40 years of falling in love at first sight with Han Mac Tu's poetry

Dzu Kha and the fate associated with the life of Han Mac Tu

40 years of falling in love at first sight with Han Mac Tu's poetry

Next to the tomb of poet Han Mac Tu, peacefully located next to Hoang Hau beach, Ghenh Rang ward, Quy Nhon city, Binh Dinh, there is a "crazy guy" who has spent more than 40 years quietly and diligently carving Han Mac Tu's poems on stone and wood with his "fire pen".

The real name of this “madman” is Truong Vu Kha (Dzu Kha), originally from Phu Cat district, Binh Dinh. Dzu Kha is 64 years old but has spent more than 40 years promoting Han Mac Tu’s poetry, since graduating from Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts (1982) until now.

Artisan Truong Vu Kha (Dzu Kha) is creating Han Mac Tu's poems on pine wood using a unique fire pen he created.

After graduating, because of his love for the poet Han Mac Tu’s poetry, he decided to return to Quy Nhon city – where the poet lived and was treated for leprosy. Unexpectedly, this was the time when Mr. Dzu Kha and the immortal verses of poet Han Mac Tu were linked.

" At that time, I was like crazy when I fell in love at first sight with Han Mac Tu's poems, and then naturally became a disciple, a loyal follower, " Mr. Dzu Kha shared.

Since then, in order to spread Han's poetry to the public, Dzu Kha decided to build a tent and live next to this poet's grave. Dzu Kha was passionate about Han Mac Tu's poetry and wanted to learn about the poet's tragic life, background and career.

“ I have a trip and it is a long trip. The trip of my life is linked to the life story and poetry of Han Mac Tu. I decided to go to Thi Nhan hill, build a grass hut and use a fire pen to carve and write Han’s poems ,” Dzu Kha confided.

Dzu Kha said that Han Mac Tu's life was destined to be filled with the four words "peace". Born in Quang Binh, worked for the newspaper "Tan Binh", had a lover in " Binh Thuan ", and died in "Binh Dinh". There were many different "beauties" with their own "strange" features passing through the life of this talented but ill-fated poet.

Dzu Kha shared that, according to many people, he contacted and found photos and autographs of 5 lovers in Han Mac Tu's life.

Han Mac Tu had a romantic first love with a girl named Hoang Thi Kim Cuc, a passionate love with Mong Cam whose real name is Huynh Thi Nghe (from Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan), a "literary lover" named Mai Dinh, a love through photos that he never met Ngoc Suong, and a non-existent beauty "Thuong Thuong".

The first romantic love of poet Han Mac Tu was his neighbor Hoang Thi Kim Cuc, a gentle, discreet and elegant girl from Hue , when both of them were living in Quy Nhon at that time.

The love of the amorous young man just silently passed by without being reciprocated. That hopeless love could be one of the reasons why Han Mac Tu left the Quy Nhon Land Survey Department to work as a journalist in Saigon. Then Hoang Cuc followed her father to Vi Da village to live in seclusion as a monk.

The person who later made Han Mac Tu so painful that he traveled miles, alone holding the poetry collection "Country Girl" standing in front of Hoang Cuc's house in Vi Da village but not daring to enter. The love affair with the beautiful, innocent but sad Hue girl of old age ended in the life of the passionate poet like that.

The lovers of the talented poet Han Mac Tu.

After his first failed love with Hoang Cuc, the poet fell in love with a girl named Mong Cam (real name Huynh Thi Nghe, from Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan).

When he went to Saigon to work as a journalist, Han Mac Tu took the train to Phan Thiet many times to meet Mong Cam. And that beautiful love lasted for nearly 2 years. The two had many beautiful, happy and hopeful memories in places like Mui Ne, Lau Ong Hoang that this poet mentioned in his poems...

The girl Mong Cam gave Han Mac Tu happy days and was also the one who caused this sentimental young man immense pain when Mong Cam decided to get married while the poet was seriously ill. The physical pain along with the despair of being betrayed made Han Mac Tu fall into a void of resentment.

It was during the most painful and desperate moment that the next beautiful woman entered Han Mac Tu's life, named Mai Dinh (in Thanh Hoa), who was often called "literary love" because she loved Han's poetry so much that she ran away from home to find the woman of her dreams.

At that time, Han Mac Tu felt very self-conscious because he was seriously ill, so he refused to meet her. But later, witnessing Mai Tinh's sacrifice and great love, Han Mac Tu reciprocated Mai Dinh's feelings and they had a pure love affair.

