Decoding dreams about love and happiness in Mai Nhung's poetry

QTO - Occasionally, I met Mai Nhung (Mai Thi Thuy Nhung) when she and poet, critical theorist Hoang Dang Khoa, her husband, attended some events in Dong Hoi (old) or in Hanoi. I have read Mai Nhung's poems in some central and local literary and artistic magazines such as Van Nghe Quan Doi, Nhat Le, Song Huong, Van Nghe Thai Nguyen, Ha Noi moi... But this is the first time I have read the entire collection of her latest poems, "Nguoi Qua Nhu Tieng Chau", published by the Writers' Association, 2025. I also apologize to the readers, respecting the author's text (all poem titles, first lines of poems, stanzas) do not have any capital letters, so the same is true in this article.

“The passerby’s cry” consists of 38 poems. “All poetic inspiration is just decoding dreams” , reading Mai Nhung’s poems, I remember that saying of Hans Sachs (1494-1576), a German poet. 38 poems are Mai Nhung’s decoding of dreams about love and happiness.

Mai Nhung is a young poet, of the 9X generation, so her poetry is certainly very new. “Echo” shows that Mai Nhung’s poetry is concise and refined; her poetry completely crosses the boundary of reality, dissolving dreams into the virtual space of poetry.

Cover of the poetry collection "People passing by like a cry" - Photo: N.D.H

Mai Nhung, like the name her parents gave her, carries the meaning of innocence, purity, resilience and gentleness. The name “transforms” into poetry. Her poetry is also innocent and pure. “when you come/the sun burns the sand golden/how much wind is enough on the casuarina/have we ever been on this deserted sea on the white waves”; “you put your hand into the sunny sand/feel the shoulder that has never been leaned on a gun/even when the wind stirs the waves/it is still deeply yours” (imaginary).

Mai Nhung can be seen in the expression of love and the very feminine but delicate sense of possession in her poetry. Regarding the feminist poetic voice, also known as gender, LLPB Dinh Thanh Huyen commented: "...reading Mai Nhung's poetry, I realize many details of life reflect a deep, sensitive, private and attentive feminine perspective. The sense of family life with its rich, delicate, soft, and connecting feminine associations". "I can't think of anything/silently in the first month, two green buds in the fields/the empty spaces are bricks/the paving days are smoldering with moss" (spring demo). "let loneliness into nothingness/we meet each other, longing/longing like breath/sob.sob.suppressed.covered.burst" (beggar).

Previously, Mai Nhung worked at the People's Committee of Quang Hoa commune, Ba Don town (old), now she has moved to live, work and study in Hanoi . Her hometown with names of places and people such as Ngang Pass, Vung Chua, Phong Nha, Gianh River, Nhat Le, Tam Toa, Bau Tro are still there in the dome of memory. "Echo" is a poem about the place names of Quang Binh (old) present. "Gianh River, a green snake, an uneasy sleep/memories lingering on this side, the other side is eroded/lullaby split in two, folk songs split in two/nameless footprints whispering and reconnecting" .

“Nhat Le cries a lifetime, still blue in/stories from the river are told by the oars/roses bloom, sails flutter/Tam Toa bells push the waves far away” (echo). Truly the echo of history, of desire.

Reading Mai Nhung’s poetry, I realized the truth that no one can “uproot” a specific poet from his homeland. For postmodern poets, especially the current 9X and 2X generation poets, it is a laborious process of creating new writing styles and new poetics. Of course, whether or not it becomes a “voice” depends on talent, as well as “God-given” factors.

Reading Mai Nhung’s poems, it is interesting to see that the reality of the “rural dome” in Quang Tri that she brought with her has been visualized and symbolized. “The starling wriggles on the reeds/in January, it sways and sings/the wind wraps around its shoulders/her heels are fragrant on the grassy hill” (January). “The night unties the knots, the sweet scent of grass oozes/the sacred forest spurts howl with the sound of visitors/the girl with her body of rice and bamboo shoots/brings a full sleep, a beggar’s heart/the village child says that from her giant feet/she sucks the breast of a red spiny solanum” (Lake of Memory).

As the poet and LLPB Nguyen Vu Tiem said, if poetry is only the external environment, then like the outer coat, the internal poetry (introspection) is the body and soul of the "muse". "I will not bow my head to you/telling my dreams that softly touched the shore with tears/ like other women did/when meeting a man from the past/I have nothing to tell/but the sun and sand and burning/wild hills and dry and crushed" (whiskey dream).

Reading Mai Nhung’s poetry, if the reader has a background knowledge of poetry, they will realize that the great thing about a poet is the ability to become the object of their expression. In the collection “people passing by like a cry” , there are many stanzas and verses that startle the reader with their metaphorical beauty and extra-textual messages. “time passes by/old and new January/poetry faces are scattered in shirt pockets/people passing by like a cry” (January). The last line of the poem is used by the author to name the entire collection.

Time passes, where is January old, where is new, how do people live together and what is the mission of poetry? So many echoes, so many questions, but not easy to answer? Good poems have “ length” , how many people go through the “length of a poem” ?

Mai Nhung is quietly creating in the midst of a bustling life. Reading Mai Nhung’s poems, readers can only feel the goodness and beauty in a magical and changing space. It is also a sharp “dot” on the poetic journey, which is limitless.

Ngo Duc Hanh

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa/202510/giai-ma-giac-mo-ve-tinh-yeu-hanh-phuc-trong-tho-mai-nhung-9014d1f/