Poet Hoa Mai: Journey of poetry and life

Literature sows the seeds of goodness

Occasionally when the two sisters met in Saigon, they would chat about all sorts of things, from heaven to earth, and from a thousand thoughts to literature. Hoa Mai always considered herself to be just a “long tong” in the village, but in her literary journey, the two words “long tong” were an excessive humility.

Entering the literary path late, Hoa Mai has the ability to write in many genres, having published 2 collections of poems with passionate lyricism; 1 mysterious novel sparkling with her own life; 1 collection of essays gathering the experiences of her wandering life and now a bilingual children's poetry collection "Grandma's Sky" as a gift for her 2 beloved grandchildren.

The book of poems is printed on glossy, colored paper, bilingual in English and Vietnamese, and illustrated vividly. The book of poems is beautiful from the way it is presented, illustrated, to the way it is written, transforming like a child whispering sad and happy stories. Hoa Mai succeeds in bringing that carefree, innocent, and pure beauty into poetry. The poems are short, concise, harmonious, rhythmic, and rich in images that attract readers. You must love your grandchildren very much, and take care of them with the thought of being their friends, then Hoa Mai's transformation will be so natural, not forced at all.

“There is a bougainvillea tree/ Grandma planted it on the porch/ The flower raises its hand and waves/ Calling the sun on the porch/ The tree loves the sun/ Doesn't like shade/ To repay the sun/ Blooms bright pink flowers”(excerpt from "The tree reaches for the sun").

“The baby cried: I'm bored/ Spiderman and Superman/ I miss my teacher and friends/ So I don't want to eat/ The four walls I drew/ Are covered with zigzag pictures/ I put shelves on every high cabinet/ I stand on a chair and tiptoe”(excerpt from "Bond misses school").

Hoa Mai wrote this book of poems during most of the time Ho Chi Minh City was under social distancing during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Within the four walls of the house, she created many games for her grandchildren, and from there, her meticulous observations made the poems come out.

Poetry helped her get through the suffocating time and it was also through poetry that her grandchildren seemed to find sympathy from adults. These small and lovely poems were published in newspapers and set to music. The joy that came to her at that time was a spiritual vaccine that helped her get through the peak days of the epidemic in the most leisurely way.

Bilingual children's poetry collection by author Hoa Mai has just been published.

Hoa Mai often says that literature to her is like sowing a seed of goodness in life. Through literature, people learn to live more humanely and peacefully in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the world. At least her writing journey, with the books she has published, has proven her literary path.

Volunteer trips

When mentioning Hoa Mai, the literary world immediately thinks of a teenage grandmother with trips across the country. At an age when she could enjoy the pleasures of the countryside, Hoa Mai chose for herself the joy of spreading and sharing.

When the Central region was struggling with floods, Hoa Mai and her friends went into the flood zone. The muddy mountain road after the flood receded caused her to injure her leg. It seemed that she would stay put, but Hoa Mai still traveled with the group, trying to stick to the activities to support people in difficulty. Or when Ho Chi Minh City was struggling with the peak of the epidemic, people saw her wearing a purple ao ba ba, a conical hat, and a face mask to deliver rice and necessities to charity kitchens. At that time, Ho Chi Minh City was facing many difficulties, almost everyone who had a little extra would share with those in need, and Hoa Mai was one of the people who stood up to mobilize friends and relatives to share and join hands for a peaceful city soon. She even mobilized her whole family to produce splash shields to give to the frontline forces.

Hoa Mai is sincere in her personality and delicate in her behavior. Hoa Mai's charity trips rarely make a big splash, she just silently does good deeds. Because for Hoa Mai, the things she does are just small things compared to the difficulties of many lives. This Nghe An woman has gone through many storms that seemed to collapse, but it was her courage and perseverance that helped her stand up, change herself and keep her faith in life intact.

Between trips back and forth, when sitting together, Hoa Mai always looked at her journey abroad as a fortunate encounter that she was lucky to have. If she had not gone through hardships, how could there be such a Hoa Mai who understands and lives peacefully like this? In difficult times, Hoa Mai often looks at the less fortunate lives in society, from which she lifts her spirit. At many times in her life, when faced with uncertainty, she chose to ignore everything and throw herself into a good journey. After each trip, she feels happier when bringing joy to many difficult situations. As she herself said, somewhere in society there are still people, places that need Hoa Mai.

Nghe An people, no matter how far they travel, always yearn for their homeland Lam River. This October, Hoa Mai is busy with her return trip to Nghe An to donate bookshelves to disadvantaged schools in remote areas. Wherever we go in this life, we must eventually choose a path back to our motherland. Hoa Mai said that the more we travel, the more we realize that knowledge is the foundation for human development. Therefore, her next journey is to spread the culture of reading.

Although she chose to stay in Ho Chi Minh City to live with her children and grandchildren, Hoa Mai still reserved a corner in her heart and in her poems for the Lam River. One night, in the middle of the Saigon rain, Hoa Mai wrote:“Lost in my homeland/ The Lao wind still bends my dreams/ Mom, this afternoon I come home to hug you/ The green mushrooms and grass smell amazing.”At the end of her life, for Hoa Mai, Nghe An is more sacred than any land she has ever been to, because her homeland still smells of green grass and the gentle scent of her mother. Lam River is her mother, her mother is Lam River, as in a poem she wrote: Lam River is the scarf that mother dropped…