Reflecting with the Seed of Time

But if one absolutely must seek something new, it can certainly be found in the way of thinking, feeling, handling the subject matter, and interacting with the materials. With the same subject matter and materials, the poet has made a great effort to maintain a certain distance from tradition. Writing about the leader, the author naturally expresses a heart of admiration and reverence within an epic distance. The leader still appears in that posture, in that mindset: prioritizing the people's well-being, sharing with them to the fullest extent possible. In the writer's imagination, Uncle Ho remains the same: possessing the qualities and abilities of a celestial being, a Buddha, a saint… his shadow still shines throughout the mountains and rivers, but he is not a celestial being, a Buddha, or a saint. He is simply a human being who transcends all others, becoming an immortal monument.

The cover of the book "Seeds of Time".

What is new about Vo Ngoc Son's writing about leaders is that he doesn't write merely to praise or express admiration in a way that has often become cliché and simplistic. Instead, the poet sometimes proactively uses the image of the leader as a role model to remind people to learn from him, even to see through the shortcomings of humanity. Frankly speaking, "Lessons from the Umbrella" is not a great poem, even the "weakest" in the collection, but its poetic theme is very good precisely because of that. It's also important to emphasize that the success and failure of this poem stem from the purpose behind its writing (Responding to the Campaign to Study the Moral Example of Ho Chi Minh - author's note).

Besides the theme of leaders, the theme of the Fatherland occupies a fairly wide space in the poetry collection. Here, the Fatherland is the heroic pages of history during the war, the outstanding sons and daughters who fell for the Fatherland's survival, and their names are inextricably linked to places that will forever resonate in the nation's memory with a tragic spirit: Quang Tri Citadel, Truong Bon, the Thach Han River; it is the people who are guarding every inch of sacred land and sea day and night; the Fatherland is sometimes only visible in the leaves and blades of grass… It must be said that, in writing about this theme, the author has fundamentally broken away from the style of eulogy using harsh or empty language. Most of the poems are written from the heart, from the perspective of fate, and therefore, the author does not see people in history, but is seeing history in people. The beauty of history and human dignity thus does not emanate from celebratory language, but from the bitterness and loss created by the haunting emotions:

Tomorrow…

November 1st…

I'm going back to my mother.

I'm going to the lecture hall.

I will celebrate the engagement with you.

I will return to my mulberry field.

sugarcane field…

(Forever with Truong Bon)

These verses carry the tone of whispered confessions, cutting into the heart with painful blows as plans and dreams reach for all directions, and thus pain also reaches for all directions. It is also necessary to emphasize that many poems about the homeland achieve a profound level of expression because the author has boldly broken free from the constraints of rhyme to reach the level of free verse, often quite skillfully, in order to optimally express the thoughts and emotions of the writer (Forever with Truong Bon, The Mad Cow...). This is also a fairly common phenomenon in the poetry collection.

It seems that the geographical and cultural characteristics also have a significant impact on the inspiration and strengths of the poet. In the collection, one can find many poems on the theme of mountains and forests, with a deep fascination with nature and history, with contemplative reflections on the fate of nature, followed by human dignity and the meaning of existence, the law of give and take in life… Vo Ngoc Son sees the image of humanity in nature and the image of nature within humanity itself, not in the codified qualities of medieval poetry, but in genuine, abstract yet extremely concrete emotions. That is the question that grips the green forest:

Oh, forest spirit! Are you asleep, forest spirit?

I heard he's very sacred.

He was supposed to protect the forest, but he let it be completely destroyed.

The vast forests are now neatly tucked away in the pockets of the wealthy!

(Asking the forest)

The theme of mountains and forests in Vo Ngoc Son's poetry, on the one hand, reveals his feelings in the face of nature, and on the other hand, his fascination with the cultural code waiting to be discovered, with its beautiful and captivating customs and traditions, like the curve of a wine glass in the middle of the night or the white breasts of a young woman by the stream… Mountains and forests are the space of festivals, and also the space of love and hope… It is hard to resist this beauty:

The Thai girl nestled beside the deserted stream.

My heart wanders, drawn in by the sounds of the forest's music.

Long hair cascaded down her pristine white chest.

His eyes wandered, searching for someone amidst the vast expanse of trees and foliage.

(Pù Huống Afternoon)

Expressing responsibility to the country, to history, and to life with a civic heart, the poet is not so extreme as to forget his responsibility to himself. This is when the author reveals his character, reflections, experiences, and self-reflection in a subtle sense of loneliness. One can see here an image of the author, sometimes arrogant, sometimes humble, sometimes sad, sometimes angry—the very mindset of an independent individual. Someone might be misled into thinking that the author's self-portrait is only found in "Self-Confession," but the writer of this article is not. Each stroke, each facet, each fragment of the author's self-portrait is subtly present in many poems, which, when pieced together, would form a complete work: in "Chrysanthemum," "And the Tree of Life," "The First Orange Orchard," "Before Nguyen Du," "Planting Flowers," "The Old Villager's Reason," "Thinking About the Rice Grains," "Where Does Poetry Come From?"… And here too, in "Thinking About the Earth":

The land remains diligent throughout eternity.

The silt nourishes the evergreen tree of life.

Mountains, forests, and seas reign supreme.

The land is patient, nestled among grass, trees, and flowers.

Writing like that can be considered reaching a state of self-awareness and serenity!

In short, "Seeds of Time," while not a particularly substantial or voluminous collection of poems, demonstrates a wealth of emotion, thought, and experience. Therefore, the collection deserves to be appreciated by readers, even though a few shortcomings are unavoidable. That's the nature of poetry. In fact, some of those imperfections might even create a subtle charm. Just as the moon only truly looks beautiful when surrounded by a halo of shadows resembling a banyan tree and the mythical figure of Cuoi!