Poetry Reading with MYAN
Sat 19 Mar 2022, 02:30 pm – 04 pm
Montauk
174 Kim Mã, Ba Đình, Hà Nội
Registration link
From the organizer:
One Saturday afternoon this March, in a relaxing cafe in Hanoi, MYAN will share and read from her poetry collection “The tick-tocks, the moments” with an intimate gathering of friends and poetry lovers. Her first Vietnamese-English bilingual poetry book contains a selection of more than 40 poems she has written over the past 20 years about love, existence and time.
“Laconic, thoughtful, with startling associations, many poems in The tick-tocks, the moments make us think of the Japanese tanka. MYAN has used form as a message…” – Ngô Tự Lập
What can the message be? “Sadness of life”, “uncertainty of art”, “paradox of love”, “fragility of time”, or “appreciation of the present, cherishing existence”…? With journalist Truong Uyen Ly as host, “The tick-tocks, the moments – Reading poetry with MYAN” hopes to bring shared, intimate moments with many thoughts about poetry and life.
This March poetry reading with MYAN in Hanoi is organized with the support of Hanoi Grapevine and Montauk by LP Club.
The Hanoi event follows on from an emotional experience in Hoi An which MYAN hosted last month: “Présence – a morning of poetry”, supported by CAB Read, KYARA art house and Hanoi Grapevine.
The tick-tocks, the moments
Poetry book by MYAN
There are no long poems. Even the longest ones are short. Many are very short – the shortest has only eleven words. Laconic, thoughtful, with startling associations, many poems in The tick-tocks, the moments make us think of the Japanese tanka. MYAN has used form as a message. It can be a message about the sadness of life:
Our lives
Like flowers
Fading…
(Silent wind);
It can be a message about the uncertainty of art:
Are merely deceptions sometimes
Just look at me
Just call me
(Poetry lines);
It can be a message about the paradox of love:
Love
Sometimes needs
Another love
To discover
Its true colour
(L’Amour – The French name for a Vietnamese poem, must have a meaning).
However, the most pervasive and obsessive message is the fragility of time:
Joys
Like memories
Never come back once gone
Like now
Never be a future…
(Memories).
We can see this most clearly in the poem that is also the title of the book:
You will die
And I will die
What remains
As everything
Flying
Out of the window
Like a wind…
(The tick-tocks, the moments).
MYAN writes more about existence than about love. Even when writing about love, she talks more about its meaning rather than expressing desires and body lust.
Although the poet speaks many times about death, departure and the apocalypse, her collection of poems still exudes an appreciation of life. And to appreciate life is to cherish the present, to appreciate existence itself. Because, what is happier, what is more precious than being alive, to feel the joys and sorrows in every moment of this magical existence?
The tick-tocks, the moments, is the first poetry book by MYAN. Even so, it does not feel like the work of a new writer. Sophisticated words, lively images, The tick-tocks, the moments is a successful debut. Congratulations to the author!
Ngô Tự Lập
About MYAN (Bùi Thị Thu Hiền)
Born in Hanoi, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Policy, she has worked as a manager and coordinator of communications and development projects at World Vision, Save the Children, Vietnam – USA Magazine (2005-2011). With her interest in arts and culture, she switched to managing and producing educational programs and contemporary performing arts, ranging through drama, dance, film, at Life Art (2012 -2014), Kinergie Studio (2015-2021), Les Films Magnetiques (from 2016)….
Especially fond of literature, she has followed and participated in many activities involving literature, books and writing. With the launch of her poetry collection “The tick-tocks, the moments”, she is now focusing more on writing, besides continuing to coordinate and produce art and cultural projects.
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