brother, father, sister through thousands of lives.
Sitting on crimson
pillows on crimson carpet—
not my blood
relatives, these strangers
nodding, yes.
What forms does one take
after a lifetime, after exhaustion?
Who believes in countless cycles
of winged joys and hunger, circling samsara
not remembering—slow buzzing,
then shedding of husk, another life.
I willfully forget my reincarnations
this life: high school dropout, angry
son, refugee insect, unfaithful
lover, sparrow-child; let me begin
again, let me forge myself anew, a believer
in small kindnesses
under the gaze of this dying
Tibetan monk. I forget and forget.
Light shifts across walls,
Sunday again.
Endless suburban lawns midday:
sprinklers hissing thousands
of small sorrows remembered,
spraying arcs that leave no trace
but green and void,
yes, tell me again and
again.
Twilight in Sài Gòn, 1978
Leaves on the ground curled
like hands in prayer,
their tapered fingers like your mother’s.
Mudra, surely this is a blessing, a sign, a good omen.
At the edge of the lake I wait.
Evening gathers. Still not yet—
this is the golden hour.
All this I must remember for you, my son
the land, its shores
the brown river’s reeds
the marble floors of our house.
Look at how the shadows form.
This is everything
I love. All I have ever known
that you will never see.
Still—
may I be as calm as this water
this is how I shall remember.
I know the waters on the wide sea
will not be like this
yet it is the same underneath
calm will come again.
Tomorrow I step on the barge—
look how the evening gathers.
Supplication
(VIP Senior Day Care Center)
Let me exchange
my limbs
for yours.
Anna, you shape the plum-sized clay birds,
tiny white dots for eyes,
with your left hand
because you had a stroke
on your right side, you repeat.
Como? Holding up
your clay bird, you ask.
Ciento dolares! I answer.
I’d give you
so much more
than the glitter, glue, cheap
cards, fabric paints, clay.
Yes, the waiting
room to death,
an elementary school–
coloring books, large crayons
rows of uneven metal tables
spoonfuls of jam—a wet
bruise
in paper cups and stale crackers—parched
skin
the slow gesture
of hand to mouth,
small prayer,
your rosary on the table.
Sammy, Dolores, Rosario,
Carlos, Dorothy– your faces fade.
Let me exchange your
days
and nights
for mine
as our hands trace the outlines
of this drawing together:
simple trees, birds,
stars a glitter
in the blue parchment sky.
Viêt Lê (Phnom Phen, Cambodia)
Viet Lê is an artist, writer and independent curator. Lê’s artwork has been exhibited at Sa Sa Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, USA; DoBaeBacSa Gallery, Seoul, Korea; among other venues. His work has been featured in Newsweek Asia; Crab Orchard Review; Amerasia Journal; and the anthologies Writing from the Perfume River; Love, West Hollywood; Strange Cargo, among others. Lê has received fellowships from Fulbright-Hays, Center for Khmer Studies, Fine Arts Work Center, and PEN Center USA. Lê co-curated humor us (Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery) and transPOP: Korea Viet Nam Remix (Seoul, Sài Gòn, Irvine, San Francisco). Lê received his MFA from the University of California, Irvine, where he has also taught Studio Art and Visual Culture courses. As a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California, he is currently based in Phnom Penh. Visit his website here.
Viet Lê est un artiste, un écrivain et un commissaire indépendant. Les œuvres d’art de Lê ont été exposées à la galerie Sa Sa à Phnom Penh au Cambodge; à la Laguna Art Museum à Laguna aux États-Unis; à la galerie DoBaeBacSa à Séoul en Korée en autres lieux. Son travail fut présenté dans Newsweek Asia, Crab Orchard Review, Amerasia Journal et les anthologies Writing from the Perfume River, Love, West Hollywood et Strange Cargo, parmi d’autres. Lê a reçu des bourses de from Fulbright-Hays, Center for Khmer Studies, Fine Arts Work Center et PEN Center USA. Lê a co-commissionné humor us (Galerie municipale de Los Angèles) et transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix Remix (Seoul, Sài Gòn, Irvine, San Francisco). Lê a reçu une maîtrise de l’Université de Californie, Irvine, où il a également enseigné des cours de studio et culture visuelle. Candidat au doctorat de l’Université de la Californie du Sud, il est présentement base à Phnom Penh.