What Sparks Poetry is a series of original essays that explores experiences and ideas that spark the writing of new poems. In Language as Form, poets write about poetic language as patterned language—how words as sound, voice, sentence, and song become elements of form. Each Monday's delivery brings you a poem and an excerpt from the essay.
I spoke to Great-Aunt tonight. She sounded like her sister.
It had been fifty years since they'd last spoken; mom said they cried over the phone.
Bà Nội used to always tell me, Đi tu đi con. But I know
The difference between tu and tù is one mark.

Fifty years since they'd last spoken; mom said they cried.
The night dad disappeared into a jungle, Bà Nội also cried.
The difference between tu and tù is one mark.
Once I heard about a monk who died setting himself on fire.

Bà Nội cried the night dad disappeared into a jungle.
It was a sad time. A nun and monk were made to fornicate in the street.
Once I heard about a monk who died setting himself on fire.
Twenty years later the rodent problem—200 động per severed tail.

It was a sad time. A nun and monk were made to fornicate in the street.
Bà Nội used to always say, Đi tu đi con. But I know.
Twenty years later the rodent problem—200 động per severed tail.
I spoke to Great-Aunt tonight. She sounded like Bà Ngoại.


Glossary

Anh Hai – older brother, the oldest son
Bà Nội – paternal grandmother
đi tu đi con – enter the priesthood; become a monk
tu – the process of entering the priesthood
tù – prison
Bà Ngoại – maternal grandmother
from the book WE PLAY A GAME / Yale University Press
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What Sparks Poetry:
Duy Đoàn on Language as Form

"The only fixed form I think I have ever wanted to understand is the pantoum. The fact that it's a Southeast Asian form really appealed to me. From what I know, it's an old Malaysian form. All of the lines are repeated once in a predetermined order. I've seen lots of variations when it comes to the order. The poet decides. These repetitions bring about a unique musical quality, which is one of the big draws of the pantoum. But the thing I like most about the form is its transparency."
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"Louise Glück, Nobel-Winning Poet, Dies at 80"

"Nobel laureate Louise Glück, a poet of unblinking candor and perception who wove classical allusions, philosophical reveries, bittersweet memories and humorous asides into indelible portraits of a fallen and heartrending world, has died at 80. Glück's death was confirmed last Friday by Jonathan Galassi, her editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She died of cancer at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to her publisher."

via ASSOCIATED PRESS
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