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The North American debut of Tuệ Sỹ—poet, monk, scholar, dissident, and one of the great cultural figures of modern Vietnam—and a new bilingual edition to the Seedbank series.
In addition to being a preeminent scholar of world philosophy and a Zen master, Tuệ Sỹ is one of Vietnam’s most celebrated poets. He is a survivor of sixteen years of imprisonment and an eloquent witness to the tumult, tragedy, and resilience of his country over the last sixty years—and a full-length translation of his work into English is long overdue.
Assembled and co-translated by Vietnamese poet and essayist Nguyen Ba Chung and acclaimed American poet Martha Collins, Dreaming the Mountain reflects a lifetime of creation, crisis, and commitment. With poems presented on facing pages in Vietnamese and English, this volume includes the early imagism of Tuệ Sỹ’s Zen studies as a scholar and critic, midlife work that represents his attempted retreat from the devastation of war and subsequent years of imprisonment, and late, elliptical poems that give intensely lyrical expression to a lifetime of profound experience. From the “fleeting dream of red blood at dusk” to the quiet determination of one who sets out to “repaint the dawn,” these poems reflect the journey of an artist who speaks for his country, who captures its darkness and its light.
At once personal and universal, coolly observant and deeply compassionate, the poems of Tuệ Sỹ bring singular attention to a fleeting, painfully beautiful world.
Praise for Dreaming the Mountain
“[Dreaming the Mountain] is a collection of great depth and longing. Sy is attuned to the gossamer impermanence of clouds and dreams, of all that we know shifting, disappearing, returning. He names what goes and comes across a thousand years.[. . .] If there’s loneliness in these poems, it’s the loneliness of a soul aware of his small place among a mysterious immensity, an immensity that includes the butterfly wing, the bending grass, the wet eyes of a love. And it’s the loneliness that somehow, powerfully, makes one feel less alone.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe
“Dreaming the Mountain is a moving depiction of a mind seeking freedom in a chaotic world: the doubts and certainties, the careful, profound observations, and, ultimately, the dedication to liberation. It belongs with the greats of wartime poetry and Buddhist literature, but it’s also a generous companion for any of us seeking to understand this human life.”—Rachel Abrams, Tricycle Magazine
“[Dreaming the Mountain] embodies the Zen view that everything we experience is simultaneously present and evanescent. [. . .] the best way to describe anything, physical, emotional, or spiritual is to shine light on it from more than one direction. Which is what Tuệ Sỹ does luminously—Lola Haskins, On the Seawall
“Sỹ is a master of blending the body and its surroundings, making the metaphysical tangible.”—Poetry Foundation, Harriet Blog
Praise for the Seedbank Series
“Milkweed’s Seedbank series is one of the most exciting and visionary projects in contemporary publishing. Taking the long view, these volumes run parallel to the much-hyped books of the moment to demonstrate the possibility and hope inherent in all great literature.”—Stephen Sparks, Point Reyes Books
“Through its cultural-linguistic contribution to narrative diversity, Milkweed's Seedbank series is a vital tool in imagining the futures possible for humanity beyond the anthropocene. Bringing works from Greek, K'iche', German, Russian (and more!) whose authors are deeply rooted in their homelands, each voice encountered has resonated with me on a seemingly cellular level—shifting and changing both who I am and can be. I will continue to press these books into the hands of compassionate readers and cannot wait to share the forthcoming titles in the project!”—Erin Pineda, 27th Letter Books
"Milkweed as a publishing house has long been championing literary works both fictitious and true to life centered around culture, nature, and environmentalism. The Seedbank series serves as both a marvelous introduction to the books Milkweed provides and as a collection of essential stories that ought to be on everyone's radar. The words behind these front covers highlight life-changing experiences, knowledge, and ways of life from communities that are seldom otherwise heard from in the publishing world through an authentic cultural lens. What I've read from the Seedbank line is phenomenal, and I look forward to spending time with future works in the series."—Andrew King, Secret Garden Books
Praise for Martha Collins’s Translations
“A dazzling poet whose poetry is poised at the juncture between the lyric and ethics, Collins has addressed some of the most traumatic social issues of the twentieth century in supple and complex poems.”—AWP Chronicle
“Underlying tensions animate these arresting poems by Ngo Tu Lap [in Black Stars], movingly translated by Martha Collins and the author. . . . We, as readers, are enriched.”—Arthur Sze, author of Sight Lines
“A delightful aspect of My Da’s poetry [in Green Rice] is the surprising way it summons human feeling from the ancient landscape, from river and field, from fruit and fragrant tree, culling a contemporary self from timeless images. In carrying this across into English, My Da could not have found better translators than Thuy Dinh and Martha Collins.”—John Balaban, author of Empires
“[Nguyen Quang Thieu’s The Women Carry River Water] is both timely and necessary for those who are interested in learning more about contemporary Vietnamese culture, literature, and poetry. The translations are perfect.”—Ngo Nhu Binh, Harvard University
Introduction xi
On the Translations xix
Khung Trời Cũ 2
A Piece of Old Sky 3
Cánh Chim Trời 4
Bird Wing Sky 5
Hương Ngày Cũ 6
Scent of Past Days 7
Mưa Cao Nguyên 8
Rainy Season in the Highlands 9
Tóc Huyền 10
Black Hair 11
HoàiNiệm 12
ARecollection 13
Hận Thu Cao 14
NobleAutumnRancor 15
Mộng Trường Sinh 16
Dream of a Long Life 17
Kết Từ 18
Last Words 19
Những Năm Anh Đi 22
The Years Away 23
Một Bóng Trăng Gầy 24
ASlenderMoon 25
Phố Trưa 26
Street at Noon 27
Tự Tình 28
Reflection 29
Chân Đồi 30
Nightmares in the Forest 35
Một Thoáng Chiêm Bao 36
Fleeting Dream 37
Những Bước Đường Cùng 38
End of the Road 39
Bóng Cha Già 40
My Father’s Shadow 41
Ước Hẹn 42
Promise 43
Cây Khô 44
Dried Tree 45
Những Phím Dương Cầm 46
Piano Keys 47
Bên Bếp Lạnh 48
By a Cold Fire 49
Tống Biệt Hành 50
Leave-Taking 51