|
THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467) VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 JUL 2005
|
NGUYEN
CANH NGUYEN _______________________________ A
LITTLE MEMORY OF
MONACO Translated by Do Vinh It’s
not a poem about a princess very
beautiful that everyone knows, and
it’s not an article or essay or
a song about a king’s concubine that
so many people are and will continue to
waste much paper and ink on, if i could just
tell a simple little story about
a Diana my very cute.
Pretty, little Diana with
a belt tight around her waist like a bee’s, who
likes to laugh and has a very pleasant voice,
she is taking me up, and down
the stairs very sloped go in go in go
out go out go around the spacious levels like
leading an innocent and obedient child
easy to command easy to threaten as never before.
Listen here... Diana is
teaching and i am learning
how to talk and walk, yes uno is
one, duo is two, tres is three, yes this feige
is
a fruit, kiki is
a pink fruit, and kiwi is
the fruit kiwi it
can’t be any other way, yes this
color is rosa and that color is
violet, yes and the
color of this flower is the color of love and
the color of this flower is the color of separation, yes... yes... i repeat to myself the words that Diana remorsefully
said, when we first got
to know each other and hurriedly part, to- morrow
you are gone, only i remain at this
house, and i will still have to go up go up go
down go down the stairs that is ever so
long, and i will have to go in go in go out go
out go around the spacious levels empty and
mumbling to myself the new words and new
verses not knowing when and what verses
more touching than the word the verse Diana, my Diana. TRANSLATED BY DO VINH The Writers Post &
literature-in-translation, founded
1999, based in the US. Editorial
note: Works
published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine (ISSN: 1540-1723). Copyright
© Nguyen
Canh Nguyen
2005. Nothing in this magazine may be
downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/
translator/ artist/ The Writers Post/
and Wordbridge magazine. Creating links to place
The Writers Post or any of its pages within other framesets or in other
documents is copyright violation, and is not permitted.
|