A new poetic voice of Phan Duy

After two poetry collections “There are spaces of sky calling for memories” and “Passing by the land of memories” full of lyrical homeland, author Phan Duy (member of the Writers Association of Can Tho City) has just released the poetry collection “Grass from the foot of the rock” (The Writers Association Publishing House). The poems with a fresh poetic voice, full of Phan Duy’s life narratives bring many experiences to readers.

Poetry collection "Grass from the foot of the rock" by poet Phan Duy.

The first thing that is easy to feel when reading “Grass from the foot of the stone” is that poet Phan Duy has broken his own “cocoon” through poems full of personality and innovation. The words are free, not bound by rules or techniques, the poems flow from the author’s emotions and experiences. Entering the path of poetry is entering a journey of words. Phan Duy likened it to “the crossing of the border of words”: “Words step out of the current control of thinking/ with the footsteps of the century/ An escape from the bounds/ without taking refuge/ even though the destination is limitless”.

Continuing reading the articles “A Nobel Prize” or “One Noon”, it is easy to see the image of Phan Duy in the character of a “poet”, with his struggles and desire to renew himself on the journey to find poetic beauty. As for the article “Alone in the Morning”, he contemplates: “The poet’s dream/ abandoning the salty drops of coffee/ involuntary loneliness becomes a multidimensional translation”.

Worth reading in the collection of poems is the poem “Thinking about poetry” dedicated by poet Phan Duy to poet Le Minh Quoc. It is not an exaggeration to call this the “poetry manifesto” of author Phan Duy. “Thinking about poetry” is very long with more than 26 pages, including 5 paragraphs, going through the emotional levels of poetry. That is the endless, multi-dimensionality of poetry: “Poetry crosses the field of gender/ not as clearly defined as nature has intended/ tough poetry/ soft poetry/ rhymed poetry/ rebellious poetry”. Likewise, the person who writes poetry also experiences ups and downs with poetry, in the end: “Poetry mends the fragments of the soul overcoming difficulties/ in hardships to find the meaning of life/ calling life”. And for a young writer like Phan Duy, what he "Thinking about Poetry" is also a concern, a thought to renew his poetry: "Young poems are looking for something unique/ not knowing what to look for/ but there we have met new poets/ they are very young people".

Nearly 60 poems in “Grass from the foot of the stone” are not easy to read. The verses are emotional and a play of modern words. Readers have to ponder for a long time to experience the meaning and sentiment, the feelings and emotions of these lines of poetry. And if compared with the two published poetry collections “Co nhung khong troi cau nho thuong” and “Qua ngang mien nho”, “Grass from the foot of the stone” shows more “meaning beyond words” and deeper. Perhaps, that is also what poet Phan Duy wants to aim for in this new innovation, reading slowly and thinking deeply like “Grass from the foot of the stone” to find a “Monologue” for himself: “Filtering the thick sadness/ me and a cup of coffee/ a pair of parallel monologues”.

Article and photos: DUY KHOI

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/mot-giong-tho-moi-me-cua-phan-duy-a191942.html