bitter drops of a woman who has gone through youth, beauty and love.
.png)
The 73 poems in the collection are 73 ballads of the woman in her. Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen writes a lot about love, about the scars in marriage, about the fate of women. But instead of lamenting or blaming,"Woman's Drops"is a way of looking deeply and understanding:“Your woman - my woman / Are the same because we are just betel boxes / We are still the same color when we are unfinished / You are so complete, how can you know what pain is”(Your woman, my woman). There, the reader sees a harmony between patience and pride, between weakness and strength, between the desire to be loved and the ability to save oneself from loneliness.
Although she is an economist and studied Mathematics, Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen chose poetry as an anchor for her soul. She admits that she “went off the rails of life”, but it is thanks to that “derailment” that poetry came to her as a destiny. Each poem is a true slice of a woman’s life – where a wife, a mother, and a lover coexist in a multi-dimensional form, both contradictory and full of love.
In the poetic world of Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen, love is not only an emotion but also a bravery. She is not afraid of being misunderstood by the world, because to her, love is a way of existence.“Don’t try to understand what I do, just love me is enough/ This morning I listen to the season breathing/ It seems like you are very close”(Don't try to understand me). The verses are like a soft sigh, but hidden within them is the experience of a woman who has gone through a broken heart.
Journalist Le Nhung - Editor of the arts section of Thai Nguyen Newspaper, Radio and Television, a close friend, had to exclaim that: “Reading Woman's Drops, I realized there was a strong femininity, not confined to stereotypes, not afraid of being judged. She dared to speak, dared to admit, dared to love and dared to live.”Indeed, Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen writes as if she is opening wide the door of her inner self:“You – a frivolous woman/ You – a woman with a heart of wood/ You – a woman who has been married once…”–A sincere confession and also a declaration of freedom.
.png)
Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen is shy of crowds. She likes to sit alone in a small corner of the balcony, or in a deserted cafe, sipping each drop, and questioning herself with poems. She writes as a habit:“Every time a poem is written, I usually forget it immediately, as if it no longer belongs to me.”Yet, poetry is enough for the passion she has, poetry is also enough for the cultivation that she has installed in 24 letters for many years, to have "Women's Drops" that literary critic Pham Xuan Nguyen calls it“a subtle feminist sensibility in contemporary literary currents”. Because “Women’s Drops” not only talks about love, but also affirms the position of modern women: independent, alert, knowing how to love and know when to stop. Poetry is the “shore” for her to go through storms, the way she talks to herself, and then realizes that happiness is not something far away, but is a place of peace in the soul.
Poet Ngo Duc Hanh once called “Women’s Drops” “Swallow’s Drops”, because in each word, he clearly saw “human dignity”. She dared to expose her feminine ego, dared to say even secret things that few people dare to say, but in that exposure, there was no ostentation, but a spirit of utmost honesty:I want to learn one thing from you/You are a woman, my dear/I still know one thing that is not strange/Because I love you, I crave sourness(With Thi Mau). It is a look that is both humorous and profound, both instinctive and humane."
Also in that collection of poems, one sees a very different Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen – a woman of tolerance and forgiveness. When writing about the relationship between stepmother and stepchild, she did not choose the harshness of prejudice but opened her heart:“I dare not admit that I am a good person/ I know for many generations that rice cakes have no bones/ Why, before you, I only feel love/ And thank goodness for life for giving me another child without having to carry the burden.”Love in her poetry is not just passion but a journey of reconciliation, the way a woman goes from instinct to altruism, from aspiration to peace.
.png)
Poet Nguyen Trong Tao was once startled when reading her poem:“Reading Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen’s poetry, you will no longer think about ‘old poetry, new poetry’, ‘good poetry, bad poetry’, but only see a complex heart in clarity and a calm mind in turmoil. You will be overthrown from the frivolous order that you yourself have built up.”
And indeed, “Women’s Drops” is a collection of poems of “just enough”. Just enough romance to get drunk, just enough reality to stay sober, just enough to give and just enough to receive, so that the ultimate value of a woman is to be protected, to rely on her love, because when she knows enough, beautiful poems will easily spring out:The small things are you, the big things are you/ I just need peace to come home every night/ The world out there has so many ups and downs/ I'm so small before the storms of life(Small).
Nguyen Thi Thanh Yen in real life is a modern woman, an economist, with an elegant appearance and a confident demeanor. But it is poetry that balances her personality, gives her soft side a place to reside, allows her to cry, laugh, and love without fear of judgment. She does not seek fame, nor does she care about associations. Writing, for her, is just a way to keep the warmth of things that have passed. And the poetry collectionWoman's Drops– gifts from relatives, friends, and even the man who loves her, have proven that, sometimes, the most precious thing in a writer's life is not fame, but being sympathized with."Nghe girl is gentle but love is like fire".
Photos in the article:NVCC
.jpg "Nhà thơ Nguyễn Văn Hùng và tập thơ 'Mỗi buồn vui dân nước gọi Bác Hồ'")
