Plateau in Nguyen Thanh Mung's poetry

(GLO)- Poet Nguyen Thanh Mung is known for his poetry collections “Bitter Wine”, “A Thousand Years Ago”, etc. Although he does not write much, his poems appear in most of the famous anthologies of modern Vietnamese poetry. In recent years, he has shown his love for the Central Highlands and written a lot about this land.

Interestingly, at the age of sixty, poet Nguyen Thanh Mung suddenly burst into six-eight verses with a tone of ecstasy in the clouds, imbued with the scenery of the mountains and forests, the great epic: "The stone axe blade of a million springs/Holds An Khe together for five weeks/The endless Asian wind and European rain/The prehistoric mist and smoke build a bridge at dawn" (On the An Khe Old Stone Age strata); "Waded in the rain and wind of the plateau/I became a reed of wild copyright/Hearing the fish stuffed in Po Ko/Talking with the bitter eggplant on the Se San bank" (Tay Nguyen Brocade); "A million years ago, the fire roared/So now the mountain voice is still its own reedy/A language imbued with the Tay Nguyen/The wild roots of the ginger root, the wild ginger" (Chu Dang Ya Volcano).

Chu Dang Ya volcano (Chu Pah district) has appeared in the poem of author Nguyen Thanh Mung. Photo: Pham Quy

Nguyen Thanh Mung wandered in the geological strata of the land of gongs, old forests, and elephants. He sought the pristine, pristine nature of the eternally splendid nature. He sought the gentle rhythm of the youthful Central Highlands.

Nguyen Thanh Mung's six-eight verses seem to find more excuses to freely sublimate with the colorful plateau: "With white hair, the words and meanings of the mountain pass are growing/The reeds are strong, the lim wood is knocked down/The stone kiss floats and the clouds sink/Hear it melt away in the quiet and proud silence" (Spring, returning to Nghia Si orange forest); "Bewildered, following the deer's eyes/Looking at the old forest, seeing the young antlers/Seeing young shoots among the bamboo/My wild love turns into velvet in my head" (Nine-storey Waterfall in the Central Highlands); "Putting the backpack all the way down the mountain pass/The nine-storey communal house, the nine-storey waterfall roars/Searching in the shadow of the sacred fire/The country's destiny gathers tigers and elephants" ( Gia Lai one two three).

Poet Nguyen Thanh Mung (left) and poet Le Van Ngan on a mountain climb. Photo: DUC TUAN

The feeling of mountains and sea as yin and yang is also fully present in Nguyen Thanh Mung's poetry. "The coastal roots are rooted in the plateau/The mountains hold the sea in their hands and become sweet/The sweet potato sheds its nameless coat/How much water and fire to become its name" (Le Can Sweet Potato); "The person from the coastal region hesitates/Going up to the forest to hear the mountains and forests poured into a cup/The day the sea swallows migrate/Printing a diary under the wild stars (...)/The plateau has undulating rapids and waterfalls/Ecstatic lips and eyes, hair and beard fluttering/The high mountains tighten the deep sea/The cup of coffee is also in each other's erosion" (Cup of Highland Coffee); "So many isolated Truong Son mountains/Like a flock of small birds circling out to sea/The island rubs its eyes against the sea and sky/A continental shelf that is as breathless as the mainland" (From the plateau to the coastal region)...

The land and people of the Central Highlands seem to be more passionate and fresh in the soul of Nguyen Thanh Mung's coastal poetry. It can be said that it is a coastal highland love story.

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/cao-nguyen-trong-tho-nguyen-thanh-mung-post329601.html