Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu: "My Da is an angel flying down to earth"

Upon hearing the news of poet Lam Thi My Da's passing, screenwriter Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát could not hide her sadness. "A beautiful and talented poet, with a warm and kind heart towards her friends, and a cheerful and humorous personality. You are gone!", she shared.

Screenwriter Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát said that she and poet My Da had known each other since the 70s of the last century. Every time the poetess went to Hanoi , her friends would gather around her to happily visit her. No matter how busy My Da was, she never forgot to stop by her house to visit her and her husband, stay for dinner, and sometimes even sleep over. She did the same when she went to Hue.

"Mr. Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong - My Da's husband - had a stroke and was bedridden for more than 20 years. In the last years of his life, he lost his memory, forgot everyone, and looked at everyone with a blank expression and no reflexes.

Now you're gone, a life of glory and tragedy, especially in the last years of your life, is over. Rest in peace, you've had enough fatigue and hardship. Fly away peacefully with the blue sky and white clouds," screenwriter Hong Ngát shared emotionally.

Screenwriter Nguyen Thuy regretfully wrote: "The day my teacher took me to Hue for the first time, I loved Hue more because the woman I met was Ms. Lam Thi My Da.

She was from the same hometown as the teacher, but to me, she was still "very Hue", gentle and feminine, caring and extremely beautiful, she still kept her "sky" after so many "bomb craters" of life. This morning, in a strange city, I heard that she had passed away. My heart skipped a beat, mourning her, a talented writer, a beautiful woman".

Poet Lam Thi My Da in her youth (Photo: Facebook Nguyen Quang Thieu).

To poet Nguyen Quang Thieu - Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association , Lam Thi My Da is an "angel descended to earth".

"For decades, I have called her that because her face is beautiful and holy, because her soul is infinitely pure and because her poems always resound like songs of love, gentle and possessing a fragile but pervasive beauty," poet Nguyen Quang Thieu shared.

He affirmed that even the poems the poetess wrote about losses in war resonated with that beauty.

"It seems like you came to this world only to show a beautiful face, a pure soul and to resound the verses of love and protection.

At this moment, I feel that every flower blooming in the summer carries the beauty of your face, your soul and your poetry. I bow my head in memory of you and look up to the light where you flew to," the President of the Vietnam Writers Association emotionally wrote.

The poem "Our Country's Folktales" by Lam Thi My Da is printed in the Vietnamese textbook for grade 4, volume 1, Vietnam Education Publishing House, 2019 (Photo: Manh Tung).

Poet Lam Thi My Da was born in 1949 in Quang Binh, and lives with her husband - writer and poet Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong - in Hue.

Lam Thi My Da became famous in the poetry scene in 1971, after winning first prize in the Literature and Arts newspaper's poetry contest with the poem "Khoang troi, ho bom" . This work was also included in the high school Literature program.

She became a member of the Vietnam Writers Association in 1978, studied at Nguyen Du Writing School, participated in a training course at the Gorky Academy (former Soviet Union), and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Writers Association, terms III and IV.

During her poetry career, Lam Thi My Da has won many prestigious awards such as the Vietnam Writers Association Literature Award for the poetry collection Poetry Without Years; A Prize for Poetry from the National Committee of the Vietnam Literature and Arts Associations in 1999; A Prize for Poetry from the Ancient Capital Literature and Arts Award (1998-2004) from the Provincial People's Committee and the Thua Thien Hue Literature and Arts Association.

Notable works of poet Lam Thi My Da include The Birth of the Heart (poetry, 1974), The Poem Without Years (poetry, 1983), The Famous Song of the Land (children's story, 1984), The Deer and the Stream (children's story, 1987), The Eternal Reward (children's story, 1987)...

In 2005, her poetry collection Green Rice was translated into English, printed and published in the US.

Of which, 3 poetry collections: Birth of the Heart (1974), Poem Without Years (1983), Dedicating to a Dream (1988) were awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts by the President in 2007.

During her lifetime, Lam Thi My Da once said: "Poetry is both a place that causes many wounds and a place of healing, but it is not exactly a healing garden. Because if it were, everyone would jump into it.

Poetry is like life, full of wounds. On the way there, it will be scratched and torn, but when you reach it, that is the final destination."

Commenting on Lam Thi My Da's poetry, poet and literary researcher Ho The Ha once wrote: "Lam Thi My Da's poetry is rich in meaning. The poetic ideas are always surprising. It seems that if a poem cannot create a strange idea, it will still be in the imagination."

Meanwhile, poet Ngo Van Phu also commented: "Lam Thi My Da's poetry is beautiful in its unexpected, bewildered and feminine emotions."

Source link: https://dantri.com.vn/van-hoa/nha-tho-nguyen-quang-thieu-my-da-la-thien-than-bay-xuong-tran-gian-20230706161821707.htm