Green Song by the shores of Van Phong Bay

Born in 1945 in Van Gia town (Van Ninh district), poet Tran Van Gia is now 80 years old but still energetic in his creative work. Having published 20 poetry collections and consistently receiving positive public acclaim is no easy feat. In 1996, he released his first collection, "Love as Beautiful as a Poem," and only in 2004 did he release his second, "The Wind Carries Kitchen Smoke to the Sky." Since then, he has published poetry approximately every one to two years.

The cover of the book "Green Songs by the Shores of Van Phong Bay".

I knew the poet Tran Van Gia well since before 1975. At that time, I was just a novice 11th or 12th grader, tentatively writing poetry, and I cherished his simple, rustic verses. He wrote about his birthplace, the Van Ninh region with its Tuan Le mangrove forest and vast sand dunes. Later, during his 13 years in the New Economic Zones, he wrote poetry for the poor people who carefully gathered every drop of morning sunlight, burdened with heavy loads, and for the village roads lined with vibrant yellow flowering trees. He was also one of the writers and poets in Khanh Hoa who was admitted to the Vietnam Writers Association very early on.

“Green Songs on the Shores of Van Phong Bay,” with its sea-blue cover, differs from Tran Van Gia's previous poetry collections, which often featured self-portraits. The 70-page book, a shimmering epic poem with the sound of crashing waves, is divided into four chapters. In Chapter 1, “Nostalgia,” he mentions old places in Khanh Hoa . There, the smooth verses continue: “One night I slept / Resting my head on my arm in a grand dream under the high sky / I understood more and more / Which wise man does not yearn for his homeland?”

“Picking up six-eight verses on the white sand of Hon Gom Peninsula” is Chapter 2 of the epic poem. Leveraging the strength of the six-eight verse form, he incorporates it in this chapter: “Today, and even a thousand years from now, the sand and people live together in unwavering love.” In this chapter, he frequently mentions his mother: “The evening leans down on the blue smoke / The blue smoke follows my mother as she toils to raise her children / My mother’s shoulders are weary / Bearing burdens since she was still in her hometown.” “Bearing burdens since my mother was still in her hometown” —just one line of poetry encapsulates the image of a mother from the countryside who toils her whole life for her children. The next two chapters: “The Time of Unstable Waves” and “The Season of Blooming Wave Flowers” are still simple verses, but the words seem to spring from the poet’s heart. Tran Van Gia’s epic poem is like a symphony leading the reader through storms and to a day of peace.

In his uncertain age, he said, each published poetry collection could be his last. He only said that, but the springs when flowers still bloom, the gentle waves of Nha Trang sea, and even Van Phong Bay still inspire him to write poetry.

KHUE VIET TRUONG

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/202504/loi-hat-xanh-ben-bo-vinh-van-phong-a925d09/