Nguyen Quoc Chanh reading "Đốn cây trồng người"

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Chopping Down Trees to Plant Humans

Punished, a student must fill two sheets: I won’t stir.
Punished, a student must slap himself: 56 times.
Punished, a student is forbidden to fart: for a month.
Punished, a student is banned from bleeding: during her period.
Punished, a student must drink salt water: for being rude during morality class.
Punished, a student must swallow his report card: grades below average.
Punished, a student must sit in the toilet and sing the national anthem: for
buckling his knees during the national anthem.
Punished, a student must yank a thousand itchy hairs from the Principal’s head:
for scratching his head, yawning and not being able to distinguish between
dinosaurs and reptiles.
Punished, a student must smear soot on his classmate’s forehead: for not helping
his friend keep quiet.
Punished, a student must suck an eraser during history class: for not
remembering all 800 names of our heroes.
Punished, a student must shut his eyes for a week for not memorizing the poem:
Tonight Uncle Ho Doesn’t Sleep.

12 years later there’s a student who goes limp down there.
12 years later there’s a student with his left cheek puffier than his right.
12 years later there’s a student addicted to foul smells.
12 years later there’s a student with an ovariectomy.
12 years later there’s a student with a broken larynx.
12 years later there’s a student who tears each piece of paper he sees.
12 years later there’s a student who doesn’t dare to shit in a toilet.
12 years later there’s a student who yanks everyone’s hair.
12 years later there’s a student who often grabs rice from other people’s bowls.
12 years later there’s a student who must piss at the sight of a statue.
12 years later there’s a student who converts to islam to look for Saddam’s bones.

More than 20 years ago I was a student who could never stand straight.
Now I own a utility pole 25 meter-high though I can’t steer my bladder.



[translated by Linh Dinh, and published in his anthology of new Vietnamese poetry, The Deluge]




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