Here is the poet’s respect and affection for poets, writers, critics, and musicians - the specific “portraits” in the book. Even though it is just a “quick drawing” of portraits, highlighting the unique, individual features of the characters is a requirement that not everyone can easily overcome, if they do not have talent and truly inspired moments.
In fact, to “draw quickly” and leave an impression on a literary portrait, Nguyen Hung must grasp the spirit, the essence, the uniqueness, the specificity of the subject, which means the process of reading, absorbing, analyzing, selecting... means that it cannot be fast in reality, if not to say it must be elaborate, meticulous, and really laborious. A poet can be “ecstatic” with a poetic idea, a verse, or even a poem, but it must certainly be the result, the outcome of a long-standing process before that. Of course, poets grasp the spirit of different subjects, from different angles, quickly or slowly, with different degrees of final success. This depends on many factors, both subjective and objective, as we know. Certainly, poet Nguyen Hung has read portrait poems by Xuan Sach, Tran Nhuong or many impressive portrait poems such as when Nguyen Khoa Diem "painted" Nguyen Hong, when Thach Quy "painted" Nguyen Trong Tao, Hoang Cat, when Nguyen Ngoc Phu "painted" Tran Vang Sao... for example, to choose for himself a unique way of "painting" portraits, not mixed with others.
On the public highway, Nguyen Hung uses the “names” of outstanding/lifetime works, outstanding poems, prose, song lyrics, private stories... of the “subjects” to create frame details for portrait sketches. The poet “breathes” into familiar labels, known to many people, a new space, a new environment, making “it” come alive, sparkling in a new perception. Therefore, everything that seems to be known, seems to be dead, rigid, has been arranged by the poet, creating new connections, cultivating new and strange meanings according to the poet’s own perspective, creating a new “attraction field”.
That is "Born on the other side of the Duong River/ Poetry love flies without stopping at the Red River wharf/ There is Kieu Loan with so much joy/ Still on the road to find the dieu bong leaves forever" (Hoang Cam); "The sacred fire illuminates the universe/ The happy person calls the land to bloom with him..." (Huy Can); "The Huong River knows how to flow in rhyme/ Talent is passionately absorbed twice" (Truong Nam Huong); "Who would have thought that after the Giat market/ Old Khung would quickly return to his friends with the reeds/ A funeral oration for a time that had just ended..." (Nguyen Minh Chau)... That is when "drawing" Nguyen Truong "Writing quietly but the literary world predicts a storm", Nguyen Hung proves it with a sentence that once startled many readers and writers in the story situation about the character Dao Dua: "If you lose to the people, you will survive, if you win, you will lose". Or in the case of An Thuyen, it is the song that many people remember "break the verse in half, chop the verse in half" in the popular song "Neo doi ben que".
There are quick strokes that do not achieve the necessary "shape", poet Nguyen Hung knows how to "draw" even though they are dotted but carefully trimmed and selected, with obvious results. For example, when "drawing" Hoai Vu's portrait, the poet begins "You are at the head of the river, I am at the end of the river/The green stream nourishes the pink dream...", then draws "Vam Co Dong", "Di trong huong tram", "Chia tay hoang hon"... at the end of the poem, the poet suddenly "repeats" the sentence "You are at the head of the river, I am at the end of the river" like a lingering, stirring epilogue. Or with Thanh Tung, although he mentioned "Thoi hoa do" and many other marks, Nguyen Hung still finds a way to hold on, clarify more about the poet of the land of royal poinciana flowers and the sound of ship whistles, with a verse that both bears the mark of Thanh Tung and also has the mark of his soulmate, Nguyen Hung "Remembering a time of passionate youth"!
There are portraits that tell the heartbreaking life story of the subject “In the bomb crater there is a sky” (Lam Thi My Da), written by Nguyen Hung in a truthful and skillful way: “Letting the clouds go to the wind... who would have thought/The poem has no years but now has been forgotten/Friends can't remember the name/Mother and son share the same grief for their father”. There are also humorous portraits “Once upon a time, the couple Ngoc Tu/Lived together slowly... prose/So that on the day they asked to marry Huong Ngan/Hurriedly submitted a few petitions to report” (Le Thieu Nhon) or “Writing for newspapers on the street but not enough money for a hair transplant” (Van Cong Hung) or “Poetry - literature - painting - translation... immersed/Not bothering to trim beard, love is lazy to visit” (Nguyen Quang Thieu). There are also portraits "taken" from the names of the poets themselves: "If that day in Yen Trung, my mother had not given birth to me/The literary world today would lack a spring festival feature" (Ngo Xuan Hoi) or "Who has the power/Giving a lot, receiving a lot" (Tran Chan Uy)...
Many times, after quick strokes like the above but the portrait does not really have the soul and spirit as expected, Nguyen Hung boldly "adds" and embellishes it with his own creations. That is the portrait of Vuong Trong with two concluding sentences that when read, are enough to know a large part of "his background and career": "I have been fascinated by Kieu since I was in the cradle/My heart is forever pounding with words of love"; the portrait of Nguyen Trong Tao "Love is like a trench/Arrows fall and bullets stray, on every side it is... you"; the portrait of Nguyen Quang Sang: "He is Nam Sang - my second brother/Writes quickly but drinks slowly/No rush".
For each type of poetry/literature, each type of person, Nguyen Hung always chooses the right, appropriate poetic form, based on the lasting impression of one/many specific good poems. For example, the poem about Nguyen Binh with each stanza of 4 lines, 7 short, serious words, clearly bears the shadow of the famous poem "Co pick apricot"; about Huy Can's flexible six-eight meter, reminiscent of the poem "Trang giang"; about Pham Tien Duat's free, unrestrained poetry reminiscent of the poem "Tieu doi xe khong kinh"; about Xuan Quynh's five-word poetry, both traditional and new, profound, like the way the poems Song, Thuyen va bien come and stay in the hearts of readers; about Nguyen Binh Phuong, free, unconventional, as this writer has appeared impressively and strangely for a long time in the literary world.
More notably, there are some brilliant strokes that create a unique sketch, such as when Nguyen Hung wrote about Y Nhi, "Time quietly sitting and knitting my fate"; about Tran Nhuong, "The wind from the countryside and the wind of March/Blowing from the time of soldiers, cool through the time of peace"; about Giang Nam, "He alone led the whole spring to heaven"; about Le Luu, "The waves at the bottom of the river capsized the afternoon boat/Heroes mixed with foam drifted together"; about Tran Dang Khoa, "The child prodigy is now an official/Still the same old brother and sister...".
Obviously, Nguyen Hung's brush did not stop at one way, one style, one material, one color scheme..., but always changed, near and far, light and dark appropriately, flexibly to "create" impressive portraits. From there, the writer believes that, after drawing quickly but still specifically depicting the unique characteristics of each "object", Nguyen Hung's portrait gradually appeared in the minds of many writers and readers. That is a sincere, trustworthy poet; a deep and thorough reading and understanding; a sympathetic, calm soul; a diverse and attractive writing style...
After all, Nguyen Hung only knows how to take care of, cultivate, "draw", "paint" beautifully for many friends, do you see him... drawing himself? To celebrate his new book, I would like to boldly "sketch" a portrait of Nguyen Hung from one of his famous poems and songs:
Waves do not come from the silver sea Waves writhe in the soft sand Waves tie the knot in poetry and music Waves are pink with your lips and eyes...