“ With Mai's noble gesture, with Mai's passionate love, I cannot marry anyone but you, if one day my illness is completely cured, ” Dzu Kha quoted poet Han Mac Tu to Mai Dinh.

Not long after they were together, Mai Dinh had to say goodbye to her lover because her family forced her to get married. When the poet Han Mac Tu passed away, Mai Dinh was also in Saigon.

There was a very unique lover of the poet Han Mac Tu, the unreal beauty "Tran Thuong Thuong". That was the sweet love dream before the poet died of a serious illness.

A friend of Han Mac Tu at that time, seeing that his friend was in so much pain over his unfinished love affair with Mong Cam, secretly took the name of his 12-year-old niece.

Draws the image of a Hue female student named Thuong Thuong who loved Han Mac Tu's poetry and often pretended to send him letters to ease her sadness. At that time, Han Mac Tu thought she had true love and forgot her pain.

He was infatuated with Thuong Thuong in his dreams and left later readers with sweet and innocent poems such as "Duyen Ky Ngo" and "Quan Tien Hoi".

Han Mac Tu's poems are displayed in the garden.

Sitting for hours chatting, we still cannot finish the story of poet Han Mac Tu through the narration of "fire pen" Dzu Kha. Dzu Kha did not care about fame, lived like a hermit, with a skillful fire pen, wrote Han's poems with all his heart with the desire to help visitors love and understand more what Han Mac Tu wanted to express to the world.

"Lighting up" Korean poetry

Artist Dzu Kha is known as the "Living Dictionary of Han Mac Tu's Life and Poetry" and is the keeper of the poet's tomb. The book "Journey to Han Mac Tu" by Dzu Kha preserves many famous poems of Han Mac Tu.

Turning the pages of the book, readers will see many photos related to the life and career of this poet as well as photos of the "beautiful women" he once loved such as: Hoang Cuc, Mong Cam, Mai Dinh, Tran Thuong Thuong...

“ I read a lot, memorized all of Han’s poems, as well as his life story and love affairs. I can talk for hours without getting bored about Han Mac Tu with tourists visiting his grave at Ghenh Rang hill ,” said Dzu Kha.

Tent displaying Mr. Dzu Kha's fire pen works over nearly 40 years.

After pondering over the life of Han Mac Tu, Dzu Kha sought ways to preserve and disseminate Han Mac Tu’s poetry. If Han’s poetry was written or drawn using conventional methods such as paint or ink, it would all peel off. In 1983, the “fire pen” was born.

In fact, the "fire pen" technique (using electricity to heat and draw by burning wood) is not strange because it has been used by artisans in Dalat and Saigon to write, but that pen writing Han Mac Tu's poetry, with skillful and beautiful strokes like calligraphy, has become a unique and unmistakable feature.

Dzu Kha made the first “fire pen” to write Korean poetry on pine wood paintings. The pen has a tip made of a spiral spring wire connected to an electric current. When writing or drawing, the tip touches pine wood, jackfruit wood, or mother-of-pearl wood, etc., emitting fire and smoke.

To use a fire pen to create a work of art that is sophisticated and perfect, the artist must be extremely meticulous and precise in every detail because the fire pen can easily burn the material during the drawing process.

Han Mac Tu's poetry garden at Thi Nhan hill, Ghenh Rang, Quy Nhon city, Binh Dinh.

Every year, Dzu Kha still regularly organizes the birthday and death anniversary of poet Han Mac Tu. " I love Han Mac Tu's poetry and respect him, so I don't need to explain why people think I'm crazy. "

Just like that, Dzu Kha voluntarily tied his life to Ghenh Rang - the resting place of poet Han.

For more than 40 years, every day, through many seasons, whether sunny or rainy, he has always been here, diligently using his skillful and talented fire pen to diligently copy Han's poems onto fragrant wooden boards as souvenirs, enthusiastically reading the best poems of Han Mac Tu, enthusiastically introducing the poet's life and career to serve tourists when visiting the poet's tomb relic site.

Dzu Kha confided that he no longer cared about life. The only thing in his life was his passion for and dissemination of Han Mac Tu's poetry.

In response to his unique love for Han's poetry, the People's Committee of Binh Dinh province approved the proposal to build a "Han Mac Tu Poetry Memorial House - Fire Pen Dzu Kha" in the Ghenh Rang tourist area (Quy Nhon City).

Nguyen Gia

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