THE WRITERS POST

(ISSN: 1527-5467)
the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation.

VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2

JUL 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOAN MINH HAI

__________________________________

 

RELEASING

REINCARNATION

 

Translated by DO VINH

 

 

The blind woman selling lottery tickets

on Tu Do Avenue, a one way street, now

has its name changed to Dong Khoi Avenue, also  

a one way street.  I only go into town occasionally,

 

once in a while, and still see the old blind

woman selling lottery tickets.

The blind woman selling lottery tickets

on u Do – Dong Khoi Avenue, why doesn’t she

 

sell on another street, or at another juncture                       

of this town that bears the name of

uncle?  What fortune good or bad is she

sel                                                  ling and for who, in this                                                                                                                            

town?  Is there fortune good or bad for

each individual, or for the person                           

who is selling it for an entire

people.  The blind woman selling lottery tickets      

 

on Tu Do – Dong Khoi Avenue.  She keeps

selling. Her entire life she has been                        

blind. She does not see me. She cannot see                      

anyone. Whereas I have to                                    

keep seeing her standing on the curbside

of Tu Do – Dong Khoi Avenue, her hands holding

out the lottery tickets inviting the men and

women that pass her by... The blind woman

 

selling lottery tickets on Tu Do -- Dong

Khoi avenue, how many tickets has she sold,

what else has she sold on this one-way

street, that her watery and tainted eyes

 

twitch with tears running down also            

one-way.  The blind woman                       

selling lottery tickets on Tu Do -- Dong

Khoi Avenue, how many people can                      

 

she see in this town bearing uncle’s name,

selling lottery tickets like herself;  and how many

blind people like herself, including men, women

old and young, named and unnamed, with status

 

and nameless selling lottery tickets like herself.

How can she see because she is the blind

woman selling lottery tickets on the curbside of

rue de Catinat, Tu Do – Dong Khoi  Avenue.

 

                   TRANSLATED BY DO VINH

 

 

 

The Writers Post
the magazine of literature

& literature-in-translation,

founded 1999, based in the US.

 

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2 JULY 2005

 

Editorial note: Works published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine (ISSN: 1540-1723).

Copyright © Doan Minh Hai 2005. Nothing in this magazine may be downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/ translator/ artist/  The Writers Post/ and Wordbridge magazine. Creating links to place The Writers Post or any of its pages within other framesets or in other documents is copyright violation, and is not permitted.

 

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