Thinking with the seeds of time

But if it is necessary to find something new, it is completely possible to find it in the way of thinking, the way of feeling, the way of handling the topic, the way of behaving with the materials. Still the same topic, the same materials, but the poet has made a great effort to keep a certain distance from tradition. Writing about the leader, of course the author shows a heart of admiration and respect within the epic distance. The leader still appears in that posture, in that mindset: priority, backwardness, sharing with the people to the fullest extent possible. In the imagination of the writer, Uncle Ho is still the same: having the qualities and abilities of a Fairy, Buddha, Saint..., his shadow still spreads across the mountains and rivers, but he is not a Fairy, a Buddha, nor a Saint. He is just a human being who has risen above all humans, to become an immortal monument.

Cover of the book "Seeds of Time".

What is new about Vo Ngoc Son when writing about leaders is that he does not write just to praise, to express admiration in a way that has often become empty and easy, but sometimes the poet actively uses the image of the leader as a mirror to remind people to learn, even to see through the shortcomings of humanity. To put it bluntly, Lesson from the Umbrella is not a good poem, it is even the "youngest" poem in the collection, but the poetic idea is very good for that reason. It is also important to emphasize that the gains and losses of this poem all come from the purpose of writing it (Responding to the Movement to Study the Moral Example of Ho Chi Minh - author's note).

Besides the topic of leaders, the topic of the Fatherland covers a fairly large space in the collection of poems. The Fatherland here is the heroic history of war, the excellent sons who fell for the Fatherland to survive, and their names are closely associated with the places that will forever resound in the national memory with a tragic spirit: Quang Tri Citadel, Truong Bon, Thach Han River; are the people who are guarding every inch of sacred land and sea day and night; the Fatherland is often only captured in leaves, blades of grass... It must be said that, when writing about this topic, the author has fundamentally broken away from the style of writing praises with harsh or empty words. Most of the lines of poetry are written with the words of the heart from the perspective of fate, and therefore, the author does not look at people in history, but is looking at history in people. The beauty of history, of human dignity therefore does not emanate from the language of praise, but from the bitterness of loss created by the haunting thoughts:

Tomorrow…

November 1st…

I will go back to my mother,

I will go to the lecture hall,

I will celebrate our engagement with you,

I will return to my mulberry fields,

sugarcane field…

(Forever with Truong Bon)

The lines of poetry carry the tone of intimate whispers, cutting into people's hearts with painful stabs when plans and dreams reach out in all directions and the pain therefore also reaches out in all directions. It is also necessary to emphasize that many poems written about the Fatherland reach a profound expression because the author has strongly broken free from the constraints of rhyme to reach the level of free verse, sometimes quite skillfully, in order to optimally express the thoughts and emotions of the writer (Forever with Truong Bon, Mad Cow...). This is also a fairly common phenomenon in the collection of poems.

It seems that the geographical and cultural characteristics also have a significant impact on the poet's inspiration and strengths. In the collection, many articles on the theme of mountains and forests can be found, with passion for nature and history, with concerns and reflections on the fate of nature, then the dignity and survival of humans, the law of borrowing and repaying in life... Vo Ngoc Son sees the image of humans in nature and the image of nature in humans themselves, not in the qualities encoded in medieval poetry, but in genuine, abstract and extremely concrete feelings. That is the question that goes deep into the green forest:

Forest God! Forest God, are you sleeping?

I heard you are very sacred.

He kept the forest but let it disappear.

The great forest lies in the pocket of the rich!

(Ask the forest)

The theme of mountains and forests in Vo Ngoc Son's poetry, on the one hand, shows the feeling of being in front of nature, on the other hand, shows the passion for the cultural code waiting for people to discover with beautiful and charming customs and practices in the curve of a wine barrel in the middle of the night or the white breasts of a young girl by the stream... Mountains and forests are the space of festivals, also the space of love, hope... It is difficult to resist this beauty:

Thai girl nestles by the deserted stream

My heart is filled with the sound of forest music

Long hair hanging down on white chest

Eyes looking around for someone among the vast trees and leaves.

(Afternoon Pu Huong)

Expressing responsibility to the country, to history, to life with the heart of a citizen, but the poet is not so extreme as to forget responsibility to himself. That is when the author shows his mettle, reflects, experiences, summarizes himself in a vague loneliness. People can see here an image of the author, sometimes arrogant, sometimes humble, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, in the true state of mind of an autonomous person. Someone might be fooled that the author's self-portrait is shown in Tu bach, but the writer of this article is not. Each stroke, each face, each piece of the author's self-portrait is vaguely seen in many poems, which if put together, will form a complete painting: in Hoa Xuyen chi, Va cay doi, Vuon cam luu dau, Truoc Nguyen Du, Bong hoa, Cai ly cua gia lang, Nghi ve nhung de lua, Tho sinh tua dau... And here again, in Nghi ve dat:

The land is always diligent in being the land.

Squeezing alluvium to nourish the tree of life forever,

Let the mountains, forests and seas reign

Humble land beside grass, trees and flowers.

Writing like that can also be called reaching the realm of self-awareness and peace!

In short, “The Seeds of Time”, although not a very large and thick collection of poems, shows a fullness of emotions, fullness of thoughts and experiences. Therefore, the collection of poems is worthy of being welcomed by readers, although a few “not yet perfect” points are inevitable. That is the nature of poetry. Even those few shortcomings sometimes create hidden charms. Even the moon is only truly beautiful when it has a dark halo in the shape of a banyan tree and a small pebble!