The decision to revoke the Young Author Award 2025 of the Vietnam Writers' Association for poet Lau Van Mua's poetry collection "Picking up my body and stacking it on the museum" is a strict reminder of a fundamental principle of creativity, which is that art must first be honest.
Immediately after the award was announced, the discoveries of critics and readers showed that many poems in the collection had high levels of similarity with foreign poetry, from images, structure to emotional flow.
Specific comparisons with the works of Jyoti Joseph or Ananya Sarkar show that this is no longer a random encounter of poetry or poetry, but a repetition of nature.
The fact that the author himself proactively requested to withdraw the award, the Vietnam Writers' Association decided to revoke the award, showing a spirit of receptiveness and respect for professional standards.
In literary history, there are many debates surrounding the fragile boundaries between "influence" and "plagiarism".
Poetry, with the universality of human emotions, sometimes leads to strange encounters between souls in different spaces and times.
The case of Luu Trong Lu's "Tieng thu" and Sarumaru no Taifu's "Thu ca" was once mentioned as a typical example, with similarities in imagery, but no evidence of copying and is affirmed by researchers as a natural coincidence in artistic perception.
Therefore, the important thing is not whether the two poems are the same or not, but the level and nature of the similarity.
When the similarity leads to repetition of structure, images, rhythm and even emotional flow, it is no longer independent creation, the art loses its core: honesty.
In the era of technology and artificial intelligence, the discovery of plagiarism and poetry plagiarism has become easier than ever. But technology is just a tool, the decisive factor is still the creative conscience of the writer.
Artistic creators do not trade honor for short-term recognition.
A poem is not good, but if it is the author's true voice, it still has value. Conversely, a poetry that is polished, glossy but untruthful is ultimately just a hollow shell.
The art exists to affirm beauty and support people, "There are moments of heartbreak. I lean on the poem and stand up" (Phung Quan).
But that beauty cannot be built on borrowing.
