Poet Nguyen Van Hung and the poetry collection 'Every joy or sadness, the people call Uncle Ho'

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Poet Nguyen Van Hung (born in 1957) is from Vinh city, a member of the Vietnam Writers Association, has worked as a journalist for many years, and is recognized and loved by readers for his emotional and evocative literary works. His works are quite rich in themes, reflecting many aspects of everyday life, especially he has devoted much love and passion to President Ho Chi Minh .

1 Nguyen Van Hung church — Poet Nguyen Van Hung collected many books, newspapers and documents about President Ho Chi Minh. Photo: Cong Kien

According to the poet, from 2003 to 2015, he was assigned to directly edit the Nghe An Weekend Newspaper. A very important and current topic that the provincial and newspaper leaders were interested in was to continue to research, organize articles, and introduce Uncle Ho's example to the newspaper, most enthusiastically during the time when the whole country was arousing the movement to study and follow the morality and style of Ho Chi Minh.

Besides editing, finding articles and ordering articles according to each issue, his writings are quite numerous; there are prose, essays, compilations and poems.

Regarding prose and essays, Nghe An Publishing House ordered and printed the book "Homeland in His Heart" (2009), and the book "Uncle Ho, Touching Stories" (2 volumes, reprinted in 2011). Thanh Nien Publishing House printed the book "Uncle Ho in Our Hearts" (2009, reprinted in 2010). This book received the Ho Xuan Huong Literature and Arts Award presented by the People's Committee of Nghe An province.

2 Nguyen Van Hung temples — Poet Nguyen Van Hung spent a lot of time researching the life and career of President Ho Chi Minh. Photo: Cong Kien

Regarding poetry, the manuscript of the collection "Every joy or sadness, the people of the country call Uncle Ho" was first collected by poet Nguyen Van Hung in 2013, selecting 22 poems; by mid-2019, the number of poems written and selected had increased to 39. From the exploited topic, researched content, to the thoughts and poetic forms, the author has invested a lot of effort, so the content is quite rich and profound; the language and images are simple, fresh, and concise.

Most of the poems in the collection have been introduced in the press, including the Literature and Arts Newspaper (Vietnam Writers Association), Nhan Dan Newspaper, Voice of Vietnam Radio , Nghe An Newspaper, Nghe An Writers Magazine, and Song Lam Magazine. A collection of poems about Uncle Ho, published in Song Lam Magazine (Nghe An Literature and Arts Association), was awarded a prize launched by Nghe An province.

3 Nguyen Van Hung Temple — The poetry collection "Every joy or sadness, the people call Uncle Ho" by Cat Hung (poet Nguyen Van Hung). Photo: Cong Kien

Poet Huu Viet (Head of the Cultural and Arts Department of Nhan Dan Newspaper), when introducing a collection of poems by Nguyen Van Hung in Nhan Dan Monthly Newspaper, No. 253, May 2018, wrote: "There have been many excellent poems and verses written about Uncle Ho by famous poets at home and abroad. Therefore, finding more good, new, and creative things when writing about Uncle Ho is not easy. Over the past 15 years, poet Cat Hung (Nguyen Van Hung), a son of Nghe An, has written nearly 40 poems about Uncle Ho, which can be considered a success, demonstrating the concern for a big and difficult topic, along with the author's meticulous and serious work. In this collection, he chose to approach through real stories about Uncle Ho to talk about the noble, sacred, profound but extremely simple and close in the example of Ho Chi Minh's personality, making today's readers feel the need to think and reflect...".

Always do your best

As poet Huu Viet commented, Nguyen Van Hung's poems often evoke real stories about his revolutionary life to honor the beauty of his soul. In the poem " War Zone ", he wrote: " It's late, the country's work has not stopped yet / The morning is cold and misty in the War Zone / Winter days are still foggy / I pity the soldiers in their winter coats who have not yet returned home !".

And here are the verses in the poem “ Straw Nest ”: “ Among the countless beautiful pictures of Uncle Ho/ There is this one: Uncle Ho sleeps on a straw nest!/ Far from the country. During the day, a distinguished guest in Paris/ At night, he returns to a warm, fragrant home! ”.

4 Nguyen Van Hung Temple — The poetry collection “Every joy or sadness, the people call Uncle Ho” by author Cat Hung (Nguyen Van Hung) was awarded the Second Prize in the Composition and Promotion Award on the theme “Studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and style” in Nghe An province. Photo: Cong Kien

And here is the poem “ The Sandals ” expressed by the author in free verse, full of prose: “ Back then, international guests coming to Kim Lien were given a pair of rubber sandals, which were very strange to them/ The American delegation fighting for Peace suddenly cried, tears fell to the ground, making the strange land become familiar/ Returning to their country, the memories they brought with them, before and after were still the tire sandals/ Uncle Ho’s thousand-mile feet, the American people would never forget! ”.

It is worth mentioning that this collection of poems by poet Nguyen Van Hung was awarded the Second Prize in the Composition and Promotion Award on the theme "Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style" in Nghe An province in 2023. Previously, the collection of poems "Every joy and sadness, the people call Uncle Ho" was also awarded the Second Prize by the Provincial People's Committee for literary and artistic works about Him, period 2018 - 2020.

Uncle Ho visited his hometown for the first time (1957). Photo: Archive

The difficulty in writing about Uncle Ho is how to make it poetic, how to make readers feel and think a lot not only about Uncle Ho, about yesterday, but also feel and think a lot about today, about themselves, about their bad and beautiful things, from there live better, more beautifully, be more responsible for themselves, for the agency where they work, for their family, hometown and country...

“
Always trying my best, but in reality, my writings about President Ho Chi Minh are probably still lacking, and depend on many other factors, including the attention, sympathy, and guidance of readers near and far. As for the author, the poetry collection "Every joy or sadness, the people of the country call Uncle Ho" only hopes to be a fragrant incense stick, a little of my appreciation for my artistic work over the years, which I dedicate to my beloved Uncle Ho! And, I will continue to pursue this topic area."
Poet Nguyen Van Hung

Source: https://baonghean.vn/nha-tho-nguyen-van-hung-va-tap-tho-moi-buon-vui-dan-nuoc-goi-bac-ho-10297184.html