by mylinhshattan | Jan 16, 2015 | On Life, On Literature
Here is a tale as old as time, a love story. We associate a lot of things with Vietnam and there is much written about it, so I want to share a romance. The poet Nguyen Dinh Nhac is my uncle and I can count the times I’ve seen him in my life on two hands. In... 
by mylinhshattan | Jan 16, 2015 | On Life, On Literature, Stories
What am I and what is my purpose? In Nguyen’s poem, the scholar solves one of life’s mysteries and I wonder if it is that simple: it is easy enough to see, if only we would look closely, or step far enough away, or ask a scholar who may happen to visit. If... 
by mylinhshattan | Jan 15, 2015 | On Life, On Literature
If prose is the soul in words, then poetry is the soul dancing. The dance, this dance, may not reach  us at the moment, busy as we are with work and family and life, though I suggest to you that that is one way poetry is better than music.  If you missed it because...